Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Toshiba HD A2 for $98.87

Call me different *but* I don't see all of the hype for HD DVD thus far...

This morning I did get a chance to make it to WallyWorld to get my hands on 1 of 10 available Toshiba A2 Hd-DVDs for 98 bucks, got it home and did all of the proper connections and to my somewhat surprise I just didn't personally see the big deal.

I'm comparing the A2 to a Denon 2910 as well as an Oppo 980H via an H/K AVR635 and a Mitsubishi 73-727 73" RP DLP 1080p TV and to be quite honest, thus far I am unimpressed. Both the Denon and the Toshiba are connected via HDMI to the TV and Optical to the receiver. Along with the A2 I also bought 'Transformers', 'Face Off', 'The Last Samurai' and to me they all seemed to be either very dark in the background or dark on the foreground, so I inserted the Pixar movie 'Cars' to compare SD quality and I thought the Denon and Oppo was better... with the A2 the movie looked awfully light in contrast to the Denon and Oppo.

Firmware updates? I'm not in IT, I'm not in any sort of computer engineering field nor do I care to be, sell a freaking unit ready to for us old folks to use, will ya!!!

I place the A2 PQ below the Oppo and the Denon only because I'm unimpressed with the HD DVD side of the A2 and I believe the Oppo as well as the Denon up convert 1080i better than the A2 and I place the Denon and Oppo light years ahead of the A2 for SQ via the optical interconnect, maybe a $1,500 receiver with all of the HDMI bells and whistles will change that, I dunno.

Also the unit is rather cheaply built....you can't shut the front cover door with the disc tray extended out, how freaking lame is that! But for a hundred bucks, what the hey.

Make sure the A2 is configured for more than 480i output. Because there is no comparison (I have the Oppo 980 too). I cannot vouch too much for the A2 since I had the A20 and now have the A30, but the end result is not even close. Double check all your settings.

Thanks Eric, I'll go take a look but I'm quite sure it's 1080i output.

It's probably ... me.

I did an A/B with my 2910 and the A2. Two "serenity" SD dvds (one borrowed) with the players on different HDMI inputs on the SXRD.

Just switching inputs, we (my son and I), could see a big difference.

I sold the 2910.

"Serenity" HD-DVD looks even better.

MHO YMMV

Rick, your TV isn't big enough to see a difference. Please send it to me for verification purposes.

I just checked and the A2's resolution is set on 'Up to 1080i' ... I dunno.

Rick,

I too am suprised by your findings, did you manually change your output to HD resolution? It defaults on 480i.

Brother Bob, check your output in the toshiba menu to make sure it's set at 1080i. Also make sure to check and see if the dynamic range compression is enabled or not. That could be hampering your sound if it is.

Edit: got beat to the punch on the 1080i thing...rats!

Hmmmm. I didn't have an upconverting DVD player before my A2. My Denon 3608 is supposed to do that but the difference was so minimal I wondered if it was just in my head.

However, the difference for me in going from a regular Toshiba DVD player to a Toshiba A2 and a true HD movie was PHENOMENAL. Admittedly, older movies that were just drug out of the bins and re-released in HD format are not as impressive at all. The new movie I own in both formats is Batman begins. The difference between the two was actually more than I expected it to be.

Even my Dad who is visiting for a few days to refinish a dresser for us commented on the picture and normally wouldn't say a word if you drove him around the block in the space shuttle.

Anyways, maybe the Oppo is just that good or maybe it's some equipement combo or maybe its just my subjectivity being variable to yours. In any case, if your not happy, thats whats important but I'm betting you can find a buyer pretty quick. Maybe another Canadian board member here who couldn't access the sub hundred deal. Of course you can't advertise her but since I've sparked the thought just as a suggestion, I'm sure it would be OK if someone PMed you.

Rick, I think you should check out output settings...