Agreed. First Josh Z and now Dave V. Whatever happened to challenge the post, not the poster around here?

What could be better than multiple people posting their screenshots of what they see. Some here would like to focus on the Germans sites test patterns and some on Josh's image ONLY.

Fair enough. But what I want to know is why are the results so different. I believe what I saw with the XDE is FUNDAMENTALLY different from Josh or the German.

All else equal it could be their still cameras are not up to the task, the content they chose is different, or their display is messing things up OR that their player was defective. We are talking about very different user experiences here.

If its supposed to be the same scene Josh took pics it makes any comparison impossible.

As I posted previously, it's not even the same disc. But it is a similar scene.

Well Duh... OK that was harsh. And an attempt to be funny. :) I'm intentionally using 1080i so that the player will up-convert it. No one here is interested in its 480p output. I realize the projector has to work on it some more and may lose a little quality because of additional scaling.

I have a feeling that your projector's downcoversion from 1080i to 480p is filtering out a lot of these artifacts.

There coming out of the woodwork within minutes. Wow! Pounce guys.

I'm not going to argue endlessly as I'm not paid to do so. I've spoken my mind, presented the facts and that is that.

It is highly suspicious to say the least that you refuse to answer these two questions that have been asked of you multiple times:

Do you work for Toshiba or a company affiliated with Toshiba?

Are you honestly saying that you would prefer to watch a movie filled with the sort of artifacts that I posted in my photos earlier?

This is interesting. Did you have the player paused on the FBI warning when you noticed this? Did you use the same discs and scenes in both players? I'm not sure I've seen anything that egregious during any of the warning screens at the beginning of anything I've watched. Too bad you didn't think to take a picture, would have been nice to see it.

I've been in contact with Toshiba support about several issues I've had and they never mentioned anything to me about updated firmware so I doubt there are different versions out there at this early date. Still, curious how two of the same model players could behave so differently with the same source material (if you did indeed use the same discs in both players, if not then it proves nothing.)

I have what was undoubtedly one of the earliest players shipped, bought from CC the day it became available. It included one of the display cards, this is standard practice for earlier units as they figure retailers will display them immediately. Aside from the normal deinterlacing glitch here and there when the flags go bad, I've had no issues like this.

Unfortunately, I did not take a picture, but the effect is similar to the Picture 2 that GothMoth posted where the text looks ragged on in the vertical direction. The opening screen was NOT on pause when the FBI warning is shown, it was just running normally.

More bad news, the "good" player that I obtained which does not produce this effect stopped playing commercial DVDs (in fact any dual layer DVDs, including DVD+R DL). It gives a blue screen while playing. The effect is actually very strange. While the player is in play mode, it outputs a blue screen. However, when I press stop, the correct output flashes for a split second before displaying the XDE title screen. Maybe I will try to take a video of this and put it on Youtube or something.

I have been excited about this player for some time, but the quality control issues may force me to return it for a DV-410V. I am going to try one more time and exchange it today and hopefully I can get another good one.

I have a feeling that your projector's downcoversion from 1080i to 480p is filtering out a lot of these artifacts.

So what you seem to imply here, is that a 480p projector can't show what you can see from 3X screen width on an HD projector. ROTFL. :)

From a 480i source..more..ROTFL.... Ok, I'm ok now.

Eventually someone else is going to take some good screenshots, and what will you say then? If no one else bothers, then I guess you win.

There are a lot of possibilities here and a lot of them are subjective to the viewer. A 1080p projector is far more revealing than a 480p model, there's no doubt about that, so they it is going to be much less forgiving than the 480p. Why do you think SDTV doesn't look as good on a HDTV compared to a regular SDTV? Less resolution is the answer.

A 1080p projector will look better with HD signals and the 480p will look better with SD material.

kbgl,

Why are you sending 1080i to a 480p display? You should just send 480p to minimize the amount of conversions between resolutions. If you display takes 480p, find the best 480p player out there and use that.
Well Duh... OK that was harsh. And an attempt to be funny. :) I'm intentionally using 1080i so that the player will up-convert it. No one here is interested in its 480p output. I realize the projector has to work on it some more and may lose a little quality because of additional scaling.

I don't think there was anything negative implied or otherwise in this response to you. I think he was saying that you might do better to keep the signal chain simpler. And I'm not sure that you would see detail that others can see with higher res gear.

Although I do somewhat agree with Star56 when he stated: 1080i fed into a 480P EDTV panel looks far far superior to 480p fed into the same panel." I would remove the fars though. :)

BTW: I'm not anti 480P PJs; I use my X1 in my editing room and enjoy it.

Also: I would like to see the same scene Josh posted. Is it the one you are talking about, kbgl, from "A Knight's Tale"?
What is the timing on the Josh's shot?

Someone?

Bueller?

I would agree with a true 1080i signal, because it's easier to downconvert versus upconvert. In a downconversion, information that's in the signal isn't being used. When you upconvert 1080i from 480i back to 480p, information is being added, then discarded again. It's a waste of processing and more can go wrong than good.

I would agree with a true 1080i signal, because it's easier to downconvert versus upconvert. In a downconversion, information that's in the signal isn't being used. When you upconvert 1080i from 480i back to 480p, information is being added, then discarded again. It's a waste of processing and more can go wrong than good.

It looks like a whole lot more went wrong in Josh Zs setup than mine. :)

I just want to reiterate to those who believe that this is a crap player that Frank Derk thought my Ran DVD screenshots were from the HD DVD!


No no, you missed the smilie.

I merely hinted that you might have resorted to some subterfuge by using the HD DVD for the screenshot as a stand in to avoid us seeing the horrible ringing and other sharpening artifacts.

Now if I only could remember in which movie a similar plot was used. :)


(The screenshot does look nice, though.)

I knew exactly what he meant. I knew what he was telling me years ago. If I had my preferences, I'd have a 1:1 pixel matched setup. If you look at my reply again, you will see why I posted the picture using 1080i. I didn't say it looked better with 1080i than 480p.

Okay.

I was just saying that he wasn't being critical - he was just saying: "what is". I don't remember saying that you said it looked better with 1080i than 480p. Wait - this sounds like kids in the backseat on a long trip. :)

funny thread.

Everybody take a break, go watch a movie and ignore the artifacts. sit waaaaaaaaay back if necessary. ;)

I have to agree with this post completely.VERY well said. I just watched, Incredibles, and a friend simply could not believe that it was not hd. I have my Samsung bd 1200 with the Reon Chip downstairs with my other set ( panny plasma) that upcoverts awesomely, but to my eyes, not as " magically" as this player does.

No, there is no comparison. I watched Transformers last night on BD and it was absolutely stunning. Perhaps that's not a fair comparison as it's regarded as a reference disc but on my 106" screen the difference between HD and SD stands out.

However, to answer your question, I do believe that the XD-E500 does render SD material better than I've ever seen it before in my own home. And I tend to think that I have a pretty nice setup. It doesn't get much brighter than a 2.8 gain screen. Remember, I have the Toshiba HD-A2 which is regarded as a very good upscaler and I won't be using it anymore for that purpose now that I have the XD-E500. That ought to tell you something.

I don't believe that anyone who is familiar with HD would mistake the XD-E500 for HD material but still it is impressive at least to me. I would say that this DVD player does outperform anything I've seen with SD DVD. I wouldn't say it's twice as good or anything like that but good enough to plunk my money down. I'd say that this player raises the bar to the point where SD material can now be judged to be in my subjective opinion, almost as sharp as HD, almost as colorful, but still lacking in resolution. I wasn't going to have anything to do with SD DVD anymore but this machine has changed my mind. I can definitely live with it at least for the short term and enjoy it too. I think this machine has narrowed the gap between true HD and SD. I remember my first thoughts upon seeing the first Transformers scene in BD was 'Wow this is everything I've read it to be' and 'Hmmm, I thought it would blow away what I've recently seen on the XD-E500 but no'. It was better yes, but not the huge difference I'm used to which I found to be very interesting and a revelation of sorts.

I don't know what all that means percentage wise as far as improvement goes but I could guess at 50% compared to my other upconverting players which all of them are.

Once again, please let me be clear. HD DVD and BD are better and the difference is obvious on a screen the size of mine. However, this unit has breathed a little bit of fresh life into my DVD collection and I'm looking forward to seeing some of them over again while still enjoying the superior images of the HD formats. I also wish to be clear and reiterate that in my opinion and it's just that, an opinion, the only thing this player lacks image wise is greater resolution because I think it's rendition of colors and sharpness sets it apart from other SD players.

One other thing, anyone who is knowledgeable about the BenQ w5000 will know that it has a reputation of showing video noise. The debate has raged on as to whether it augments noise already present on the disc or adds it's own. I'm of the opinion that due to it's sharp optics it shows noise that other projectors may not. A pleasant surprise regarding the XD-E500 was that it reduces extraneous noise in the image but not at expense of detail. Again, this is my opinion based on what I've viewed so far.

Wayne

Well after reading numerous threads and taking with a grain of salt the pathological micro-viewers I decided to buy the E500. I have Blu Ray (PS3) and the now defunct HD DVD (XA2) as well. I'm displaying on the MDN650 1080 DLP (65"). And I can say definitively I am very impressed with the E500. In fact I'm giddy. This has given new life to sd dvd. And given the numerous and large body of sd dvd out there and the low prices I'll probably go back to buying and renting more. Blu Ray software prices are a joke and a trickle comparatively. Nevertheless this E500 is better than the Reon in the XA2 and far better than the PS3 for upconversion. Kudos to Tosh on this one. The only thing I'm not impressed with is video however. I'll stick with the XA2 for that. But for movies, you won't be disappointed folks.

Read my reply again, this time hear it in your head as narrated by Morgan Freeman in a slow, calm voice with no attitude. :)

Which reply, quote it for me. Thanks.

Is this the reply: ""Well Duh... OK that was harsh. And an attempt to be funny. I'm intentionally using 1080i so that the player will up-convert it. No one here is interested in its 480p output. I realize the projector has to work on it some more and may lose a little quality because of additional scaling."

In response to: "kbgl,

"Why are you sending 1080i to a 480p display? You should just send 480p to minimize the amount of conversions between resolutions. If you display takes 480p, find the best 480p player out there and use that."

Your reply seemed to be offended and ended up with good logic.

No no, you missed the smilie.

I merely hinted that you might have resorted to some subterfuge by using the HD DVD for the screenshot as a stand in to avoid us seeing the horrible ringing and other sharpening artifacts.

Now if I only could remember in which movie a similar plot was used. :)


(The screenshot does look nice, though.)

Thanks! it was great to find out that one of my all time favorite movies was out on HD DVD! It's amazing that it wasn't discussed much at all.

I was debating between Ran and Kagemusha, then snuck in Throne of Blood which is B&W :)

It really isn't as bad a player as some of the higher end reviewers are making this out to be. Just my humble opinion :)

Okay.

I was just saying that he wasn't being critical - he was just saying: "what is". I don't remember saying that you said it looked better with 1080i than 480p. Wait - this sounds like kids in the backseat on a long trip. :)

funny thread.

Everybody take a break, go watch a movie and ignore the artifacts. sit waaaaaaaaay back if necessary. ;)

Did you see screenshots I posted from 4 and 2 ft. That's not waaaaaay back. Is it?

Which reply, quote it for me. Thanks.

Is this the reply: ""Well Duh... OK that was harsh. And an attempt to be funny. I'm intentionally using 1080i so that the player will up-convert it. No one here is interested in its 480p output. I realize the projector has to work on it some more and may lose a little quality because of additional scaling."

In response to: "kbgl,

"Why are you sending 1080i to a 480p display? You should just send 480p to minimize the amount of conversions between resolutions. If you display takes 480p, find the best 480p player out there and use that."

Your reply seemed to be offended and ended up with good logic.

Ohhhh.. Now I see. The "that was harsh" comment was directed to me for saying "Duh"
I went back and changed it. It didn't occur to me that it read that way till now!

I'm not the least offended!
When I typed that I was not upset or mad. I was trying to explain that I know what he is saying and agree completely. I even said it was an attempt to be funny.

If the XDE is distorting the picture like Josh Zs photo, it could be doing so in the process of upconverting the signal. I don't need to up-convert, but I'm trying to show that my player is not producing the hideous results that his pictures show. If I posted the picture using a 480p output from the XDE, it would not rule out the upconversion as the cause of the problem.

This is interesting. Did you have the player paused on the FBI warning when you noticed this? Did you use the same discs and scenes in both players? I'm not sure I've seen anything that egregious during any of the warning screens at the beginning of anything I've watched. Too bad you didn't think to take a picture, would have been nice to see it.

I've been in contact with Toshiba support about several issues I've had and they never mentioned anything to me about updated firmware so I doubt there are different versions out there at this early date. Still, curious how two of the same model players could behave so differently with the same source material (if you did indeed use the same discs in both players, if not then it proves nothing.)

I have what was undoubtedly one of the earliest players shipped, bought from CC the day it became available. It included one of the display cards, this is standard practice for earlier units as they figure retailers will display them immediately. Aside from the normal deinterlacing glitch here and there when the flags go bad, I've had no issues like this.

I agree with this observation. I bought mine from CC this month and noticed a breakup on text on some opening screens but didn't pay much attention until I saw this posting. I actually thought it might be the disc but just checked again using "Dragonslayer" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth" . The blue screen on the beginning of "Dragonslayer" is all broken up as is the red screen
on Journey...". The warning screen on the "Birds" is all broken up to. It's obvious if your sitting close or further back. I first noticed during regular viewing and it actually looks horrible and very noticeable. Mine also came with the paper sticked to the top of the unit. I also just checked these discs in my Panasonic DMP-BD10A and they look fine. It's definitely the player! And the player was not in a pause state. It was just proceeding to the menu.

I suppose I'm going to have to exchange mine now.

JGD

Has anyone noticed a distracting amount of "grain" in the picture, especially with the XDE features enabled, when playing some older titles? For example,
Life of Brian (Immaculate Edition).

It may not be grain you're seeing...it's most like compression artifacts.

Unfortunately, I did not take a picture, but the effect is similar to the Picture 2 that GothMoth posted where the text looks ragged on in the vertical direction. The opening screen was NOT on pause when the FBI warning is shown, it was just running normally.

More bad news, the "good" player that I obtained which does not produce this effect stopped playing commercial DVDs (in fact any dual layer DVDs, including DVD+R DL). It gives a blue screen while playing. The effect is actually very strange. While the player is in play mode, it outputs a blue screen. However, when I press stop, the correct output flashes for a split second before displaying the XDE title screen. Maybe I will try to take a video of this and put it on Youtube or something.

I have been excited about this player for some time, but the quality control issues may force me to return it for a DV-410V. I am going to try one more time and exchange it today and hopefully I can get another good one.

I posted a youtube video that I took showing the video output display problem that I had on my second XD-E500. I can't post the youtube link here because I am a newbie poster, but I will once I have 3 posts. Until then, just search my name dreamr211 in youtube and the video is called "Toshiba XD-E500 DVD No Video Problem"

The player still played single layer discs, but stopped working on dual layer discs. I already exchanged it for a third one, we'll see if this one is any better!

I posted a youtube video that I took showing the video output display problem that I had on my second XD-E500. I can't post the youtube link here because I am a newbie poster, but I will once I have 3 posts. Until then, just search my name dreamr211 in youtube and the video is called "Toshiba XD-E500 DVD No Video Problem"

The player still played single layer discs, but stopped working on dual layer discs. I already exchanged it for a third one, we'll see if this one is any better!

Here's the link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9axzNREc3c

Help!!

Hi newbie here....

I just got the XDE-500 and I had some problems watching my first movie in it. The screen flickered from light to dark during the entire movie. Does anyone know what it could possibly be? I searched but couldn't find an answer. It said that this happened when the dvd wasn't connected directly to the tv but mine is.

Thanks for the help

Yes, high-pitched whine confirmed on this unit.

I've had three of these players so far and all of them have the high pitched whine during standby (off).

Help!!

Hi newbie here....

I just got the XDE-500 and I had some problems watching my first movie in it. The screen flickered from light to dark during the entire movie. Does anyone know what it could possibly be? I searched but couldn't find an answer. It said that this happened when the dvd wasn't connected directly to the tv but mine is.

Thanks for the help

Try reconnecting the cable. Also, try powering down and powering up by disconnecting from power source.

If this does not fix it, your unit is defective.

dreamr211 - Nice clip. I presume your using the HDMI output. Does the same thing happen using any of the analog outs (S-vid, YPbPr, etc.)? Might be a HDMI issue.

Are you absolutely sure that the text breakup you saw with your first player isn't an issue on the second?

Perhaps I should clarify my earlier statement. My understanding from my DVD authoring experience is that still frames like the warning and other screens at the beginning of commercial DVDs, while showing in "play mode", are just a single frame displayed for a preset amount of time. There not encoded as actual video since that would just be a complete waste of disc space and unnecessary for a still frame anyway. So it should be roughly equivalent to the player being placed in pause mode. Even given the poor video mode deinterlacing, its really hard to understand how it could get a single frame so wrong, after all there are only two fields to put together so how hard is that to mess up? I can't believe this is considered acceptable performance. Has anyone used the player to view any JPEG images and see if those exhibit the same issue?

I'm now worried enough about this video issue that I'm planning to follow up with Toshiba on it. It looks very much like the VE PAL shots that were posted earlier. I did region-free my player, I wonder if this may be causing it. I just changed the region back to 1 by repeating the code sequence and using "1" in place of "9" but the warning screen at the beginning of Avia still shows the missing lines issue. (If you've done it correctly you should see the last digit you entered appear in the upper right hand corner in the blue text bubble. The last digit in the described sequence is the region number, simply substitute whichever region you want. "9" is "ALL". Lots of pages list the regions codes if you're unsure of what they are.) I verified a PAL disc I have now gives the proper "incorrect region" code so I'm definitely back to Region 1. Since the PAL performance stinks anyway it defeats the purpose of using it to replace some of my non-anamorphic titles with anamorphic ones from outside Region 1. I doubt there's any difference in the processing which is dependent on the set region, but you never know so I'm going to leave it at Region 1 and be done with it.

Yes, high-pitched whine confirmed on this unit.

I also just confirmed the high-pitched sound on my unit, as well. I literally had to put my ear right up next to it to hear it over the nearly silent ventilation fans (std PC fans) that I use to cool my cabinet. The unit is fully enclosed in the cabinet so its not really an issue for me. Can people actually hear this from across the room? At the low level mine is making noise at, I'm not sure I'd be able to even in a completely quiet room.

Has anyone noticed a distracting amount of "grain" in the picture, especially with the XDE features enabled, when playing some older titles? For example,
Life of Brian (Immaculate Edition).

I just watched two fairly old titles from 1979/1980, "Alien" and "Airplane". Yes I'm now starting to re-watch all my DVDs because of the XD-E500. I thought the picture on both movies was great, especially the "Alien" movie even though it is a fairly dark movie.

So what you seem to imply here, is that a 480p projector can't show what you can see from 3X screen width on an HD projector. ROTFL. :)

From a 480i source..more..ROTFL.... Ok, I'm ok now.

When a 480p projector is fed a 1080i signal, it has to throw away pixels to downconvert it. This process may filter out many of the artifacts that are visible on a more revealing 1080p screen.

Further, are you even sure you're sending a 1080i signal to the projector? You may have initially set it that way, but the HDMI handshake between the player and projector may reset it back to 480p, thus also turning off the Sharpness function (which only works at 1080 resolutions). You should check that.

The XD-E500 is marketed as an advanced upconverting DVD player. What we are attempting to measure here is its upconversion quality. You're not even using it for that function. No offense, but your results on a 480p screen are anecdotal at best and not particularly relevant to this conversation.

dreamr211 - Nice clip. I presume your using the HDMI output. Does the same thing happen using any of the analog outs (S-vid, YPbPr, etc.)? Might be a HDMI issue.

Are you absolutely sure that the text breakup you saw with your first player isn't an issue on the second?

Perhaps I should clarify my earlier statement. My understanding from my DVD authoring experience is that still frames like the warning and other screens at the beginning of commercial DVDs, while showing in "play mode", are just a single frame displayed for a preset amount of time. There not encoded as actual video since that would just be a complete waste of disc space and unnecessary for a still frame anyway. So it should be roughly equivalent to the player being placed in pause mode. Even given the poor video mode deinterlacing, its really hard to understand how it could get a single frame so wrong, after all there are only two fields to put together so how hard is that to mess up? I can't believe this is considered acceptable performance. Has anyone used the player to view any JPEG images and see if those exhibit the same issue?

I'm now worried enough about this video issue that I'm planning to follow up with Toshiba on it. It looks very much like the VE PAL shots that were posted earlier. I did region-free my player, I wonder if this may be causing it. I just changed the region back to 1 by repeating the code sequence and using "1" in place of "9" but the warning screen at the beginning of Avia still shows the missing lines issue. (If you've done it correctly you should see the last digit you entered appear in the upper right hand corner in the blue text bubble. The last digit in the described sequence is the region number, simply substitute whichever region you want. "9" is "ALL". Lots of pages list the regions codes if you're unsure of what they are.) I verified a PAL disc I have now gives the proper "incorrect region" code so I'm definitely back to Region 1. Since the PAL performance stinks anyway it defeats the purpose of using it to replace some of my non-anamorphic titles with anamorphic ones from outside Region 1. I doubt there's any difference in the processing which is dependent on the set region, but you never know so I'm going to leave it at Region 1 and be done with it.

I just checked mine before it goes back for a replacement. The "RED" introductory screen before the menu in "Journey to the Center of the Earth" from 1959 exhibits the text broken up from both HDMI and component video.

JGD

When a 480p projector is fed a 1080i signal, it has to throw away pixels to downconvert it. This process may filter out many of the artifacts that are visible on a more revealing 1080p screen.

Further, are you even sure you're sending a 1080i signal to the projector? You may have initially set it that way, but the HDMI handshake between the player and projector may reset it back to 480p, thus also turning off the Sharpness function (which only works at 1080 resolutions). You should check that.

The XD-E500 is marketed as an advanced upconverting DVD player. What we are attempting to measure here is its upconversion quality. You're not even using it for that function. No offense, but your results on a 480p screen are anecdotal at best and not particularly relevant to this conversation.

If it helps my display was being sent 1080p 24fps. Which the display had no problems with. In fact, I believe my screenshots are the simplest. All I did was put in the movie, turn on different XDE options and take pictures of the output with a digital camera. Some from 4Ft, some from 2ft.

The idea was to convey what an average user like me would see on a decent plasma. Would artifacts be more visible if I went to 6 inches ad focused on 1/8th of the screen? very likely. But my screenshots were more for the benefit for people who watch movies in the same way I do.

So, are the artifacts what jump out at me when I put in a DVD. No. In fact what jumped out at me was the very good results from this player.

So, different people may have different results. But I do hope that my screenshots at least show that this player is not massacring the PQ in a way only an idiot would enjoy. I like to think I have at least average sense of quality when it comes to appreciating PQ in a DVD :)

Also, what Josh posted cannot be considered acceptable. If that is what the Toshiba does in his set up, it is absolutely not the right solution for him. No question about that. Both images show terrible deinterlacing and post processing. Worst I have ever seen in a recent player.

When a 480p projector is fed a 1080i signal, it has to throw away pixels to downconvert it. This process may filter out many of the artifacts that are visible on a more revealing 1080p screen.

Further, are you even sure you're sending a 1080i signal to the projector? You may have initially set it that way, but the HDMI handshake between the player and projector may reset it back to 480p, thus also turning off the Sharpness function (which only works at 1080 resolutions). You should check that.

The XD-E500 is marketed as an advanced upconverting DVD player. What we are attempting to measure here is its upconversion quality. You're not even using it for that function. No offense, but your results on a 480p screen are anecdotal at best and not particularly relevant to this conversation.


Yes, I'm sure it's 1080i. Input is confirmed by the projector. I am upconverting.

Yes, sharpness is on.

I didn't buy it for its upconverting. I'm inputing 1080i in these shots because that's more relevant to others reading this thread.

I believe my pictures are more relevant than yours, but I've deleted it anyway.

You could take a screenshot of this same scene and show everyone all this extra detail that your HD projector has , that my 480p can't show. I hope someone else will post the same shot, so we can see if its distorted like your coaster shots. I'll even tell you how to get the shot while playing the movie if you want!

dreamr211 - Nice clip. I presume your using the HDMI output. Does the same thing happen using any of the analog outs (S-vid, YPbPr, etc.)? Might be a HDMI issue.

Are you absolutely sure that the text breakup you saw with your first player isn't an issue on the second?

Perhaps I should clarify my earlier statement. My understanding from my DVD authoring experience is that still frames like the warning and other screens at the beginning of commercial DVDs, while showing in "play mode", are just a single frame displayed for a preset amount of time. There not encoded as actual video since that would just be a complete waste of disc space and unnecessary for a still frame anyway. So it should be roughly equivalent to the player being placed in pause mode. Even given the poor video mode deinterlacing, its really hard to understand how it could get a single frame so wrong, after all there are only two fields to put together so how hard is that to mess up? I can't believe this is considered acceptable performance. Has anyone used the player to view any JPEG images and see if those exhibit the same issue?

I'm now worried enough about this video issue that I'm planning to follow up with Toshiba on it. It looks very much like the VE PAL shots that were posted earlier. I did region-free my player, I wonder if this may be causing it. I just changed the region back to 1 by repeating the code sequence and using "1" in place of "9" but the warning screen at the beginning of Avia still shows the missing lines issue. (If you've done it correctly you should see the last digit you entered appear in the upper right hand corner in the blue text bubble. The last digit in the described sequence is the region number, simply substitute whichever region you want. "9" is "ALL". Lots of pages list the regions codes if you're unsure of what they are.) I verified a PAL disc I have now gives the proper "incorrect region" code so I'm definitely back to Region 1. Since the PAL performance stinks anyway it defeats the purpose of using it to replace some of my non-anamorphic titles with anamorphic ones from outside Region 1. I doubt there's any difference in the processing which is dependent on the set region, but you never know so I'm going to leave it at Region 1 and be done with it.

DougG, yes I am using the HDMI output. I am not sure if it happened on the analog outputs because I returned it already. Actually, I believe the problem with the blue screen is an HDMI problem with my TV, not with the player. The third player that I got still produced the blue image on screen, but only for commercial DVDs, not with non-copy protected DVDs. I think this is an HDCP handshaking problem with my TV since I got a replacement TV just recently. So I ended returning a "good" DVD player but luckily got another "good" one. (No store display informational card)

As for the text breakup, I am absolutely sure that my first player exhibits the text breakup that my second and third player do not. I also have observed that units with text breakup on the FBI warning will also have the half-resolution deinterlacing problem on paused video.

First XD-E500 (store display informational card): broken text on FBI warning, half resolution on paused video
Second XD-E500 (no store display informational card): no broken text on FBI warning, no deinterlacing problem with paused video
Third XD-E500 (no store display informational card): no broken text on FBI warning, no deinterlacing problem with paused video

Hope this helps those who have the same problems.

For the guys that have this player and a projector I have a question for you: Does this player really make standard dvd more sharper and clear ? I love high def but the high price for the movies is killing me and if this player is worth it I may get it. By the way I have a 110 screen, am I gonna see a difference ?? Thanks for your reply in advance.

I don't know about 110" screen but I see a difference on my 73" screen. If you don't like it, most places have a 30 money back guarantee. Why not try it? Only you will be able to see if you like it.

I don't know about 110" screen but I see a difference on my 73" screen. If you don't like it, most places have a 30 money back guarantee. Why not try it? Only you will be able to see if you like it.

Gonna check it out. Thanks for the reply lujan.

I just watched two fairly old titles from 1979/1980, "Alien" and "Airplane". Yes I'm now starting to re-watch all my DVDs because of the XD-E500. I thought the picture on both movies was great, especially the "Alien" movie even though it is a fairly dark movie.

I agree. Just watched some DVDs - Alien, monsters Inc, Sith, Fifth Element, and there are moments ( at least on really good DVDs) that look Hd or near HD) I am thrilled with the player.

dreamr211 - Nice clip. I presume your using the HDMI output. Does the same thing happen using any of the analog outs (S-vid, YPbPr, etc.)? Might be a HDMI issue.

Are you absolutely sure that the text breakup you saw with your first player isn't an issue on the second?

Perhaps I should clarify my earlier statement. My understanding from my DVD authoring experience is that still frames like the warning and other screens at the beginning of commercial DVDs, while showing in "play mode", are just a single frame displayed for a preset amount of time. There not encoded as actual video since that would just be a complete waste of disc space and unnecessary for a still frame anyway. So it should be roughly equivalent to the player being placed in pause mode. Even given the poor video mode deinterlacing, its really hard to understand how it could get a single frame so wrong, after all there are only two fields to put together so how hard is that to mess up? I can't believe this is considered acceptable performance. Has anyone used the player to view any JPEG images and see if those exhibit the same issue?

I'm now worried enough about this video issue that I'm planning to follow up with Toshiba on it. It looks very much like the VE PAL shots that were posted earlier. I did region-free my player, I wonder if this may be causing it. I just changed the region back to 1 by repeating the code sequence and using "1" in place of "9" but the warning screen at the beginning of Avia still shows the missing lines issue. (If you've done it correctly you should see the last digit you entered appear in the upper right hand corner in the blue text bubble. The last digit in the described sequence is the region number, simply substitute whichever region you want. "9" is "ALL". Lots of pages list the regions codes if you're unsure of what they are.) I verified a PAL disc I have now gives the proper "incorrect region" code so I'm definitely back to Region 1. Since the PAL performance stinks anyway it defeats the purpose of using it to replace some of my non-anamorphic titles with anamorphic ones from outside Region 1. I doubt there's any difference in the processing which is dependent on the set region, but you never know so I'm going to leave it at Region 1 and be done with it.

I returned the player with the text problem for a newer one. CC had only two left and I picked the one with the higher serial number to hopefully eliminate the problem. The text looked great through HDMI initially and after it was set up as a multi-region player it looked great too. Problem solved.

JGD

I just took some shots of the Avia warning screen. Display is my Pio Elite 510 RPTV. Camera is Canon S100 2.1MP on my tripod, and it was only a few feet away from the screen. I used both the XDE over component (480i) and also my RP91 using S-video. I believe the XDE always deinterlaces its output, so this may explain why even a simple 480i signal has artifacts. I also ran into an odd problem - I powered the unit off and then back on, and when it came back on the picture was in some super-bizarro state - looked like it was doubly messed up. Even the internal XDE splash exhibited the problem. On a subsequent power cycle the problem went away.

All pics were taken in max res mode and are untouched. Not sure why the exposure on the RP91 was slightly less, but you can still clearly see how superior the text quality is on it compared even to the "normal" XDE output.

I also looked at the DVD structure in a backup app and based on the file size, this splash screen is a single still frame shown for a preset amount of time.

There are three photos:

1) XDE, normal
2) RP91
3) XDE, bugged out state

I wonder if the image in pic #3 is what some are seeing? If so, and they got units that look like the pic #1, I still wouldn't call that normal.

#1, XDE normal output - lots of artifacts clearly visible.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/dougandvikki/Normal_bad.jpg

#2, RP91 output over S-video - clean!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/dougandvikki/RP91_good.jpg

#3, XDE in the weird buggy mode - TONS of artifacts - Anyone have a unit which looked like this consistently?

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/dougandvikki/Really_Bad.jpg

I wonder if the image in pic #3 is what some are seeing? If so, and they got units that look like the pic #1, I still wouldn't call that normal.

#1, XDE normal output - lots of artifacts clearly visible.

#2, RP91 output over S-video - clean!

#3, XDE in the weird buggy mode - TONS of artifacts - Anyone have a unit which looked like this consistently?

Yep, that's exactly what I was seeing on my 60" Sony. That's why I took it back and got the Oppo 983 last week. By the way, my first XDE died after two disks.

arkiedan

I just took some shots of the Avia warning screen. Display is my Pio Elite 510 RPTV. Camera is Canon S100 2.1MP on my tripod, and it was only a few feet away from the screen. I used both the XDE over component (480i) and also my RP91 using S-video. I believe the XDE always deinterlaces its output, so this may explain why even a simple 480i signal has artifacts. I also ran into an odd problem - I powered the unit off and then back on, and when it came back on the picture was in some super-bizarro state - looked like it was doubly messed up. Even the internal XDE splash exhibited the problem. On a subsequent power cycle the problem went away.

All pics were taken in max res mode and are untouched. Not sure why the exposure on the RP91 was slightly less, but you can still clearly see how superior the text quality is on it compared even to the "normal" XDE output.

I also looked at the DVD structure in a backup app and based on the file size, this splash screen is a single still frame shown for a preset amount of time.

There are three photos:

1) XDE, normal
2) RP91
3) XDE, bugged out state

I wonder if the image in pic #3 is what some are seeing? If so, and they got units that look like the pic #1, I still wouldn't call that normal.

#1, XDE normal output - lots of artifacts clearly visible.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/dougandvikki/Normal_bad.jpg

#2, RP91 output over S-video - clean!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/dougandvikki/RP91_good.jpg

#3, XDE in the weird buggy mode - TONS of artifacts - Anyone have a unit which looked like this consistently?

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g286/dougandvikki/Really_Bad.jpg

I believe these imagaes illustrate some sort of a bug with the XDE implementation. Since the processing is done in real time I think it has a hard time dealing with Video and Film. I am assuming the FBI warning is video. Right? I've seen the player mess up with text including the FBI warning screen as well.

Has anybody opened up one of these things? What chips are in it? A nice clear photo would be nice... hint. :)

larry

Larry,

I believe it is a mid tier Zoran chip as the primary processor.

Zoran Vaddis 966 chipset.

I believe these imagaes illustrate some sort of a bug with the XDE implementation. Since the processing is done in real time I think it has a hard time dealing with Video and Film. I am assuming the FBI warning is video. Right? I've seen the player mess up with text including the FBI warning screen as well.

I just purchased one of these players over the weekend.

When viewing any *still* frame (specifically like FBI warnings and such) the artifacts depicted above are clearly evident.

As soon as the film or video presentation starts, though, there are *no* artifacts. You just get a good clean picture. This is probably due to some kind of multi-frame buffering.

I have the XDE set to output 1080p 24hz with the SHARP+COLOR mode engaged which I'm then feeding to my 720p Optoma HD-65 projector. The result for me has been spectacular. The only time I've noticed "edge halos" is when they were on the DVD transfer to begin with. Also, "judder" is now a complete non-issue at 8' from a 96" 16:9 screen!

I'm very happy with this purchase so far.

Zoran Vaddis 966 chipset. That one I know. What's the chip that contains the "special sauce"? I'm trying to see if they are just using things in the Zoran chip. Are there any programmable chips? A nice clean, up close shot of the board will tell me a lot.

larry

That one I know. What's the chip that contains the "special sauce"? I'm trying to see if they are just using things in the Zoran chip. Are there any programmable chips? A nice clean, up close shot of the board will tell me a lot.

Larry, the two clearly labeled chips are the Zoran Vaddis 966 and the Zoran HDXtreme2. There are some other chips in there that I couldn't identify.

Toshiba says that the Zoran chips are not performing the "enhancements" (i.e. Sharpness, Color, and Contrast). I'm assuming they developed those algorithms themselves.

I just purchased one of these players over the weekend.

When viewing any *still* frame (specifically like FBI warnings and such) the artifacts depicted above are clearly evident.

As soon as the film or video presentation starts, though, there are *no* artifacts. You just get a good clean picture. This is probably due to some kind of multi-frame buffering.

I have the XDE set to output 1080p 24hz with the SHARP+COLOR mode engaged which I'm then feeding to my 720p Optoma HD-65 projector. The result for me has been spectacular. The only time I've noticed "edge halos" is when they were on the DVD transfer to begin with. Also, "judder" is now a complete non-issue at 8' from a 96" 16:9 screen!

I'm very happy with this purchase so far.

Yes. It's a software bug. But quite minor in my opinion. But some may care a great deal about it :)

Larry, the two clearly labeled chips are the Zoran Vaddis 966 and the Zoran HDXtreme2. There are some other chips in there that I couldn't identify.

Toshiba says that the Zoran chips are not performing the "enhancements" (i.e. Sharpness, Color, and Contrast). I'm assuming they developed those algorithms themselves.

However, these are the only types of video processing chips in there. I am assuming they are processing Toshiba's algorithms for XDE. Unless there is a graphics card in there we can't see. Which would mean a CPU as well...which would mean this would not be a $150 player :)

Most of the problems I have seen so far seem to resemble a processor not being able to process fast enough. I can see moments of glitches (in the matrix so to speak).

From what I know others have also developed similar algorithms but are destined for higher end players. Toshiba is kinda unique in that respect as well.

Most of the problems I have seen so far seem to resemble a processor not being able to process fast enough. I can see moments of glitches (in the matrix so to speak).


I saw that one time while viewing the "Star Wars - A New Hope" DVD.

The picture depicted a small green square just for a second, then the audio went out of sync. After about 5 seconds everything was fine again. I happen to know that the layer change for that disc takes place at about the point where the glitch occurred; so that may have something to do with it.

In any event, I was unable to reproduce the problem.

At the time that I was viewing that disc I had the HDMI output set for 1080p 60 hz. As soon as I discovered that my projector could handle 1080p 24hz, I went to that setting exclusively. Since then I have viewed three DVDs and haven't experienced any glitches.

BTW, one of the DVDs that I tried on it was "Because of Winn-Dixie" which is just a horrible transfer with extreme haloing. When played on the Tosh in "SHARP+COLOR" mode the haloing wasn't any worse, but the overall presentation (including color and "pop") was much improved. I also tried the February 2000 Disney "Tarzan" DVD on the player, and it was just gorgeous! This disc had always produced extreme "judder" on my system with prior progressive scan players, but the presentation via the Tosh player was smooth as silk.

Whatever this player is doing, it's working for me! (And all I want to do with this player is make my extensive DVD collection look as good as possible. I still intend on going "Blu" at some point in the future.)

I saw that one time while viewing the "Star Wars - A New Hope" DVD.

The picture depicted a small green square just for a second, then the audio went out of sync. After about 5 seconds everything was fine again. I happen to know that the layer change for that disc takes place at about the point where the glitch occurred; so that may have something to do with it.

In any event, I was unable to reproduce the problem.

At the time that I was viewing that disc I had the HDMI output set for 1080p 60 hz. As soon as I discovered that my projector could handle 1080p 24hz, I went to that setting exclusively. Since then I have viewed three DVDs and haven't experienced any glitches.

BTW, one of the DVDs that I tried on it was "Because of Winn-Dixie" which is just a horrible transfer with extreme haloing. When played on the Tosh in "SHARP+COLOR" mode the haloing wasn't any worse, but the overall presentation (including color and "pop") was much improved. I also tried the February 2000 Disney "Tarzan" DVD on the player, and it was just gorgeous! This disc had always produced extreme "judder" on my system with prior progressive scan players, but the presentation via the Tosh player was smooth as silk.

Whatever this player is doing, it's working for me! (And all I want to do with this player is make my extensive DVD collection look as good as possible. I still intend on going "Blu" at some point in the future.)
Yes. If you look at some of the screenshots I posted you'll notice the same thing. In my set up the E500 ended with a very nice upconverted image. The Ran screenshots are with sharp + color. The setting with the most complaints :)

Larry, the two clearly labeled chips are the Zoran Vaddis 966 and the Zoran HDXtreme2. There are some other chips in there that I couldn't identify.

Toshiba says that the Zoran chips are not performing the "enhancements" (i.e. Sharpness, Color, and Contrast). I'm assuming they developed those algorithms themselves. One would hope they did after all the hub-bub. :) It'd be nice to know how they integrated it.

larry

It seems like people have the high pitched whine on their machines. Mine was worse with the first machine...the second did not have it but now I notice a slight whine...not as bad as the first and you have to definitely put your ear up close to the machine to hear it. With the first machine the high pitched whine could be heard a good 4-5 feet away.

I can live with this if this is not an indicator of the machine dying anytime soon. Anyone know what is causing this and has anybody contacted Toshiba about this issue? I love the machine and would hate to give it up. The picture is just so good.

I think I will call Toshiba and see if they have any idea what this is about.

XDE SHARPhttp://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=120430&d=1222149475

OPPO 980http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=120431&d=1222149475

XDE SHARPhttp://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=120427&d=1222149042

OPPO 980http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=120428&d=1222149042

The above are a few screenshots I took while the movie was playing

NOT PAUSED

has anyone have 983 oppo to test with the new XDE player

I got my XDE player today & i am very happy with it, I also have a PS3> Samsung 1200 blu ray player with HQV & the XDE player is better then both the ps3 & 1200 sammy.

has anyone have 983 oppo to test with the new XDE player

I got my XDE player today & i am very happy with it, I also have a PS3> Samsung 1200 blu ray player with HQV & the XDE player is better then both the ps3 & 1200 sammy.

I'll see if a friend with the Oppo 983 will take a few screenshots. Based on my experience the 983's advantages are beter build quality, better audio and better PAL support.

The E500 can be flat out amazing for some types of content but also poor with others like video. The E500 also has better than average audio. I've also noticed momentary glitches. In the end is personal choice. The E500 is a specialized player for widescreen film based NTSC DVDs outputting to a 1080p 24fps compatible display. In it's sweet spot the E500 is really quite an amazing product :)

Let me try and work on the screenshots. I may have to go there and take the pictures myself.

My viewing so far has been limited with this player. What differences are you seeing between film and video? Are dvd movies marked on the box to tell which is used?

My viewing so far has been limited with this player. What differences are you seeing between film and video? Are dvd movies marked on the box to tell which is used? All "movies" should be 24fps. Documentaries, concerts, anime, and such are usually 30fps - video.

larry

My biggest issues I've had with 24p output from this player and my previously owned XA2 is it works fine for some discs, and not for others. For example, Star Wars IV stutters like crazy with dropped frames as well as Lucky You, to the point of being unwatchable (just two examples). Having to go into the setup menu and change the output is more trouble than it's worth, especially for my wife and kids who can't understand why the DVD they put in the player isn't working right.

Just got off the phone with Toshiba and they have no answers regarding this high pitch whine. No records of other complaints so I guess I going to hold on to this machine. It's my second after returning my first back to CC (Because of the whine) and I hope this second one does not die on me. I love the picture so I hope it lasts.

My very first DVD player years ago was a Toshiba and Loved it. I picked up a recorder last year from Toshiba and I loved it. They were both well built and seem to last. I hope XDE was not subject to bad quality control!!

Other than the sound this machine still rocks!

All "movies" should be 24fps. Documentaries, concerts, anime, and such are usually 30fps - video.

larry

There is some 30fps anime but the vast majority is 24fps, even in the era of digitally painted cels.

Hello guys~

I was wondering how to differentiate the good and bad E500 ?? I just recieved mine and not impressed at all ...... I was shocked when I first plug in the player, the words in the setup menu seems ...... pixelised (not sure this is the right word to describe or not)?? My display unit is Sony KDL-52X5000 which is a Japan model. Thank you~

PS3http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=120555&d=1222232972

XDEhttp://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=120556&d=1222232972

The above images are taking while playing, not paused

Hello guys~

I was wondering how to differentiate the good and bad E500 ?? I just recieved mine and not impressed at all ...... I was shocked when I first plug in the player, the words in the setup menu seems ...... pixelised (not sure this is the right word to describe or not)?? My display unit is Sony KDL-52X5000 which is a Japan model. Thank you~

The XDE screws up warning texts and menus.

Even its own menu looks awful.

But when it gets going playing an anamorphic widescreen movie, it looks fine.

Mike, why is the image on the XDE so washed out? Is it the camera or does it really look like that on your screen? If so, then I will suggest that you have your PS3 adjustments (Brightness, contrast, gamma, etc) set quite differently from the XDE and then your display adjusted to the PS3's settings... this makes it quite hard to do a comparison. You really need to get the output of the PS3 and XDE to match a little bit closer before any meaningful conclusions could (or should) be drawn.

Appears the Euro version of the player is now available in Europe. This is the first UK owner feedback I've seen -

on the positive side the xde-500 will display 4:3 as a letterbox with left or right borders or provide a full 16:9 display depending on display settingsin the xde menu

on the negative side the xde-500 will invent extra artifacts and ruin your viewing experiance starting at the menu of your average feature film,

it has difficulty deciding what to do with the odd back ground object (against sky is an issue) so will often artifact them as well and will make an even bigger mess when dealing with certain animated films

thats not to say some parts of some movies will look great but the overall experiance of buying this upscaler is a feeling of being ripped off

i am using a pal series 5 40" 1080p sammy and will keep trying to find a "setting" or experiance that will make this player worthwhile, alas i fear its only so long before i plug my onkyo upscaler back in.


i payed £129 for the player and it was advertised as being reduced from 149, i was always looking to take a hit as an early adopter and had watched this player from conception and thought "its mine when i see it"
i was looking for a region code when i came across this tread, although my postman pilfers all my kit so i do not tend to shop abroad (ebay or whatever)

but this is my main point,
i am not talking quality of picture and "this will look better at 24fps" or lets give this a professional review,

i am talking about a dvd player commiting cardinal sins from the word go, this player cannot display a clear line of text on a menu screen, there is no room for improvement or a better picture in my mind,

artifacts are either there or they are not, if they are absent on a ntsc display (which i seriously doubt) the pal version should be on hold until they sort it out.

:confused:

D

I'm not seeing any reaL advantage of the XDE (sharp mode) over the other players in the above screen shots; however, I'm not seeing the "obvious" artifacts either. I thought some of the early screen shots on this thread showed an advantage in favour of the XDE in sharp mode - where did that disappear to?

on the positive side the xde-500 will display 4:3 as a letterbox with left or right borders or provide a full 16:9 display depending on display settingsin the xde menu

Can anyone confirm the PAL version handles 4:3 content properly? If the UK gets this and we in NTSC-land don't, that seriously blows....

All "movies" should be 24fps. Documentaries, concerts, anime, and such are usually 30fps - video.

larry

What about tv shows on dvd? Av.pallino said that the XDE does poorly with this type of content. Poorly compared to what?

There is some 30fps anime but the vast majority is 24fps, even in the era of digitally painted cels. Ok, I don't watch anime but was just going by comments in the past where people mention anime when talking about video 2:2 processing vs 3:2.

larry

What about tv shows on dvd? Av.pallino said that the XDE does poorly with this type of content. Poorly compared to what?Yup. Forgot about TV shows. Older shows were shot on film, IIRC.

larry

What about tv shows on dvd? Av.pallino said that the XDE does poorly with this type of content. Poorly compared to what?


Compared to other upscaling DVD players that I have used, owned or looked at :)


XDE in this implementation by Toshiba works very well on Film based content. I'll post a few more clips I took last night. I am not sure why it has problems with video. One thing to keep in mind is that my display is NOT calibrated for the E500. I am using a borrowed player now (had it for last night and will return it today) since I returned mine.

I would buy it again if Toshiba releases a more functionally complete player. I am a little surprised that they made such a specialized product. Perhaps they had a price point in mind and then worked backwards from there.

Last night I used The Last Emperor for reviewing the player and everyone was quite impressed. I had a couple of friends and their wives over for a small get together. Of course we were joking about my need to stick the camera 2 ft from the display to take the screen captures while the movie was playing.

I decided to give this player a try out of extreme curiosity. For comparison I do own an Oppo 983 witch is very good in my opinion. However I have not done a direct A-B comparison yet.

I have only watched 3 films so far. I watched The Beach and The Transporter plus the old classic Bond flick From Russia with Love. The Beach and the Transporter have very high quality transfers with little if any grain and about as much detail as you can squeeze out of the DVD format. From Russia with Love is the exact opposite. Very low detail with lots of grain. Good movie but horrid transfer. I don't have the latest release but the one that came out about 4 years ago.

When it came to The Beach and the Transporter it honestly looked near Hi Def. The detail of the water and corral reeks in the Beach was amazing. Also you can count the hairs on peoples heads it was that sharp. Color fidelity and cleanliness was also very good. Same with the Transporter. A very clean and sharp look that looked near Hi Def.

As for From Russia with Love I am sorry to say the XD-E500 did it no good. It seems it looked worse on this player then a conventional DVD player. This is to be expected since the transfer is just so bad. For the record this film looks worse on other up converting players as well except for the 983. The 983 did a wonderful job of removing some of the grain and increasing the color fidelity.

So in a nutshell it would appear if the transfer is perfect the XD-E500 can put out a very convincing hi def looking picture. However on poor transfers the 983 is better.

BTW, I also get a lot of jaggies and tearing look on my FBI menu's and disc menus. Movies seem fine though. Its not a major crisis in my book but kind of strange. Its very similar to the affect you get when you have progressive scan set to ON with video source material. So it must have something to do with that. I have seen it on some other players but some seem to know when to turn off progressive scan automatically when it detects video material. I have no idea if this problem is related on the XD-E500.

I also get a slight hum from the power supply when my ear is placed towards the back of the unit but its not overwhelming by any means and I can't hear it at all from my seating position.

I would say overall the XD-E500 does a pretty good job and a pretty solid bargain.

That is exactly how it looks on the screen.

Its not that its washed out.

Its just that the XDE has a built in level of brightness that is higher than the PS3.

So with a tad more brightness, you can see details in the dark areas of the screen that you normally couldn't on a normal DVD player.

Of course, that also makes the image look just a bit brighter.

The CONTRAST mode does this significantly, but even just the SHARP mode does it a little.

I'm not seeing any reaL advantage of the XDE (sharp mode) over the other players in the above screen shots; however, I'm not seeing the "obvious" artifacts either. I thought some of the early screen shots on this thread showed an advantage in favour of the XDE in sharp mode - where did that disappear to?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14726900#post14726900

If you look at 'The Searchers' shots and put them side by side you will see the XDE adds to the edge enhancement and emphasises it, especially noticeable around the black bandana. Even though these pics are small it is easily seen.

That is exactly how it looks on the screen.

Its not that its washed out.

Its just that the XDE has a built in level of brightness that is higher than the PS3.

So with a tad more brightness, you can see details in the dark areas of the screen that you normally couldn't on a normal DVD player.

Of course, that also makes the image look just a bit brighter.

The CONTRAST mode does this significantly, but even just the SHARP mode does it a little.Are you saying that if you change the Contrast mode on the player you need to recalibrate the display? i.e Does the grayscale change when you switch modes?

larry

Is there a single person here that has owned or does own an OPPO 983H and prefer the quality of the Toshiba?
If so, what is your display, settings, AVR?
Again, I'm asking about the 983H and the E500, not the PS3, 981 or any other player.

You absolutely would have to recalibrate.

Basically the Contrast mode, bumps up the Brightness level in the player.

Of course that means when you recalibrate your display in Contrast mode, you would have to lower the brightness level, and thus cancel out the Contrast mode in the first place, LOL.

It would be interesting to see DVE gray ramps of the two settings.

larry

Is there a single person here that has owned or does own an OPPO 983H and prefer the quality of the Toshiba?
If so, what is your display, settings, AVR?
Again, I'm asking about the 983H and the E500, not the PS3, 981 or any other player.

Not this person. I had the XDE for around 3 weeks and loved the image quality. I was not crazy about the first one failing on the second disk I played and it had some other issues I didn't care for. That said, I thought the IQ was very good and I never saw the ringing that has been reported here. It easily beat out my Toshiba A35, an HD DVD player I thought was a fine upconverter with SDs.

Still, I finally returned it after I got the 983 and compared them for a few days. I must agree with a few others who feel the 983 has a more "film-like" IQ and add that I've never seen a player that equalled it. Although the XDE was quite good I went with the 983 for it's somewhat better IQ along with it's many other attributes. Audio quality with SACDs and DVD-audio disks is outstanding through HDMI and 7 channel analog.

I'm buying some Pal disks because of excellent pricing at Amazon in the UK and the 983 easily beat the XDE with region 2 disks. The XDE was not close with these disks, studdering and exhibiting terrible color shifting . Last, I have many older DVDs of TV shows (Inspector Morse, Sherlock Holmes, etc.) I recorded several years ago and the Oppo is the only player of the 4 I own that'll play them back without pixelization and lockups. The XDE would not play them, freezing at the first sign of a flaw in the disk. Don't know why the Oppo is so much better at tracking these difficult disks but it is.

I concluded the Oppo 983, for me anyway, offers far and away the best combination of IQ and features and, right now, I'm loving every minute of it!

By the way, for reference only my monitor is a Sony 60A3000 HDRP (calibrated only with the usual THX setup on many disks) and I also have the Panasonic BD30 Blu Ray player and Toshiba A35 HD DVD player. All players are HDMI into an Onkyo 805 AVR and then a single HDMI into the Sony.

arkiedan

That is it. Officially bowled over by this player. I was watching SD disc of CARS last night. A friend was convinced it was the Blu Ray Disc. Again, while this is on a new 46 inch bedroom LCD, and I understand it will not be as dramatic on a much larger screen...nevertheless, *I* had to convince myself it was not the Blu ray disc at moments. For fun, I brought the disc downstairs and popped it into my Samsung BD1200 with the Reon Chip, and my Panny 50 inch Plasma. While upconverted very VERY good, we all agreed, the XDE was significantly better.

I really think Toshiba hit it out of the park with this player. While I have a Blu Ray player downstairs, I am really not interested in getting one in my bedroom for now. I have a Big collection of 750 plus DVDs and I simply wanted them to look their best. And I dont think Toshibas claims are unwarranted. You put in a really good DVD,( Incredibles, Cars, Titanic, Revenge of the Sith, Apocolyto)...it is damn close to HD. As close as one can get for a lowly 480P pixels in.

I agree! :)

Wayne

You absolutely would have to recalibrate.

Basically the Contrast mode, bumps up the Brightness level in the player.

Of course that means when you recalibrate your display in Contrast mode, you would have to lower the brightness level, and thus cancel out the Contrast mode in the first place, LOL.

Does it change the contrast level of use a different gamma curve to elivate near black detail i.e. lower gamma than 2.2 ?

D

Does it change the contrast level of use a different gamma curve to elivate near black detail i.e. lower gamma than 2.2 ?

D

Yes, in fact, it changes the entire grayscale slightly upwards. Does it improve shadow detail? Yes. Is it accurate? No.

That is it. Officially bowled over by this player. I was watching SD disc of CARS last night. A friend was convinced it was the Blu Ray Disc. Again, while this is on a new 46 inch bedroom LCD, and I understand it will not be as dramatic on a much larger screen...nevertheless, *I* had to convince myself it was not the Blu ray disc at moments. For fun, I brought the disc downstairs and popped it into my Samsung BD1200 with the Reon Chip, and my Panny 50 inch Plasma. While upconverted very VERY good, we all agreed, the XDE was significantly better.

You would really need to connect both players to the same display to make that determination. You have too many variables at play right now.

You would really need to connect both players to the same display to make that determination. You have too many variables at play right now.

Not to mention properly calibrating the display for each player.

Not to mention properly calibrating the display for each player.

If you're running all the components via an HDMI receiver and only one HDMI connection to the TV, how would you calibrate the TV for each player?

I really think Toshiba hit it out of the park with this player. While I have a Blu Ray player downstairs, I am really not interested in getting one in my bedroom for now. I have a Big collection of 750 plus DVDs and I simply wanted them to look their best. And I dont think Toshibas claims are unwarranted. You put in a really good DVD,( Incredibles, Cars, Titanic, Revenge of the Sith, Apocolyto)...it is damn close to HD. As close as one can get for a lowly 480P pixels in.

I agree wholeheartedly!

I've only owned my player for a week now ... but I can tell you that I'm *not* returning it.

The 1080p 24hz mode seems to be the almost perfect companion for my
720p Optoma HD65 projector. Good quality film-based DVDs look just short of HD; while CGI movies like Madagascar truly do look hi-def. (And *much better* than Cable HD). Add in the decrease in "judder" (due to the 24hz mode) and this player just provides tremendous "bang-for-the-buck".

After the economy picks up a little -- and the format matures a little more -- I still intend to go "Blu" ... In the meantime I'll happily stay with DVD for awhile longer ...

If you're running all the components via an HDMI receiver and only one HDMI connection to the TV, how would you calibrate the TV for each player? There is a chance that each of your components outputs "correct" video. So, only one calibration is needed. Or, the display has "memories" for it's input so you can save/recall different calibration settings. Video processors can be matched/calibrated to input devices so they can output the correct video to the output, but I'm not sure about receivers. It may depend on how "high end" the receiver is - does it actually have a video processor or does it just do passthru.

larry

That is it. Officially bowled over by this player. I was watching SD disc of CARS last night.

Thats good, but I have yet to see a player that this does not look spectacular on. Give it some more challenging work to do! ;-)

I just got this player and have run it on my Samsung 52" LED LCD and my Marquee 8501 on a 92" diagonal screen. I'm very impressed! I can certainly understand why Josh isn't since he hated that ExtremeX2 (or whatever it was called) demo. In sharp mode this player adds clarity and depth to the image just like the enhanced image in that demo, although Josh thought the enhanced image in the demo added a metallic edgy look. This player seems to accentuate detail; however, any ringing already on the disc is also more noticeable, IMO. In the past I'd turn my nose up at DVD on my 92" (diagonal) screen. Descent transfers will be tolerable now - so that's saying something - don't forget that there's a ton of good movies not yet on BD! Considering Best Buy sells HDMI cables for $100 this player is a real bargain, especially for a first effort. Anyway, for me this player is a keeper and I'll be enjoying it until NEC or someone comes out with something better. I'll try for some screen shots, but it might be a couple of weeks. The only way anyone will know if this player will work for them is to buy one - keep it if you like it and take it back if you don't! Trying to make sense of the contradictory opinions here is absolutely pointless.

I agree wholeheartedly!

I've only owned my player for a week now ... but I can tell you that I'm *not* returning it.

The 1080p 24hz mode seems to be the almost perfect companion for my
720p Optoma HD65 projector. Good quality film-based DVDs look just short of HD; while CGI movies like Madagascar truly do look hi-def. (And *much better* than Cable HD). Add in the decrease in "judder" (due to the 24hz mode) and this player just provides tremendous "bang-for-the-buck".

After the economy picks up a little -- and the format matures a little more -- I still intend to go "Blu" ... In the meantime I'll happily stay with DVD for awhile longer ...

I must agree with this. Some DVDs with this player look actually BETTER than HD broadcasts. I was watching the Mummy on Starz HD, and then I quickly dropped in the DVD. I must say from my viewing distance, the DVD looked actually better. Definitley cleaner. I am a Blu ray fan to the hilt, I love my player in the family room, and I think Bluray will have a bright future. But, I feel like my standard DVD collection has been reborn.

I must agree with this. Some DVDs with this player look actually BETTER than HD broadcasts. I was watching the Mummy on Starz HD, and then I quickly dropped in the DVD. I must say from my viewing distance, the DVD looked actually better. Definitley cleaner. I am a Blu ray fan to the hilt, I love my player in the family room, and I think Bluray will have a bright future. But, I feel like my standard DVD collection has been reborn.

The show you were watching on Starz had to be upconverted. It's impossible for a non-HD image to look better than a HD image if rendered properly. There is 6 times the resolution in a 1080i/p image compared to the 480i/p from a DVD.

There is a chance that each of your components outputs "correct" video. So, only one calibration is needed. Or, the display has "memories" for it's input so you can save/recall different calibration settings. Video processors can be matched/calibrated to input devices so they can output the correct video to the output, but I'm not sure about receivers. It may depend on how "high end" the receiver is - does it actually have a video processor or does it just do passthru.

larry

Yes, it has a video processor but I don't use it. I have the Onkyo 905 but I set it to "through" so it just does a pass through. I've set it to "through" because of all the negative postings about the Reon processor.

If you're running all the components via an HDMI receiver and only one HDMI connection to the TV, how would you calibrate the TV for each player?
That would depend on your equipment. One way is to use any controls the player might have to match the device that doesn't have controls.

John

I think what Toshiba's done is the tip of the iceberg. I expect other CE manufacturers to join the fray with their own versions. The studios keep revisiting the same movie on DVD multiple times with different packaging to milk the market so why shouldn't CE manufacturers revisit the upconverting market multiple times? It sure has lots of room!

It also seems rather simple, with the economy the hi-end market is disappearing so to me it would be a no brainer to just dump blu-ray and work on improving dvd. Don't get me wrong I love hi-tech gagets as much as the next person, but when it comes down to money people are cheap!

The show you were watching on Starz had to be upconverted. It's impossible for a non-HD image to look better than a HD image if rendered properly. There is 6 times the resolution in a 1080i/p image compared to the 480i/p from a DVD.

But this is the reality of much broadcast HD, not all of it is great HD, and after DVD upscaling the 6X ratio no longer applies. At least some of the invented/interpolated 'faux' information, improves the PQ, brings it closer to HD. An upscaled image looks better than one not upscaled. I don't know what the 6X ratio should really be, but it implies a huge qualitative PQ difference that just isn't there.

My equipment is two years old, and I have a run of the mill Sony upconverter, and I used to do the same thing when some HD movie was broadcast ... insert the DVD, match scenes, and flip back and forth. Depending on the quality of the DVD transfer, sometimes I could not tell which was which, other times the PQ difference was there, but always just a subtle improvement that the rest of my family would never see nor care about.

It is really dependent on screen size. I have a 50 inch plasma and an 88 inch front projector and it is much easier to tell a difference on the FP system, but I can still tell when a signal is upconverted on the plasma, but I know what to look for. Golf tournaments are notorious for using upconversion, especially with the "on course" cameras.

I just set up my tv with a 3 hdmi switch. I calibrated the picture with the dve disc using the 500 do to not adjustments available on it, then i calibrated my 983 and xa2 using their on board controls. I noticed that the 500 does not show the blacker than black bar on the dve or thx drop down. But with the same input i was surprised how close all of the settings were to the 500 by the 983 and xa2. I really did not have to make any real changes to the original settings in the players. I am still amazed by the pq of the 500 compared to the other two and i dont seem to have alot of the problems with the pq that others have. The 500 has alot of short commings compared to the higher priced 983 and xa2, it doesnt do well on video base dvds such as my series deep space nine. The picture on the 983 and xa2 is far superior at playing them plus they seem to do a better job on poor transfers too. But the 500 does a real fine job on film based dvds with decent transfers. I do not use alot of the features of the higher priced players and can not compare them. Both the 983 and xa2 show blacker than black but when watching a film such as Blade Runner which has alot of dark scenes i can not tell much differnce between the 500 and them. How important is it anyway, i am not a videophile so dont see alot of the little details problems i guess.

I think what Toshiba's done is the tip of the iceberg. I expect other CE manufacturers to join the fray with their own versions. The studios keep revisiting the same movie on DVD multiple times with different packaging to milk the market so why shouldn't CE manufacturers revisit the upconverting market multiple times? It sure has lots of room!
-Toshiba SRT & XDE
-NEC SRT (http://translate.google.com.br/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.necel.com%2Fcbic%2Fja%2Fcore%2F superresolution.html&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8)
-ZORAN SRT (http://www.letitwave.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=39&Itemid=66)
-HITACHI SRT (http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/news/2008/09/25/Hitachi-Demos--Super-Resolution-Technology-/p1)
-SHOMI Technologies "HD @ SD" (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/09/prweb1358264.htm)

http://www.hdtvuk.tv/shomi_technologies_logo-thumb-200x75.gif

Shomi Technologies Announces Release of HD-Quality over Standard Definition Video Processing Technology

New technology provides HD-quality output from Standard Definition DVDs and other video sources and offers potential alternative to Blu-Ray.


News of Shomi Technologies' new processor comes just weeks after Toshiba released its much-anticipated DVD upconversion product, the Toshiba XDE-500. But unlike the technology used in Toshiba's product, which focuses on Edge, Color and Contrast Enhancement prior to up-converting to 1080i output, the Digital Cinema Video Improvement Processor works on 15 separate areas of video improvement simultaneously, resulting in signal quality which drastically improves color, blacks, whites, contrast, detail, resolution, clarity, flesh tones and more.
http://www.shomitech.com/pr_hdatsd.html


"Many companies are releasing products which attempt to improve and enhance the video viewing experience, but no other technology comes close to producing vibrant, clarity of detail images in your picture as our HD @ SD Digital Cinema Video Improvement Processor."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/09/prweb1358264.htm

SHOMI technologies RSNA 2008 event demo:

http://rsna2008.rsna.org/images/rsna_2008_logo.jpg
November 30–December 5 • McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois

http://rsna2008.rsna.org/customcf/exhibitor_list/displayEx.cfm?exbID=2031&width=600

Roberto

I just found that this unit has an automatic turn off after about twenty minutes and i cannot find a way to diable this feature. If you stop a movie for more than twenty minutes it turns off and when turned back on it starts the movie over so the resume after stop is good only for twenty minutes. Is there a way to turn off this feature? I havent tried leaving it paused for that long to see if it turns off or not but not sure if it is good to leave a player paused that long. Any opinions on this?

I posted earlier that the video playback was not as good as the 983 and xa2, I was wrong i was using my memory of how the pq was and i decided to acutally compare instead of using my poor memory. The flaws that i saw on the 500 are also present on the other players so must be on the dvd transfer. After watching the same scenes on all the players they looked the same so oops on that one. I have read that some have a problem with letter breakup on the fbi logo etc. My player has perfect lettering on the logo and the still lettering on the screen. I really do not see any of the problems that others reported. No halos are jaggies etc. I have to say this is a really good player and i wish i could take pictures of my play back so everyone could see how good it reallly looks. Maybe my Sony player is cleaning it up otherwise i can not explain why my player looks so good compared to top quality players.

FBI logo looks like HD on my 40 Sony LCD. :cool:

Wayne

I posted earlier that the video playback was not as good as the 983 and xa2, I was wrong i was using my memory of how the pq was and i decided to acutally compare instead of using my poor memory. The flaws that i saw on the 500 are also present on the other players so must be on the dvd transfer. After watching the same scenes on all the players they looked the same so oops on that one. I have read that some have a problem with letter breakup on the fbi logo etc. My player has perfect lettering on the logo and the still lettering on the screen. I really do not see any of the problems that others reported. No halos are jaggies etc. I have to say this is a really good player and i wish i could take pictures of my play back so everyone could see how good it reallly looks. Maybe my Sony player is cleaning it up otherwise i can not explain why my player looks so good compared to top quality players.

It looks good compared to other top quality players because it is - at least for film based DVDs! I've now had a look with it hooked into my G90 and it looks better than any of my other upconverters - 2 HD DVD players and 2 BD players. I wouldn't use this player for 4:3 DVDs, but for movies, well I'm going through my DVD collection again and have just bought a couple of DVDs (the cost of DVDs a huge relief from the cost of BDs!). I'm not having any text problems either. This is a "killer" player for the money.

Robertoy
1)Will this be licensed to multiple manufacturers?
2)Have you personally seen this in action, if so , what can you contribute to this thread from your observations
3)Realistically, how long before you would expect this on the shelves of Circuit City ?
4) Please open up a thread in this forum when you have info to share on SHOMI
5) What is your connection with the SHOMI. (thanks for sharing)
Thanks

-Toshiba SRT & XDE
-NEC SRT (http://translate.google.com.br/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.necel.com%2Fcbic%2Fja%2Fcore%2F superresolution.html&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8)
-ZORAN SRT (http://www.letitwave.fr/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=39&Itemid=66)
-HITACHI SRT (http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/news/2008/09/25/Hitachi-Demos--Super-Resolution-Technology-/p1)
-SHOMI Technologies "HD @ SD" (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/09/prweb1358264.htm)

http://www.hdtvuk.tv/shomi_technologies_logo-thumb-200x75.gif

http://www.shomitech.com/pr_hdatsd.html


http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/09/prweb1358264.htm

SHOMI technologies RSNA 2008 event demo:

http://rsna2008.rsna.org/images/rsna_2008_logo.jpg
November 30–December 5 • McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois

http://rsna2008.rsna.org/customcf/exhibitor_list/displayEx.cfm?exbID=2031&width=600

Roberto

The Hitachi SRT from the link above looks spectacular!

I'm just glad I bought the XD-E500 now instead of having to wait 2 years for "super resolution" technology. I think I'll be ready for a new player then.

FBI logo looks like HD on my 40 Sony LCD.

Pictures, please!

I really don't know how important the quality of the FBI logo is in judging a players performance. I see a lot of variation in quality of FBI logos betwenn different DVD's. For me, if it looks really bad, I would blame my TV, never my DVD player. I think I should have blamed the maker of the DVD.

I think I need to return my player because it does the weird interlacing problems on DVD menus and "paused" screens initiated by menu's, etc...

for the people that have returned theirs for a newer model that seems to fix this problem - how did you know it was a newer model when you returned it?

Any secret code to look for in the in serial number or on the box??

Does anyone know the code for the demo mode for this player?

I'm running the XDE at 1080p24 into my Lumagen and out at 1080p48 to my G90 and onto a 92" diagonal screen. DVD has never, and I mean never looked better on this particular system. I spent the entire afternoon and evening going through my DVD collection (and comparing the DVD version of several movies with the HD DVD version) - my DVD collection has become a valued asset again! I'm thrilled with what this player can do. When I hit pause it pauses with a rock solid detailed image - no problems at all. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones who got a good one.

Hi. I live in the Philippines and unfortunately, we don't have access to most of the stuff you have mentioned (unless we buy it directly via the net which would cost a lot and is very risky).

Anyway, the favorite upscaler DVD here of most people here who are budget conscious are the pioneer dvd players (DV400/410/600/610). My question now is:

a) how is the XD-E500 compared to the pioneer DV610 in terms of upscaling and PQ?
b) what other players within the price range of the E500 can we consider given that upscaling and PQ is the priority?
c) oppo/ps3/etc and the like are not within the budget. At most $150 is the limit.

Thanks

Mine plays FBI logo at half resolution when it's a still image.Some dvds have a video loop , and then it's perfect.
I really don't care about the fbi warning . I do care about the movies though and I'm very happy with this player . DVDs have never look this good in my system.

Yes, in fact, it changes the entire grayscale slightly upwards. Does it improve shadow detail? Yes. Is it accurate? No.

JVC's RS2 front projector has several gamma selections and one can even customize gamma with this particular unit. Are any of them "accurate"? Probably not a 100% - they sure can't all be. This flexibility with respect to gamma is a selling feature. Many consumers want choice including me. Life is short. I want the best viewing experience I can afford - I'm not willing to strain my eyes trying to make out detail in dark scenes for some movies just because the directors are sadists - especially when I can do something about it. Did the directors take my particular viewing environment into consideration when they made their lighting choices? Not likely!

Robertoy
1)Will this be licensed to multiple manufacturers?
2)Have you personally seen this in action, if so , what can you contribute to this thread from your observations
3)Realistically, how long before you would expect this on the shelves of Circuit City ?
4) Please open up a thread in this forum when you have info to share on SHOMI
5) What is your connection with the SHOMI. (thanks for sharing)
Thanks

1) I don´t know...We hope that, including as a solution to be implemented also in BD players for better DVD upscale.
2) No (i live in Brazil)
3) I don´t know...Send a email to SHOMI for this question.
4) Let´s wait for more info on the SHOMI "HD @ SD" technology.
5) None (and also none with Toshiba, NEC, ZORAN or Hitachi).

Regarding this SD upscale technologies, this companies still sees a lot of potencial in existing SD material (including DVD´s).

With 90,000 DVD titles available, some companies still want to explore (and improve) the market for this discs...


DVD to pass 90,000 titles

September 4, 2008

According to the DVD Release Report, the total number of DVDs available by the end of 2008 will pass the 90k mark. From now until the end of the year, a total of 90,440 titles are scheduled to be released. As far as Blu-ray goes, a total of 684 hi-def titles have been released, with another 191 coming in the end of the year. This includes high profile Blu-ray releases, including Iron Man, Indiana Jones, WALL-E, Sleeping Beauty, and the Godfather Trilogy.
http://www.dvdnewsroom.com/dvd-to-pass-90000-titles/

Even with FullHD becoming more and more popular, it´s interesting to see new technologies beeing developed to improve SD existing material. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/images/icons/icon14.gif

Roberto

I think I need to return my player because it does the weird interlacing problems on DVD menus and "paused" screens initiated by menu's, etc...

Mine plays FBI logo at half resolution when it's a still image.Some dvds have a video loop , and then it's perfect.

This has to be it. Some splash screens are a single frame (paused) while some are actually video clips. I guess if disc space isn't an issue, maybe the video loop for 10 seconds isn't that big a deal. Encoded as video, it should still be pretty small since there's no movement anyway.

Until I see shots of the exact same screen using two different XD-E500s demonstrating this problem in one but not the other, I'm going with the above explanation. Seems silly to encode a static text frame as video, but that has to be it.

I watched "Fools Gold" last night and I must say I'm still darn impressed with this player. No EE/ringing to note. All I noticed was some macro noise around the text in the opening credits and the obvious effects of very non-uniform water in some shots where it comprised most of the frame. If Toshiba's intent was to keep people from going Blu, it sure did work on me. I'm happy to get my HD fix from regular programming (which, BTW, costs me essentially the same as the SD) until BD players and software are substantially cheaper than they are now.

I'm one to always detect the layer change, and I must say I've yet to detect it in any of the movies I've watched thus far. Clearly they are buffering lots of video to process it and its likely this also makes the layer change seamless. Anyone have a similar experience? (However, I still maintain there is some issue beyond the 2hr mark where I think something about the buffering goes askew and leads to the audio/video freeze for several seconds.)

JVC's RS2 front projector has several gamma selections and one can even customize gamma with this particular unit. Are any of them "accurate"? Probably not a 100% - they sure can't all be. This flexibility with respect to gamma is a selling feature. Many consumers want choice including me. Life is short. I want the best viewing experience I can afford - I'm not willing to strain my eyes trying to make out detail in dark scenes for some movies just because the directors are sadists - especially when I can do something about it. Did the directors take my particular viewing environment into consideration when they made their lighting choices? Not likely!

I have my projector calibrated with a gamma of 2.2 and don't have issues with seeing details in the background. I will agree though if someone is using the default "movie" setting on their display which may or may not have the proper gamma associated with it, then this player may help. Also, if someone doesn't have their display properly calibrated for color or sharpness, they may see a benefit of this player--I personally don't, but I don't begrudge anyone else being happy with the player. To each their own.

Picking one up today. Looking forward to playing with it. When I've used a forced 24fps on blu-ray player, that has caused "issues" with the SD-DVD menus. How does the 24fps work on the Toshiba?

I have my projector calibrated with a gamma of 2.2 and don't have issues with seeing details in the background. I will agree though if someone is using the default "movie" setting on their display which may or may not have the proper gamma associated with it, then this player may help. Also, if someone doesn't have their display properly calibrated for color or sharpness, they may see a benefit of this player--I personally don't, but I don't begrudge anyone else being happy with the player. To each their own.

I like your attitude - live and let live. Greg Rogers uses a 2.4 gamma with the RS2 which he feels works due to the projector's high on/off contrast. A 2.2 gamma would probably "open up" the image more at the expense of a little depth. Neither are necessarily spot on in terms of accuracy - it's basically what works for you with a particular movie in your particular environment. "Accuracy" is an interesting term. Blade Runner isn't very accurate to the original story; however, The Dead Zone is accurate to the original story. Both work and are very good movies IMO.

Picking one up today. Looking forward to playing with it. When I've used a forced 24fps on blu-ray player, that has caused "issues" with the SD-DVD menus. How does the 24fps work on the Toshiba?

Beautiful! I won't go back to 1080/60p after using this player at 24fps. Moire is a thing of the past.

Wayne

Wow!

anyone knows how this would stack up against the pioneer 610?

Kicked my 410K's behind.

how about the 610? is the pq a big improvement?

joms...

I don't think the pq on the 610 is that different than the 410 was my point. The 410's pq is great mind you. But this Toshiba adds a crispness, depth to the colors, that the 410 could not. The Toshiba is more than just a different chipset for upconversion. Its a different way of processing the data which ends up as a picture on the screen. You will never get 24fps off a regular dvd player even if the sd-dvd disk can support it.

Its not a fair comparison if you will as what the Toshiba is doing makes it a bit different piece of hardware than a regular dvd player.

The technology Toshiba is using is coming from different companies also. You might want to take a look at some of the other options that have rethought how to process the data from the disk on the way to the screen. However it looks like those other products will not be around any time soon.

Hello,

PROBLEM:
Using FF on 2 different E500 units, I find that on 8x, 30x, or 100x, it randomly and abruptly quits FF and goes straight to the DVD disc Title Menu in a split second.
Faster than if I pressed Menu button on remote.
Its like its quitting out of FF mode unexpectedly. Does this thing run WinCE?! :p

Then I have to start over and skip forward to the nearest chapter I recall and FF from there again to pickup where I left off. Annoying. :mad:

What makes this worse, is that Toshiba keeps releasing their SD DVD players with no time elapsed on the front display of the unit. :confused:
This is the 3rd SD Toshiba unit with this odd limitation. It just shows the chapter on the front panel such as "03" and no time elapsed.
I check the manual, and I ask toshiba support, and they always say 'sorry, that feature is not supported.'
That is so odd. Even a $29 Memorex 'no display' unit displays time elapsed! WTH? Anyone know wassup wit dat? But I digress. :rolleyes:

Additionally, there are some discs that freeze for 3 seconds during the FF process frequently throughout the entire title. But not sure what to make of this yet. Disc or player?

SOLUTION:
none so far.

Tried burned discs (DVD-R, DVD+R DL), original studio mastered discs, unplugged the unit for 15 min and reset and try again. Contacted Toshiba support with no solution/Firmware.

I suspect its running out of memory, laser tracking problem, going too fast, or some other design flaw?

I am on my 2nd E500 and find that it still has the same FF quit problem.
I contacted Toshiba support, which has never given me good support even in the past with other products. They said they were unaware of this problem, had no solution/firmware/fix and suggested I return it for another one.
So I did.
Second unit, Same problem.

I have other Toshiba SD DVD players in the past SD-6000, SD-K970, etc. and they all had poor playback and navigation compatibility. PQ was mostly good but I always ended up having to returning them because of navigation compatibility problems.
Seems the SD DVD QA testing of Toshiba needs major revamping for some years now.

My HD units (A2, A3) have been solid for the most part. So there are two different faces to Toshiba DVD hardware it seems (or two separate engineering divisions for SD and HD?!).

Does anyone else have problems with FF on the E500?

This is a deal killer for me, even with the beautiful images. I would have to return this before the 45 day return period is up if there is no fix or firmware by that time. I would just use my existing players and wait for a fix or 2nd generation unit that is more robust and dependable.

PQ is excellent in 'Color' enhanced mode on my 50" PDP 1080i HDMI. More enjoyable than my 2 Oppo units, A2/A3, and BDP S301, BX1, and BDP7200.

When the E500 hits sub $100, its gonna start a new standard in popular mainstream players. :)

I've had a similar problem to above. Several times now I've been navigating the Avia menus for video test patterns, and when I my finger accidentally hits the FF "button" (I'm using a custom-designed button layout on my Pronto TSU2000) when I intend to hit the down arrow, it quickly quits the session and returns to the "XDE" splash screen. From here, its game over. No keys do anything (that I can find anyway) and they all cause the same text bubble "Operation not allowed in current mode" (or something like that) in the upper right corner. Have to power cycle to recover from this. Hey, at least the power button on the remote still works! ;)

Not a huge deal, just annoying is all. And certainly not a deal breaker for me.

I know people complain about the lack of this, and lack of that on this player. My previous player had a front display clock and I could have cared less. With this player you simply have to hit the "display" button and it appears on screen. Some would actually find that more convenient! I'm not saying this or any of the other "lacking" features isn't important to some folks, but I have yet to find there's anything missing in the player that prevents me from putting in a disc, setting up the options I want, and sitting down and enjoying the program to completion. Again, I know not everyone uses a player like this but I think the vast majority do, and that's exactly the audience (pardon the pun) Toshiba are going for with this player.

It does sound as if a firmware fix is a reasonable hope. I'll contact Toshiba.

I just contacted Toshiba.

Toshiba Contact info:

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/customersupport/contact.asp

Customer Service Group questions: 800-631-3811
Assistance with DVD Recorders or TiVo Digital Video Recorder questions: 800-319-6684

Has anyone got either of the BBC productions "Planet Earth" or "Blue Planet" on DVD they can try on this player? I was hoping to pick them up soon and wondered if they were shot and mastered as film or video. Anyone know? If video, I'm curious to know how they play on this player given all the relatively poor video mode deinterlacing. That would be a real bummer.

Planet Earth looks really good on my 500.

Thanks, Jerry. Are you running 1080p/60 or 1080p/24 output?

I sure hope folks will take a moment and test their 500's for the "hit the FF button too many times locks up goes to screen saver screen" anomaly being reported. And if they have it take advantage of the contact information I posted a few posts back.

This seems like a firmware problem to me. The firmware is not keeping track of the multiple FF commands correctly, not storing them in a buffer/cache/something correctly, and then losing its mind. This does not seem to be a big problem to address. But Toshiba needs a fair chance at hearing from us. So I hope folks can let Toshiba know. There is an email option so its not that hard.

I am using 1080p/60

Toshiba replied....

Thanks for writing!



We are currently addressing the situation.



For further assistance, please write back or call our Customer Solutions Department at 1-800-631-3811. They are available Mon-Fri, 8AM to 7PM Central time.

Toshiba Customer Service

I have 24fps to "On". I noticed last night on some tv show dvd's that periodically the playback and just for a second, looked like slow motion. Clearly a frame display issue. Turned off 24fps and playback was normal. PQ outstanding the whole time of course.

Just sent this to Toshiba.

I have a XBE-500. Love it. I have a 24fps capable display so have turned the 1060/24fps to "On" in the player. For film dvd's it works great. I have 24fps to "On". However on ntsc tv shows when playing the DVD periodically the playback and just for a second is in slow motion. Clearly a frame display issue, frame skipping, something. Turned off 24fps and playback was normal. PQ outstanding the whole time of course. I thought the 24fps display was determined by the content on the DVD? Why would the Toshiba try to do 24fps with a NTSC DVD? It should not be trying to do 24fps with 29.97 framed sources. Something is off in the "determine frame rate of the source" logic.

^^^ You meant video based DVDs. Film based DVDs (region 1) are still NTSC.

Here's something I found: "Both the NTSC-format SVCD and DVD specifications require a display frame rate of 29.970 pictures/second. If encoded correctly, a 23.976fps MPEG-2 file has its display frame rate defined as 29.970 interlaced. To pad the 23.976 progressive frames to the 29.970 interlaced frames, the picture headers include "REPEAT_FIRST_FIELD" and "TOP_FIELD_FIRST" flags that instruct the player to play a picture for either 2 or 3 fields. If a "REPEAT_FIRST_FIELD" sequence of 10… (accompanied with a "TOP_FIELD_FIRST" pattern of 1001…) is used, then a 3:2 pulldown will be applied by the DVD or SVCD player to convert the video to 29.970 interlaced frames per second. Computer MPEG-2 decoders, and progressive-scan DVD and SVCD players, will use these to convert to 59.94 frames per second."

Does it happen on all video based DVDs? Or is the one you picked just miss-flagged?

larry

I'll be interested to hear the reply to this. I'm pretty sure you just have to use 1080p/60 for video material. I can't see frame rate conversion of 30p/60i into 24p as a design goal, it just doesn't make sense. Its only purpose is to display film originated content at the native frame rate if your display supports it, thereby eliminating the judder produced by the 3,2,3,2 sequence required by 30p or 60p displays. To convert video based material which is originated as either 60i or 30p, some information would have to be discarded to reduce it to 24fps (regardless of how its encoded on the disc, this is irrelevent.) Why would you want to do this? The 24fps mode is for film based material only, pretty sure they say this right in the manual (I'm at work so I don't have it in front of me.)

While I have no issue with posting replies from companies as you've done above, I really don't think there's any need to put the particular rep who responded on the spot by including their name. Maybe a good idea to remove it when you get a chance. That said, my experience with this particular individual has been excellent. He's been responsive, taken my problems seriously, and understands I have a solid technical background. Inquiries answered by another rep, OTOH, have been an absolute joke. They all say the same thing, "Unplug your unit for three minutes and this should clear the problem." This person is either illiterate or completely unqualified. All I'll say is their name rhymes with "wet".

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. It happens with TV shows on DVD. Not films on DVD.

So Iron Man on SD-DVD in 24fps plays fine. The Office TV show has the slow motion "artifacts" if you will scattered intermittently through the disk playback.

I agree it doesn't make sense that is why I think it is a sensing thing where the player is confused and when it should not be doing 24fps it still is trying to do so.

I removed it because it made you uncomfortable. There is nothing particularly revealing about posting the first name of a tech. But if it bothers you, I'll remove it.

Even film based DVD's can have problems depending on how they are flagged at encoding. Earlier in the thread I listed two such DVDs, one of them being Star Wars.

Also, if someone doesn't have their display properly calibrated for color or sharpness, they may see a benefit of this player--I personally don't
Dave,
Excuse me while I've been away taking a break and safeguarding my savings as the worlds economy goes into meltdown mode. How is Josh doing?


I resent when you guys recommend purchasing $20,000 projector screens and $35,000 projectors which actually degrade the image by applying both electronic and optical scaling and distortions. Shame Shame Shame!

1) FOR BEST PERFORMANCE 1:1 PIXEL MAPPING MUST BE PRESERVED from the source pixel element memory to the display pixel memory.

It is hysterically ironic to read such obvious and inconsistent logic being promoted all in the name of selling more of performance degrading gear.

2) Both DVD and Blu-Ray should output at 24p for film sources.

Readers please try to follow this trail of questionable recommendations as its necessary to follow the tracks over time:
What is really ironic is the worshiping of KURO plasma projectors which still play games with black levels:
1) the grey in scenes is gone from this years models, but we never heard it in LAST years reviews. Experienced consumers noticed this flaw and complained. Who got burned by the bum recommendations?
2) The black levels vary over time
3) the 480i to 1920p deinterlacing performance is terrible
4) the 1080i to 1080p performance is also terrible
5) great blacks but no real whites. Just grey whites. As a result no "pop" to the picture
6) very high power consumption. These non-green panels really do "cook"!

So here is the puchline: its super ironic that the Toshiba XD-E500 is a perfect mate for the KURO plasmas as its the only DVD player which outputs 24p at 1920*1080p.
All that is left for the Pioneer to do is triple the 24Hz frames to 72Hz. Hopefully it can do this one task without messing up.

Very few people actually look out for the consumer as there is no money in it. I do because its a passion, not a profession.

Compared to my samsung bd-p1400 on 108" elite screen projected by a Panasonic Pt-ae2000u, this player merely introduced artificating including jaggies, halos, edge-definition, block noise. 24fps implementation is flawed, as periodic freezes and slo-mo's show a syncing problem, probably because true 24fps frame rate is 23.9xxxx fps. samsung released a firmware update correcting this issue in my bd-player.

for what its worth, these issues were inconsistent. when they were absent, the player occasionally produced a slightly sharper image. imo- not enough to breath new life into dvd. the PQ is still so far from blu it is uninspiring to downright distracting to watch. not worth the expenditure over run of the mill players.

ps- poor ability to play cd-r's.

1) FOR BEST PERFORMANCE 1:1 PIXEL MAPPING MUST BE PRESERVED from the source pixel element memory to the display pixel memory.

If you believe that, why are you advocating an upconverting DVD player that scales a 720x480 DVD image up to 1920x1080?

2) Both DVD and Blu-Ray should output at 24p for film sources.

The elimination of 3:2 pulldown by 24p output is a nice benefit, but it is a very minor improvement in picture quality compared to the severe artifacts introduced throughout the rest of the picture by this player.

The rest of your rant has nothing to do with this player. Please try to focus on the topic at hand.

I resent when you guys recommend purchasing $20,000 projector screens and $35,000 projectors which actually degrade the image by applying both electronic and optical scaling and distortions. Shame Shame Shame!

Please link me to ONE review where I recommended any equipment in that price range. It should take you a LONG time to find since I have never done so.

1) FOR BEST PERFORMANCE 1:1 PIXEL MAPPING MUST BE PRESERVED from the source pixel element memory to the display pixel memory.

It is hysterically ironic to read such obvious and inconsistent logic being promoted all in the name of selling more of performance degrading gear.

As Josh said, then why are you recommending this player?

2) Both DVD and Blu-Ray should output at 24p for film sources.

Agreed for Blu-ray, not for DVD IMO. Blu-ray was developed and encoded for 24p (and 60p) output, DVD wasn't. DVD was developed for 480i/60 output with proper 3:2 pulldown of 24 fps films. Up until a couple of years ago, there weren't any displays that would even accept a 24p signal. Some DVDs will benefit from this, but some won't and have playback issues. The WAF of this "feature" is virtually nil because when the movie starts skipping jumping all over the place, how will they know how to fix it?

Readers please try to follow this trail of questionable recommendations as its necessary to follow the tracks over time:
What is really ironic is the worshiping of KURO plasma projectors which still play games with black levels:
1) the grey in scenes is gone from this years models, but we never heard it in LAST years reviews. Experienced consumers noticed this flaw and complained. Who got burned by the bum recommendations?
2) The black levels vary over time
3) the 480i to 1920p deinterlacing performance is terrible
4) the 1080i to 1080p performance is also terrible
5) great blacks but no real whites. Just grey whites. As a result no "pop" to the picture
6) very high power consumption. These non-green panels really do "cook"!

I've never reviewed a Kuro plasma, so why the attack? Also, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

So here is the puchline: its super ironic that the Toshiba XD-E500 is a perfect mate for the KURO plasmas as its the only DVD player which outputs 24p at 1920*1080p.
All that is left for the Pioneer to do is triple the 24Hz frames to 72Hz. Hopefully it can do this one task without messing up.

The problem here is the XD-E500 doesn't do it properly either...there are flaws in its implementation, just as there were flaws with this in Toshiba's HD DVD players as well.

Very few people actually look out for the consumer as there is no money in it. I do because its a passion, not a profession.

It's not a profession for me either...it's a hobby. I have a full time job outside of the industry. Don't question my integrity when you don't know what the hell you're talking about. I think the tin foil-hat you're wearing is clouding your judgment.

Dave,
Excuse me while I've been away taking a break and safeguarding my savings as the worlds economy goes into meltdown mode. How is Josh doing?


I resent when you guys recommend purchasing $20,000 projector screens and $35,000 projectors which actually degrade the image by applying both electronic and optical scaling and distortions. Shame Shame Shame!

1) FOR BEST PERFORMANCE 1:1 PIXEL MAPPING MUST BE PRESERVED from the source pixel element memory to the display pixel memory.

It is hysterically ironic to read such obvious and inconsistent logic being promoted all in the name of selling more of performance degrading gear.

2) Both DVD and Blu-Ray should output at 24p for film sources.

Readers please try to follow this trail of questionable recommendations as its necessary to follow the tracks over time:
What is really ironic is the worshiping of KURO plasma projectors which still play games with black levels:
1) the grey in scenes is gone from this years models, but we never heard it in LAST years reviews. Experienced consumers noticed this flaw and complained. Who got burned by the bum recommendations?
2) The black levels vary over time
3) the 480i to 1920p deinterlacing performance is terrible
4) the 1080i to 1080p performance is also terrible
5) great blacks but no real whites. Just grey whites. As a result no "pop" to the picture
6) very high power consumption. These non-green panels really do "cook"!

So here is the puchline: its super ironic that the Toshiba XD-E500 is a perfect mate for the KURO plasmas as its the only DVD player which outputs 24p at 1920*1080p.
All that is left for the Pioneer to do is triple the 24Hz frames to 72Hz. Hopefully it can do this one task without messing up.

Very few people actually look out for the consumer as there is no money in it. I do because its a passion, not a profession.

As someone who knows a Kuro Plasma, I have no idea what you are referring to above! What does it have to do with the E500 or XDE.

For what it's worth. XDE is an interesting concept. We'll surely be seeing other products with this 'type' of technology being employed as a post processing feature for SD content.

While, I've found the E500 to be pretty good for certain types of content, this current iteration of XDE is far from perfect.

I don't agree with people who say this is 'only' an artifact ridden mess (it is not and good film transfer can look quite extra ordinarily good), nor do I agree with those who say this is a 'world class' DVD player. For me, the inability to handle 4:3 content well, cheap build quality, so so deinterlacing and poor performance with video means that this player may not be sufficient for most people.

So thumbs up for XDE, but pass on the E500. Just my 2 cents...

As someone who knows a Kuro Plasma, I have no idea what you are referring to above! What does it have to do with the E500 or XDE.

For what it's worth. XDE is an interesting concept. We'll surely be seeing other products with this 'type' of technology being employed as a post processing feature for SD content.

While, I've found the E500 to be pretty good for certain types of content, this current iteration of XDE is far from perfect.

I don't agree with people who say this is 'only' an artifact ridden mess (it is not and good film transfer can look quite extra ordinarily good), nor do I agree with those who say this is a 'world class' DVD player. For me, the inability to handle 4:3 content well, cheap build quality, so so deinterlacing and poor performance with video means that this player may not be sufficient for most people.

So thumbs up for XDE, but pass on the E500. Just my 2 cents...

My review of the player should post this week and I've pretty much said the same exact thing, but please, read my review ;)

Fresh fish here. I have been following this thread with great interest since I just bought the Panny 50pz800u, and I need a DVD player. Based on what I read in this thread,I decided to give the XDE a try. I will not be keeping this player. I have watched 3 dvd's since I bought it. Jesus Christ Superstar,Bladerunner,and National Treasure. Superstar and Bladerunner were brand new,Treasure was slightly used. The good: PQ on Bladerunner and Treasure were excellent. Even Superstar,which is a poor transfer at best,seemed somewhat improved in the color mode. No problems with the FBI warnings. The bad: I experienced freezes on both Superstar and Treasure about half way through the movie. I also had the FF hard freeze that others have experienced. I tried to play one DVD-R and the XDE would not play it. Plus as others have said,the built quality is very cheap. Never the less,I was very impressed with the PQ of the XDE and I think Toshiba is on to something here,so I will probably purchase another one after the first of the year when hopefully prices are down and quality is up.

Whitewong
Are you that cheap that you wont pay the price for trying this player NOW. Yet , you will screw the manufacturer or vendor you bought this from because you arent willing to pay the few bucks that it will cost you extra now vs in December? They lose money when you do what you are doing. Do you not give a damn?
You screw the vendor , they now have a return on their hands, yet you like the unit well enough to buy it for a few bucks less in the next month or so.
Why do you think its ok to be dishonest.
The unit is going to eventually have an update to address the FF issue you mention.


Fresh fish here. I have been following this thread with great interest since I just bought the Panny 50pz800u, and I need a DVD player. Based on what I read in this thread,I decided to give the XDE a try. I will not be keeping this player. I have watched 3 dvd's since I bought it. Jesus Christ Superstar,Bladerunner,and National Treasure. Superstar and Bladerunner were brand new,Treasure was slightly used. The good: PQ on Bladerunner and Treasure were excellent. Even Superstar,which is a poor transfer at best,seemed somewhat improved in the color mode. No problems with the FBI warnings. The bad: I experienced freezes on both Superstar and Treasure about half way through the movie. I also had the FF hard freeze that others have experienced. I tried to play one DVD-R and the XDE would not play it. Plus as others have said,the built quality is very cheap. Never the less,I was very impressed with the PQ of the XDE and I think Toshiba is on to something here,so I will probably purchase another one after the first of the year when hopefully prices are down and quality is up.

Any more bickering or posts not about the XDE-500 will result in being removed from the thread.

larry

I experienced freezes on both Superstar and Treasure about half way through the movie.

Can you elaborate, please. Was this similar to what I've been seeing where both the audio and video completely freeze for several seconds, then resume at the point where it would have been had it continued playing normally?

Can you elaborate, please. Was this similar to what I've been seeing where both the audio and video completely freeze for several seconds, then resume at the point where it would have been had it continued playing normally?

Doug, most likely, this is the layer change you are seeing.

If anyone's interested, my review is now live at Ultimate AV.

I think it is also important to consider this is a newly released product whose firmware will mature over time. All of these types of units are more like computers than less like them. Not sure exactly where that reality tipped from have SOME computer like properties to being really simply computers with a AV device front end, but it clearly did happen. Some of the "issues" I'm sure Toshiba will address as they get reported. This is why it is critical for us end users to at least email Toshiba with our observations. They can't fix what they don't know is "broken".

If anyone's interested, my review is now live at Ultimate AV.

Thank you for mentioning the problem displaying 4:3 correctly. For me that is a deal-breaker.

Thank you for mentioning the problem displaying 4:3 correctly. For me that is a deal-breaker.

Me too!

Doug, most likely, this is the layer change you are seeing.

Dave, I don't think so. I actually have yet to recognize the layer change on this player which has impressed me. I saw them ALL the time on my old RP91. Layer change will tend to cause a pause in audio/video, and this problem I'm having is more akin to a dropout. It always happens after 2hrs, and is consistently reproducible in the exact same spot over and over by replaying the same scene. The one time I thought to power cycle the unit, it went away! I was confident it wasn't the disc, they were all from my private collection and in pristine condition and this only reinforced that belief. The next time it happens I plan to be much more vigilant in investigating it. In a way I almost hope its a hardware issue that might be corrected by swapping the unit.

Thank you Dave Vaughn for your objective review. Here's the link for easy access: http://www.ultimateavmag.com/dvdplayers/1008toshdvd/

Even the cheapo $40 Philips 5990 can pillarbox and enhance color, sharpness, and brightness with a better MPEG decoder (Mediatek) plus USB 2.0 support for flash/hard drives, region free, etc.

There is no free lunch. Enhancing sharpness comes at a cost.

FYI, Bestbuy website has XDE500 finally on sale for $135+tax (local pickup to save shipping): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8970722&st=Toshiba+XDE&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218010258625

Of course you can buy Sony S300 refurbed blu-ray for $200 at Ecost: http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=41089638&navid=155441519

Does the 4:3 issue seem to be hardware dependent or is it firmware related? As in stuck as it is vs. it can be fixed?

Thank you Dave Vaughn for your objective review. Here's the link for easy access: http://www.ultimateavmag.com/dvdplayers/1008toshdvd/

Even the cheapo $40 Philips 5990 can pillarbox and enhance color, sharpness, and brightness with a better MPEG decoder (Mediatek) plus USB 2.0 support for flash/hard drives, region free, etc.

There is no free lunch. Enhancing sharpness comes at a cost.

FYI, Bestbuy website has XDE500 finally on sale for $135+tax (local pickup to save shipping): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8970722&st=Toshiba+XDE&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218010258625

Of course you can buy Sony S300 refurbed blu-ray for $200 at Ecost: http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=41089638&navid=155441519

Thanks Huey.

Thank you Dave Vaughn for your objective review. Here's the link for easy access: http://www.ultimateavmag.com/dvdplayers/1008toshdvd/

Even the cheapo $40 Philips 5990 can pillarbox and enhance color, sharpness, and brightness with a better MPEG decoder (Mediatek) plus USB 2.0 support for flash/hard drives, region free, etc.

There is no free lunch. Enhancing sharpness comes at a cost.

FYI, Bestbuy website has XDE500 finally on sale for $135+tax (local pickup to save shipping): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8970722&st=Toshiba+XDE&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218010258625

Of course you can buy Sony S300 refurbed blu-ray for $200 at Ecost: http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=41089638&navid=155441519

First, I agree this is a good balanced review. However, I do disagree with a few of your points above.

1. mpeg decoding is a commodity product today and there is practically no better or worse decoder. They are all about the same. De-interlacing and mpeg2 decoding are not the same thing (you can decode without deinterlacing). Mediatek isn't a world class de-interlacer (if that is what you are implying), just as the Zoran isn't either. I agree, Toshiba could have used a better chip (i.e. their own spurs chip or one from Marvel or Silicon Optix). Just my opinion here...

2.The E500 post processing is completely different than sharpness adjustments on not just the cheapo Philips but also the ultra expensive Denons etc. Ofcourse, I am assuming you have no idea what XDE even does, perhaps not even seen it in real life.

3. Yes. All post processing comes at a cost. With lower resolution or low bit rate video one can argue that post processing can add a lot of value to a lot of people. The idea behind post processing is to enhance the image, not simply to recreate what is on the disk.

4. A Sony S300 is a terrible DVD player. I would be shocked IF anyone considers it better than the E500.

5. This week I believe 94% who bought movie disks bought a DVD, 6% bought a Blu Ray. The average for the year (after the end of the format war) is 93% DVD and 7% Blu Ray.

6. There are other alternatives for HD for people who want to enjoy HD without buying a Blu Ray player. In fact there is MORE HD that is non Blu Ray. So no need to bring up Blu Ray in a DVD player review.

5. This week I believe 94% who bought movie disks bought a DVD, 6% bought a Blu Ray. The average for the year (after the end of the format war) is 93% DVD and 7% Blu Ray.

And early in DVD's product cycle VHS tapes outsold DVDs by a similar number.

6. There are other alternatives for HD for people who want to enjoy HD without buying a Blu Ray player. In fact there is MORE HD that is non Blu Ray. So no need to bring up Blu Ray in a DVD player review.

I brought up Blu-ray in the article for a couple of reasons:

First, it is trying to supplant DVD as a movie medium in peoples homes. Second, Toshiba claims to get a "near HD experience" from your DVD collections...a dubious claim at best.

Also, if you read the review, I had some offhand comments about the user experience on Blu-ray and the way their players interact with the viewer...they are damn slow compared to DVD.

As for DVD playback from a Blu-ray player, there has yet to be one that I would use over my Oppo 983 and they haven't even come close...even the PS3, which for the life of me I can't figure out why people say it's a great upconverting player...I wouldn't even qualify it as good.

As for other ways to get HD, yes they are out there, but their quality in both video and audio fall short of what Blu-ray brings to the table, especially on a front projector with a large screen (although mine is on the smaller size at 88 inches diagonally). Frankly, the point isn't even arguable. If you want great HD, Blu-ray is the only game in town as far as I am concerned.

And early in DVD's product cycle VHS tapes outsold DVDs by a similar number.



I brought up Blu-ray in the article for a couple of reasons:

First, it is trying to supplant DVD as a movie medium in peoples homes. Second, Toshiba claims to get a "near HD experience" from your DVD collections...a dubious claim at best.

Also, if you read the review, I had some offhand comments about the user experience on Blu-ray and the way their players interact with the viewer...they are damn slow compared to DVD.

As for DVD playback from a Blu-ray player, there has yet to be one that I would use over my Oppo 983 and they haven't even come close...even the PS3, which for the life of me I can't figure out why people say it's a great upconverting player...I wouldn't even qualify it as good.

As for other ways to get HD, yes they are out there, but their quality in both video and audio fall short of what Blu-ray brings to the table, especially on a front projector with a large screen (although mine is on the smaller size at 88 inches diagonally). Frankly, the point isn't even arguable. If you want great HD, Blu-ray is the only game in town as far as I am concerned.
Can you watch movies like Dr. Zhivago, The Maltese Falcon, Kurasawa's Dreams, Ms Pettigrew Lives for a Day and In Bruges on Blu Ray? I've watched them all in HD, just not on Blu Ray.

Are you implying I did worse than you on these movies?

I find it strange that so called film enthusiasts would be so closed minded to content on anything othr than Blu Ray!

Also, are you saying at the end of 1999, or 2 years after the launch of DVD, VHS was selling 93 percent of movies? I find that hard to believe.

I watch DVD and Apple TV HD because of content. For some reason the studios are not releasing all HD on Blu Ray.

Dave, have you tried Apple TV HD on your set up?

DVD didn't start taking off until 1999, about 2 years after it launched. Also, Blu-ray will never be as big as DVD is/was. DVD was the perfect product at the perfect time. DVD also didn't have a format war they were fighting, which took a ton of money to fight to buy off studios for exclusivity. Hopefully Blu-ray becomes the defacto standard because I don't want to have to download content and pay for it multiple times...I want a physical format I can hold, own, and watch at my leisure.

As for my movie watching, I still have a very large collection of DVDs that still get watched, but if I have the choice of watching the same movie on DVD, Blu-ray, or on HD cable, which one do you think I watch? The one with the best quality in video and sound, which happens to be on Blu-ray. If HD DVD would have won, I would have watched it on that over the other two choices as well. Hopefully all of the movies you mentioned will be released on Blu-ray someday, but 2 years in, DVD didn't have a ton of titles available (albeit more than Blu-ray has right now), but it took many years for most of the classics to be released on DVD..in fact, some still haven't been released.

The point of the Toshiba review was to judge what their claims were about making your DVD collection look better and nearly Hi-Def. I disagree with their implementation and it does more harm than good from MY observations. You may feel differently and more power to you.

Dave, have you tried Apple TV HD on your set up?

Sorry...forgot to answer this one. No, I haven't had a chance to try it as of yet. Most of my viewing is limited to Blu-ray reviews and equipment reviews. I just finished this review and I'm working on a Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD Blu-ray player review (testing finished, need to sit down and write it), following that is an AVR review of a Pioneer Elite SC-05. I also work a full time job to boot, so TV watching is VERY minimal for me especially this time of year because I also coach my son's soccer team.

Dave Vaughn is correct on how things were back in 1999. Just for comparisons sake, my first DVD player, a Panasonic A-120, cost me US $349.99. Some of the movies I purchased at the time ranged from $19.99 to $26.99, judging from the receipt my wife kept. If somebody could do the math with the rate of inflation in mind, we can see today's Blu-Ray prices to be about fair even perhaps cheap.

Dave Vaughn, since you mentioned that the PS3 did not qualify in your eyes as a "good" DVD player, what would you suggest in today's market as a "good" DVD player? I speculate you will mention the Oppo 983 or any of the high end Denons as your choice for a good player, but I've always seen them as "Excellent" DVD players. Surely there must be affordable players that mere mortals like myself and others, I'm sure, can walk into a big box store and purchase for under two hundred US dollars that qualify as "good"? Any recommendations? I myself am the type who always thought the PS3 was a decent DVD player, but at the same time my only other comparisons have been my ancient Sony NS400D and a Samsung HD841, where the PS3 was light years ahead in performance and Picture quality.

DVD didn't start taking off until 1999, about 2 years after it launched. Also, Blu-ray will never be as big as DVD is/was. DVD was the perfect product at the perfect time. DVD also didn't have a format war they were fighting, which took a ton of money to fight to buy off studios for exclusivity. Hopefully Blu-ray becomes the defacto standard because I don't want to have to download content and pay for it multiple times...I want a physical format I can hold, own, and watch at my leisure.

As for my movie watching, I still have a very large collection of DVDs that still get watched, but if I have the choice of watching the same movie on DVD, Blu-ray, or on HD cable, which one do you think I watch? The one with the best quality in video and sound, which happens to be on Blu-ray. If HD DVD would have won, I would have watched it on that over the other two choices as well. Hopefully all of the movies you mentioned will be released on Blu-ray someday, but 2 years in, DVD didn't have a ton of titles available (albeit more than Blu-ray has right now), but it took many years for most of the classics to be released on DVD..in fact, some still haven't been released.

The point of the Toshiba review was to judge what their claims were about making your DVD collection look better and nearly Hi-Def. I disagree with their implementation and it does more harm than good from MY observations. You may feel differently and more power to you.

Dave, just to be clear. I agree with your assessment of the E500 overall. It really is a very steady review of the product.

In fact, after using the E500 what stood out was the fact that Toshiba could have easily done a more thorough job. I was surprised that they didn't bother by starting with an excellent DVD chip like a Reon or Anchor Bay and then add in XDE. The fact that you can't adjust the level of post processing - I.e. the XDE settings could have had high, medium and low settings. Also, as others have pointed out doing 24fps well with DVD isn't easy and here too they needed a better implementation.

Also, to quickly respond to the post about the cost of DVD v. Blu Ray. DVD was competing with VHS, Blu Ray with DVD. In the case of DVD the premium was not just for PQ but also convenience and functionality compared to VHS. With Blu Ray you're paying only for better PQ only. One could argue that BD live and BD Java menus are more functional, but based on my experience both are marginal features so far.

However, I do agree that Blu Ray prices are not too high now. Not for the new releases. Of course if I didn't have Apple TV I'd have bought more Blu ray. Last night we watched Nim's Island. For the type of movie it is, a one time HD rental was fine. Also, we decided to watch it on the fly - didn't know which movie we'd want to watch so basically browsed around and 5 minutes of browsing and in 30 secs were up and running. I don't think DVD ever had that sort of competition :)

Also, I seldom watch live TV. I guess the debates the perhaps the only Live TV I've seen all year! That and Sunrise Earth, which comes in our bedroom as an alarm clock at 7AM every week day :)

I usually glance through my guide on the weekend and schedule my DVR to record the programs I want to watch. But even that is drying up now since I can simply buy many of the shows off of itunes in HD. They are automatically recorded and no commercial breaks, so very convenient. News I rely on the internet...

Since David Vaughn and Josh Zuber are constantly extolling the virtues of Bd compared to DVD I'd like to make the following comment - I have three BD players and just bought Shine a Light (Stones) and No bull (AC/DC). Shine a Light won't play on any of my players - period!!! No Bull will play on just one player! Now what? I'll have to get a friend to update the firmware for me. Maybe Shine a Light has issues on every BD player? Great picture, great sound and everything else stinks!!! I have guests commenting about how damn long it takes to do anything - access menus etc. Have any of them bought into BD - not a chance! They really don't care that much about the improved picture quality and have now had a first hand look at just how dysfunctional this format really is!!! Pure frustration. The XDE actually plays any DVD I've thrown at it and everyone (guests) thinks it looks damn good for DVD. If Hitachi, Toshiba or someone else takes DVD up a couple of more notches with new tech then I'm leaving BD behind like a bad cold. Over two years on the market and there are problems everywhere you look. I'll tolerate it since it's the best show in town, although I'm not happy about it, but you can bet lots of others won't.

I was looking at the box for this toshiba SD-6100 I (regrettably) bought.
On the front theres a small picture of the unit, logos and text etc.
The top line reads:
Video upconversion will result in near HD picture quality.

Stupid me! I have (near) HD picture quality already and didnt even know it.
Thanks Toshiba!

Based on my experience DVD has higher overall WAF than Blu Ray. So much so that my wife ONLY buys DVDs (much to my chagrin). At this point from a usability perspective DVD is ahead of Blu ray. AFAIR DVD was ahead of VHS in every regard from day 1.

Also, if you look at the market today there is no sign that a transition from DVD anything else has even started. It may and will happen. But today DVD is a must IF you're into a wide variety of movies NOT just recent blockbusters. So products like the E500 which are based around enhancing DVD do still have a viable market even for enthusiasts. I mean 'movie' enthusiasts and not just enthusiasts trying to recreate a movie theatre in their homes. Most movies I watch never made it to theatres near me :)

Now that i have used the 500 for some time i still like the picture playback, I do not like using the contrast setting, looks to washed out in some scenes. I tried the ff four times all the way around and had no problem with the playback. I would be disappointed if this was my only player though because of the lack of basic dvd player settings. Even cheap players have resume features that beat the heck out of the 500. If you stop your player to do something and come back in over twenty minutes the player turns off and you have to go through the chapter search to get back to where you were with no way to disable the power off feature it really sucks. This player does strange things at times which can be cleared by powering down then back up. Just yesterday i put in Star Wars 4 to see what David was talking about the scene with Leia and d2 and when the thx had finished the screen went black and came back on split that is the right was left and the left right split in the middle turned off and on it was ok. I also had it put half circles onthe top and bottom of some lettering a the start of a movie cleared by off on again. This player seems to do strange things a power up at times like a computer locks up and has to be reset. I think this player still plays a unique picture compared to the 983 or xa2 but sure lacks basic features and does odd things for the price.

Since David Vaughn and Josh Zuber are constantly extolling the virtues of Bd compared to DVD I'd like to make the following comment - I have three BD players and just bought Shine a Light (Stones) and No bull (AC/DC). Shine a Light won't play on any of my players - period!!! No Bull will play on just one player! Now what? I'll have to get a friend to update the firmware for me. Maybe Shine a Light has issues on every BD player? Great picture, great sound and everything else stinks!!! I have guests commenting about how damn long it takes to do anything - access menus etc. Have any of them bought into BD - not a chance! They really don't care that much about the improved picture quality and have now had a first hand look at just how dysfunctional this format really is!!! Pure frustration. The XDE actually plays any DVD I've thrown at it and everyone (guests) thinks it looks damn good for DVD. If Hitachi, Toshiba or someone else takes DVD up a couple of more notches with new tech then I'm leaving BD behind like a bad cold. Over two years on the market and there are problems everywhere you look. I'll tolerate it since it's the best show in town, although I'm not happy about it, but you can bet lots of others won't.

Have I ever stated that Blu-ray was perfect? Not even close. If you read through my posts here and on other boards I have had plenty of complaints. In fact, the opening paragraph to my next BD player review is going to talk about us consumers being unpaid Beta testers for products! The firmware process is a blessing and a curse. The good news is that things can be fixed, the bad news is the manufacturers can release a sloppy product and just "fix it later with a firmware."

Also, Blu-ray will never reach the level of DVD unless they stop releasing DVDs and consumers don't have a choice. I personally thought both products (HD DVD and BD) were being released about 2 years too early back in 2006 from a market readiness standpoint and from a technology standpoint...they were both rushed to market (Blu-ray more than HD DVD). I am still awaiting a day when a BD player will respond like a DVD player in its speed (besides the PS3), but I think I'll be waiting a long time. Also, using Java will be proved to be a big mistake...most of the issues on BD's these days are due to the Java programming and a lack of standards IMO.

Dave Vaughn is correct on how things were back in 1999. Just for comparisons sake, my first DVD player, a Panasonic A-120, cost me US $349.99. Some of the movies I purchased at the time ranged from $19.99 to $26.99, judging from the receipt my wife kept. If somebody could do the math with the rate of inflation in mind, we can see today's Blu-Ray prices to be about fair even perhaps cheap.

Dave Vaughn, since you mentioned that the PS3 did not qualify in your eyes as a "good" DVD player, what would you suggest in today's market as a "good" DVD player? I speculate you will mention the Oppo 983 or any of the high end Denons as your choice for a good player, but I've always seen them as "Excellent" DVD players. Surely there must be affordable players that mere mortals like myself and others, I'm sure, can walk into a big box store and purchase for under two hundred US dollars that qualify as "good"? Any recommendations? I myself am the type who always thought the PS3 was a decent DVD player, but at the same time my only other comparisons have been my ancient Sony NS400D and a Samsung HD841, where the PS3 was light years ahead in performance and Picture quality.

Freddie,

I haven't used many players in that price range for a number of years. Also, it's dependent on your screen size/expectations as to whats good or not. The PS3 is decent on my 50" plasma, but abysmal on my front projector (to my eyes). As I said in my conclusion, if your budget can't be stretched, which I completely understand, then I would audition a variety of players in your price range and buy a player that looks good to you. Also, if you have an older CRT HDTV or RPTV that accepts and displays a 480p image natively with no extra processing, get a good progressive scan 480p player and send it a 480p signal...it will provide the best picture (assuming the TV doesn't do any scaling to that signal type).

from av.pallino

"But today DVD is a must IF you're into a wide variety of movies NOT just recent blockbusters."

Truer words were never written.

from av.pallino

"But today DVD is a must IF you're into a wide variety of movies NOT just recent blockbusters."

Truer words were never written.

DVD was no different in 1999. People have VERY short memories.

There have been some classics released on Blu-ray though, with more coming. A Passage to India comes to mind, Casablanca will be coming soon, The Wizard of Oz as well. The studios won't release everything they have at once, that's unrealistic. Right now is the end of early adoption and what they hope will be the beginning of mass adoption. From a marketing perspective, most people get excited about the Pirates franchise or Harry Potter, which may get them to buy into the format in greater numbers than some of the classic Hollywood movies from the 40's and 50's.

DVD was no different in 1999. People have VERY short memories.

There have been some classics released on Blu-ray though, with more coming. A Passage to India comes to mind, Casablanca will be coming soon, The Wizard of Oz as well. The studios won't release everything they have at once, that's unrealistic. Right now is the end of early adoption and what they hope will be the beginning of mass adoption. From a marketing perspective, most people get excited about the Pirates franchise or Harry Potter, which may get them to buy into the format in greater numbers than some of the classic Hollywood movies from the 40's and 50's.

Well, I have bought one BR in about the last four months. Too many Iron Man, Transformers, Daredevil, 40-Year Old Virgin, Dawn of the Dead, Love Guru, and Kill Bill Movies for me. I was 18 years old about 30-40 years ago. No thanks!

Well, I have bought one BR in about the last four months. Too many Iron Man, Transformers, Daredevil, 40-Year Old Virgin, Dawn of the Dead, Love Guru, and Kill Bill Movies for me. I was 18 years old about 30-40 years ago. No thanks!

Sadly, the demographic most movies cater to are the 18-35 crowd, which I'm no longer a member. The only film in your above listing that I enjoyed was Iron Man, all the rest I will never watch again. I didn't review The Love Guru because I turned it off about 15 minutes in because it was so bad.

Sadly, pretty much the only movies which turn a profit are comedies and action flicks, so we just keep getting more of them from the studios. I like a good drama, but from a profit standpoint, it's too hard to make any money on them, so they are rare.

DVD was no different in 1999. People have VERY short memories.

There have been some classics released on Blu-ray though, with more coming. A Passage to India comes to mind, Casablanca will be coming soon, The Wizard of Oz as well. The studios won't release everything they have at once, that's unrealistic. Right now is the end of early adoption and what they hope will be the beginning of mass adoption. From a marketing perspective, most people get excited about the Pirates franchise or Harry Potter, which may get them to buy into the format in greater numbers than some of the classic Hollywood movies from the 40's and 50's.

Dave, just take a look at the titles in HD that a studio like Warner has on Apple TV compared to Blu Ray. I find it shocking, especially since ATV HD was launched around 6 months ago and has 10 percent the market of Blu Ray!

But back to DVD players. I just think that DVD has such a strong legacy (moreso than VHS ever achieved) as a movie collectors format that many people will hold onto their release. Even in my case, I find it hard to rebuy titles I own. Not sure what I'll do with my Criterion Collection titles when they start showing up on Blu Ray. I recently watched The Last Emperor (on an E500 no less) and my first and last thoughts were - what a great movie! I also enjoyed Speed Racer. But my last thought was, I wish I had just rented it. Not sure I'll watch it again. And I left the theatre thinking I'd watch this many times...

It's the quality of the movie that matters a great deal more than just the resolution. For small screen folks like me, DVD is still a potent format. Great content, great prices, great convenience!

most people get excited about the Pirates franchise or Harry Potter, which may get them to buy into the format in greater numbers than some of the classic Hollywood movies from the 40's and 50's.

But these people must want to purchase these AGAIN just for improved picture/sound quality only. (If their equipment is capable of displaying an obvious difference of course) Those franchises generally have excellent quality transfers on DVD and the BD format doesnt provide the many additional operational benefits that DVD provided over VHS to entice more people to opt in.

Can you elaborate, please. Was this similar to what I've been seeing where both the audio and video completely freeze for several seconds, then resume at the point where it would have been had it continued playing normally?
Yes,exactly. I have a older Panasonic dvd player that I hooked up and it played both movies without a problem. This is the main reason I decided to return the player.

It's the quality of the movie that matters a great deal more than just the resolution. For small screen folks like me, DVD is still a potent format. Great content, great prices, great convenience!

Which is why Blu-ray will never be as big as DVD. My hope is that Blu-ray is profitable...if so, movies will be released on the format, if not, it will go the way of D-VHS.

But these people must want to purchase these AGAIN just for improved picture/sound quality only. (If their equipment is capable of displaying an obvious difference of course) Those franchises generally have excellent quality transfers on DVD and the BD format doesnt provide the many additional operational benefits that DVD provided over VHS to entice more people to opt in.

How many people buy a "director's cut" of a movie after already owning it on DVD? Or they want to extra bonus features on the "new" edition, although most will never watch them anyway.

We tend to see things from our own perspective and not look at the "big picture." Blu-ray isn't going to hit mainstream until next Christmas, although it will make big inroads this Christmas season IMO.

How many people buy a "director's cut" of a movie after already owning it on DVD? Or they want to extra bonus features on the "new" edition, although most will never watch them anyway.

We tend to see things from our own perspective and not look at the "big picture." Blu-ray isn't going to hit mainstream until next Christmas, although it will make big inroads this Christmas season IMO.

I agree about the 'perspective' thing and I was looking at this from the perspective of the 'most people' you were referring to in your earlier post. Most people are not in the habit of double dipping, in fact they are unlikely to even know there is a 'director's cut' and probably have never bothered with extras. (Based on most people that I see in our retail store). The directors cut/extra feature people are more likely to be in the AV enthusiast/film buff market which is much smaller indeed. Anyway I guess we are getting off the thread topic here, I am sure these issues are better discussed elsewhere.

So back to the XDE500. I'm about ready to take mine back. At first it was so different than my Pioneer DV410 it really is stunning. However after watching a few movies, trying to figure out 24fps sources that play ok, etc., I'm not sure its worth the extra 50 bucks as compared to my Pioneer 410. Great picture? Yes. 50 bucks better? Not so sure.

Haven't yet as I at the same time am thinking Toshiba has some "maturing" work to do on the XDE-500's firmware. In other words it will be improving where the Pioneer 410 may have some stuff addressed, it is not any where near in the same context as a product like the XDE-500. The XDE-500 is on the uphill side of its bell curve.

may we ask that all posts going forward stay On Topic?

XD-E500 Owners thread

Thanks

Sorry Mark :) Won''t happen again, but I felt I needed to answer the question put forth to me as to why I mentioned Blu-ray in the review.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program....

Dave,

I would like your opinion of what I posted about deciding to keep or return the XDE-500.

Second, Toshiba claims to get a "near HD experience" from your DVD collections...a dubious claim at best.

Toshiba isn't the only one making that claim. Even Sony makes this claim on it's up converters. It's standard marketing.

John

Dave,

I would like your opinion of what I posted about deciding to keep or return the XDE-500.

If you are happy with your Pioneer, I would save the cash if it were me. At a certain point, we are splitting hairs on price/performance. For example, earlier this year I reviewed an Onkyo 606 AVR and its performance rivaled AVR's costing 3X as much. It didn't have some of the bells and whistles as the higher end models, it ran very hot, it's video processing wasn't superb, but you know what? If you wanted an AVR to power your speakers to watch movies it fits the bill and delivers an outstanding value for the money.

Do you lose some features? Yes.

Are those features worth $1500 additional dollars? Not really.

Thanks Dave.

First in regards to my overall impression with the XDE-500 is that it is an amazing unit, its very close, but no cigars yet. The picture is amazing. Out of the box it is just stunning. However the firmware needs some help. Whether or not the problem with 24fps is a disk authoring issue or not, the player needs to be reading the information on the disk and implementing the display accordingly. The stuttering is not ok and given its intermittent for all practical purposes the only way to make sure it doesn't happen is turn off 24fps. That defeats the very purpose of having it.

As for the picture, can I provide a high quality picture other ways beside the XDE-500's technology? Again, its picture is amazing. My answer is a small "yes", not a large "Yes". By tweaking my 61inch rptv I can get the picture sharp, detailed, colors solid, etc. No it is not the same. I can not reproduce the display of the XDE-500. But I can have a pretty darn good display from the DV-410 due to tweaking my display and using my Denon 3808 for upconversion. In other words, I'm not missing anything by not having the XE-500 OTHER than the 24fps.

I think as far as a product line goes, Toshiba is on the right track. However I'm not going to consider it until we get to the XDE-510 or 601, or 550, etc.

I'm not taking back my original assessment of its picture quality in any way. The XDE-500 is amazing. Its just the value+price+performance equation just doesn't add up YET.

If that makes sense.

Jim

I never said Sony S300 is a good DVD player. I merely trying to show that for $50 more you can own the future technology of Blu-Ray. Black Friday is coming and there will be a lot more good deals on Blu-Ray players. I personally love my PS3 for BD and games, but use Phillips 5990, HDA30, and HDA3 to feed my HD1000u 720p projector (using a 3->1 HDMI switcher at 1080p setting (1080i for HDA3 of course). I don't crank up the sharpness of the 5990 as it too worsens existing edge-enhancements, which I hate.

No matter how good you feel XDE's PQ can look, expert reviews (Dave, Josh, etc.) all agree that it's processing does worsen existing edge-enhancements which is not good in my opinion. Toshiba can clean up to the XDE's features to make it even better: 1) adjustable processing severity to cater to different taste of consumers, 2) better 1080p/24 implementation, 3) better MPEG decoder, 4) less errors on playback, 5) cheaper pricing as I feel XDE500 is overpriced at $150--maybe at $99 or less I'll be more forgiving.

I agree that a good DVD player requires more than a good MPEG decoder. Mediatek is great generally for the price. Of course the deinterlacer and scaler are separate--that's why the Oppo 983HD, which is consider by most experts to be the gold standard for SD-DVD upconversion, is $400 as it uses ABT for scaling and deinterlacing and yet Mediatek for MPEG decoding.

We're all entitled to our own opinions and that's why this is a great forum.

As I mentioned previously, I have owned a number of Toshiba SD DVD players in the past (K960, 6100, etc.) and when I call or email about playback, menu, interface, and navigation problems, of which they are common, Toshiba has never produced a follow-up firmware update for those units that I know of.

The only firmware for Toshiba DVD players I have had the privilege of downloading/updating from Toshiba, is for their HD DVD players...
:(

So we really can't be 'sure' they are going to produce a update for the E500, we may be in for a disappointment. I hope I'm wrong, but if history proves to be true...



I think it is also important to consider this is a newly released product whose firmware will mature over time. All of these types of units are more like computers than less like them. Not sure exactly where that reality tipped from have SOME computer like properties to being really simply computers with a AV device front end, but it clearly did happen. Some of the "issues" I'm sure Toshiba will address as they get reported. This is why it is critical for us end users to at least email Toshiba with our observations. They can't fix what they don't know is "broken".

The only firmware for Toshiba DVD players I have had the privilege of downloading/updating from Toshiba, is for their HD DVD players... That's what I thought about earlier. Of all the SD-DVD players they've put out in the past, I've don't recall people talking about FW upgrades. It'd be somewhat surprised if they put out an upgrade. But you never know, maybe they're becoming more customer focused.

larry

That's what I thought about earlier. Of all the SD-DVD players they've put out in the past, I've don't recall people talking about FW upgrades. It'd be somewhat surprised if they put out an upgrade. But you never know, maybe they're becoming more customer focused.

XDE has taken over HD DVD's place as Toshiba's primary focus for the disc player market. For that reason, I wouldn't be surprised to see them support it with firmware updates.

On the other hand, XDE is designed to be a low-cost product, and they may not want to expend the resources on things like firmware updates. It could go either way.

I clearly could not then recommend anyone buy one until I see a firmware update. If the XDE-500's issues are not going to be addressed Toshiba will lose money again.

I've had this player since the first week it was released and put a good number of movies through it.

XDE500 -> Samsung 40" 1080P

XDE500 -> Mitsubishi HC5500 FP 1080P on a 92" Dalite HP screen.

I recently purchased an Oppo 983 to compare the XDE500 with because I wasn't thrilled with the appearance of most DVD's on the 92" screen. I now see what all the fuss is about with the 983. I can't image DVD's looking much better than this.

I realize there is a large price difference, but believe the Oppo 983 is the SD leader if you are very particular about the image quality or have a large viewing area.

I still like the XDE500, but the Oppo 983 has got me interested in my DVD's once again.

When a DVD is paused and PIC MODE is keyed on the remote, should the effect of each change selected (Sharp-Color-Contrast-Off) be immediately noticeable on the plasma display?

-George

(Pioneer 151FD, SC-07, BDP-05, Tosh A2, Tosh XDE-500)

When a DVD is paused and PIC MODE is keyed on the remote, should the effect of each change selected (Sharp-Color-Contrast-Off) be immediately noticeable on the plasma display?

-George

(Pioneer 151FD, SC-07, BDP-05, Tosh A2, Tosh XDE-500)

It's immediately noticeable on my DLP so I don't know why it wouldn't be noticeable on a plasma...

It's immediately noticeable on my DLP so I don't know why it wouldn't be noticeable on a plasma...

lujan: Thanks for your reply.

-G

Hi to all.

Well i just bought this player today and i already have a problem. I have connect it with my TV via HDMI for video and with my AV Receiver via Coaxial for the Surround sound. So i have set the Digital Output instead of PCM (which gives 2.0 channels on my AV receiver and i can hear 2.0 also from the TV's speakers) to Bitstream so i won't be hearing anything from the TV (that means i don't have to turn down the volume every time when i'm watching DVDs) and get the 5.1 sound from my AV receiver. Done that, when a DVD menu that includes sound or when the movie starts to play i get "hardware" noise from my TV's speakers and i have no choice but to mute the speakers or low completely the volume. It's like it's giving the bitstream to tv as PCM? I had 5 DVD and Blu-ray players connected and setup like this before but never had that problem with my previous players/setups.

My setup: Sony BRAVIA KDL-37P3000, Sony BDP-S350, Sony STR-DG500, Toshiba XD-E500.

i have mine hooked up the same way hdmi to tv coaxial to reciever and i do not get any audio out of my tv speakers unless i go back to pcm. So the 500 should not be outputing anything to your tv in bitstream.

i have mine hooked up the same way hdmi to tv coaxial to reciever and i do not get any audio out of my tv speakers unless i go back to pcm. So the 500 should not be outputing anything to your tv in bitstream.

Well that's what it supposed to happen on my setup also...
I've tried another HDMI cable (just in case), disabled HDMI-CEC control on both ends and removed the BD-Player from the second HDMI port but the noise is still there. I don't know if this is a "bad" handshake or whatever that can be fixed with a firmware update or hardware with that specific unit and i need to send it back and get a new one. I'm going to try to hook up this player to another TV (an old Samsung) and see if things are the same before returning it.

I hit ff button to go to a spot in the movie i was watching and when i stopped it went back to the start of the movie. It doesnt do it all the time. I emailed Toshiba about the problem.

I have e-mailed to Toshiba and they told me to contact Toshiba Greece and the last thing they told me (Toshiba Greece) to do was to connect the player on another TV. So today i connetcted the player on a 2,5 years old Samsung 32'' LCD (Hdmi 1.0) and there was no "hardware noise" from the tv's speakers. So it's definitely a compatibility problem between the player and my Sony Bravia. I've just e-mailed them back asking if there is going to be any firmware fix and i'm waiting for now...

I will admit it added nothing to the forum other than display my frustration with tactics of some posters.

I assume you will remove this, but the message is to you anyway.
Thanks for cleanin up extraneous posts.

My own very quick review:
I bought it yesterday after seeing a couple posts comparing it to Oppo, for a very reasonnable price (119€ - 50€ mail-in rebate from Toshiba France), considering that an HDMI cable is included.
Pros:
-with good material, image is impressive (on my 37" 1080P LG display anyway). Close enough to HD with 576i source (in 1080P/60 mode), at least for the casual viewer. So much for 'PAL output is crappy', apparently not with european units. Don't tell me it is normal with such a small screen, who would buy a cheap player with a big screen? ;)
-region free with a remote code (previously posted in this thread)
Cons:
-cheaply built. Only time will tell if it is really an issue, but I can hear the high pitched whining sound from up to 2 feet from the unit when it is in standby mode.. And right after plugging it it is a dual tone sound that tend to get even after a while.. Slightly worrying if you ask me.
-remote sensor very picky (or it is the remote itself), you have to aim exactly at the player and response time is on the slow side so you don't know instantly if it is processed or not.
-1080P/24 works only for some material (and I suspect very few PAL movies?), you can't change mode while viewing, and it is slow to cycle through all modes to go back to 1080P/60.
-I experienced the FF bug (when you click on play in FF mode it goes back to menu instead of resuming normal playback), but it is not happening every time
-screensaver doesn't kick in when playing music (annoying when the TV is feeding the receiver so you can't turn it off; hopefully the digital audio out is active as well so I have a work around).
-strong aliasing of subtitles in sharpen mode (applied to actually any text from menus or else on screen).
-logo backlighting off setting doesn't survive an off/on.
Overall, I am a happy camper because the price is right and my second choice was a Philips 5990 (believe it or not, it is sold 80€ in France) which is a lower value IMO.
I will try to contact Toshiba about the issues already mentionned, the more tell them about it the more chance we will have to see a new firmware issued.

Martin

A question for anyone with a 1080p display:

On the HDMI Resolution menu item (p.31 of the manual) are you using the "AUTO" setting or the "1080p" setting?

-George

I am not sure why they put auto on these machines, i guess for people who do not know their native resolution of the tv they are using. I set mine for 1080p, if i put it on auto it will automaticaly go to 1080p.

My own very quick review:
...
-remote sensor very picky (or it is the remote itself), you have to aim exactly at the player and response time is on the slow side so you don't know instantly if it is processed or not.
...

Martin

I have not had any problems with my Harmony 880 and the XD-E500. It's response is quick and immediate. Have you tried a universal remote. I couldn't live without mine since I have 7 components.

It's not a bad player but not a bit better than my previous Pioneer DV-400V. As for the XDE the Sharp setting is not doing that much for me, the Color setting is nice but a bit too much for my taste. It definitely needs a good firmware upgrade if they want to make noticeable to the market and the "Blu-ray killer" as they say, (altough that's not gonna happen). The missing resume function (from standby) is really frustrating and its menus are worse than the cheapest Chinese DVD player. Not to mention also again the compatibility problem between this player and my TV (HDMI audio + bitstream setting=noise).

I know it's only been out for two months, but anyone heard any plans for a firmware update?

Yes, I did not see a firmware update or any announcement of such, so I have returned my 2nd E500.

I will wait for a follow up generation of the technology, or it being incorporated into another licensed product, the same way Divx can be found in various players...

I will just enjoy my $79 A2 and my $39 philips 5992 until further notice. :D


I clearly could not then recommend anyone buy one until I see a firmware update. If the XDE-500's issues are not going to be addressed Toshiba will lose money again.

I know it's only been out for two months, but anyone heard any plans for a firmware update?

Toshiba are more likley to release a new model rather than a FW update for their SD DVD players, in my opinion.

Are the XDE players coming out in Australia any time soon.

Are the XDE players coming out in Australia any time soon.

They are already on the Toshiba Australia website www.toshiba.com.au under Audio/Visual and DVD Players as a current player. Just give Toshiba a call using the number on the site.

Toshiba are more likley to release a new model rather than a FW update for their SD DVD players, in my opinion.

I think you are right, and if Toshiba really considers this technology as their answer to HD for the masses, and accordintly pays as much attention to owners with problems as they did the A-1, then that would bode well for a big improvement in the second generation model. Plus I would expect a lower MSRP on G-2 as well. My guess is a G-2 model will be out by Spring, and with the economy still slumping a MSRP approaching $100 USD.

I originally posted early that this was a water downed koolaid. Know the wheel has turned. Many of us have been able to buy upscale players just because of upgrades and sometimes we felt the need to buy. Well most now are either out of work or are heading out of work. The XDS150 is now a no brainer. It does great with those who hasn't studied secrets!

It does great with those who have studied secrets!

:confused::)

Meant to stay the novies who haven't been reading the secrets.

Whew! I went to secrets looking for this review and naturally came up empty... :)

When setting the HDMI to Auto (instead of 1080i that i have set it manually) to get the best image when using the Sharp setting, my Sony says that its back to 576p. Is it better on 576p than 1080i ?

I've been watching a lot of "Midsomer Murders" that i recorded from a satellite DVR and they look really good. I have 2 LG312s and they are good but not as good as the E500. If either of the LGs ever go out I will try an Oppo but right now I'm rediscovering my old DVDs and loving it.

... right now I'm rediscovering my old DVDs and loving it.

Me too, unfortunetely it's going to take a long time to re-watch all of them since I have so many.

Now $97.70...
http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/6427/9770dv9.jpg

$79 until Christmas?...

Roberto

Darn it. I bought it 2 weeks ago for $30 more. Now Amazon is even cheaper.

Darn it. I bought it 2 weeks ago for $30 more. Now Amazon is even cheaper.

I know, I bought it when it first came out at $149.99 but at the time, Amazon was still doing the 30-day price guarantee so I was able to shave off almost $30.00 to close to $120.00. Now that Amazon doesn't have the 30-day guarantee, I'm going to have to start getting some patience and waiting a while for the new stuff because it seems to go down so fast in price.

Darn it. I bought it 2 weeks ago for $30 more. Now Amazon is even cheaper.

Yes...
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/4731/9566au8.jpg

A recent review.

Toshiba XD-E500 Upscaling DVD Player - Product Review
Thursday October 16, 2008

http://z.about.com/d/hometheater/1/0/0/f/toshibaxde500frontwacc170.jpg

With the demise of HD-DVD, Toshiba is now focused on improving the upscaling capabilities for standard DVD. With improved 1080p video upscaling capability over previous Toshiba upscaling DVD players, the XD-E500 does deliver a very good picture on an HDTV. In addition, the user also has some control over sharpness, color, and contrast, which compensate for variations in DVD source quality. However, although the XD-E500 delivers good overall video and audio performance, there are some criticisms. For more details on whether the Toshiba XD-E500 is right for you, check out my Short (http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdproductreviews/gr/toshxde500shrt.htm) and Full (http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdplayerrecorderreviews/fr/toshxde500full.htm) Reviews, as well as my Close-up Photo Gallery (http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdproductreviews/ig/Toshiba-XD-E500-Photos/). Photos (c) Robert Silva - Licensed to About.com


http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdplayerrecorderreviews/fr/toshxde500full.htm

Roberto

Are the XDE players coming out in Australia any time soon.
They are already on the Toshiba Australia website www.toshiba.com.au under Audio/Visual and DVD Players as a current player. Just give Toshiba a call using the number on the site.

Regarding HDTV, DVD & BD in Australia:


Toshiba's DVD player on steroids
By ASHER MOSES - SMH | Tuesday, 14 October 2008

Almost a year after the death of HD DVD, the failed format's biggest proponent believes it can win the high definition format war with a standard DVD player.

Out of the 2.3 million Australian households with a high definition TV set, only 400,000 have a Blu-ray player and, of those, 370,000 are PlayStation 3 games consoles, which feature Blu-ray built in. That means just 30,000 Australian households have picked up a stand-alone Blu-ray player.

Blu-ray and HD DVD battled viciously over two years to be the successor to regular DVD but Blu-ray emerged victorious at the beginning of this year.

Both formats promised pristine picture quality but Australians have been reluctant to upgrade their DVD players because the benefits aren't anywhere near as pronounced as the jump from VHS to DVD a decade ago.

Banking on the fact that consumers just aren't ready for Blu-ray, Toshiba, which was the main backer of HD DVD, has unveiled the XD-E500 DVD Upscaler. It is a regular DVD player capable of "upscaling" regular DVD discs to near high definition quality by adding additional detail to the image.

Upscaling means that those with big screen TV sets can make better use of their high definition sets. The resulting image quality isn't as good as a true HD format such as Blu-ray but it makes the already slight difference between DVD and Blu-ray even smaller.

The XD-E500 costs A$199 in Australia whereas the cheapest Blu-ray player now costs A$449.

Meanwhile, Microsoft, which killed its external HD DVD player for the Xbox 360 console after the format died, has long been rumoured to be working on a Blu-ray version. Those rumours started heating up last week before Microsoft announced it had "no plans to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience".

Of all the movies sold on disc in Australia, just 1.9 per cent are Blu-ray, Sony Pictures figures show. The format's market share figure in the US is 5 per cent while in Britain and France Blu-ray has a penetration of under 2 per cent.

To drive local awareness of Blu-ray, Sony is running a major advertising campaign in Australia on Channel Ten featuring Australian actor Craig McLachlan. The ads stress that those who own an HDTV but not a Blu-ray player aren't getting the complete HD experience.

As well, Disney and Panasonic this month began a tour of shopping centres in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, aiming to promote the advantages of upgrading to Blu-ray.

But Toshiba Australia general manager Mark Whittard said Blu-ray had yet to deliver and, instead of buying the more expensive Blu-ray player and Blu-ray discs, people should stick with regular DVDs.

He said whether the XD-E500 offered the same image quality as Blu-ray was "for the customer to decide" but his impression was that there is "very little discernible difference between them".

"One of the continual challenges for any next-generation DVD format is that the current DVD format is pretty good, particularly when you upscale it," he said.

But a review of the XD-E500 in British magazine PC Advisor sheds doubt on Whittard's claims. It concludes the XD-E500 "delivers an extremely solid upconverted DVD image, but nothing that rivals the richness of Blu-ray".

Whittard said Blu-ray would still be seen as the best quality "in purists' eyes" but the difference didn't justify the cost.

He noted that being able to continue enjoying existing DVD collections was a major advantage of holding out on Blu-ray but this is a moot point as all DVD discs can play on Blu-ray players.

Sony Australia's technology communications manager Paul Colley said upscaling DVD players had been on sale for around two years and didn't offer anywhere near the HD image quality of Blu-ray movies.

"It still is standard definition, just enhanced to be able to fit on your full HD screen," he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4725797a27483.html

"Trojan horse", ops..."Trojan kangaroo" promotion in Australia:
http://ai.pricegrabber.com/muze_images/Video/DVD/92/208592_118x160.jpg

BOGO - Buy one FullHD Sony BRAVIA and get one bonus (PS3).
http://www.onlineshoppingaustralia.com.au/2008/01/get-a-bonus-playstation-3-when-you-buy-a-bravia-full-hd-1080-lcd-tv.html
http://www.sony.com.au/article.jsp?id=4047

It would be nice to see a similar promotion by Toshiba ...
"Buy one Regza TV and get one XD-E500 dvd player" (could be a "small tv", 32" for example...)

Australian Toshiba XD-E500KY review:


"First Review: Toshiba Puts The Blue Into Blu-ray With New Upscaler"

By Mendelson Tiu and David Richards | Published:17/10/2008

If there is one product that will help push down the cost of Blu-ray players, it’s the new Toshiba upscaler that coverts traditional DVDs to 1080p HD. And at only $199 this little beast is set to be a real irritant up against Blu-ray devices that in some cases cost three times as much as this Toshiba box.
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Reviews/Home_Cinema/N3P5G9Q2?page=1

Roberto

$79 until Christmas?...

Robertoit's already been below that. Electronics Expo just had it, via the shop.com gateway, for $78.97 ($83.97 - $5 w/coupon "SHOP5"):

http://www.shop.com/Toshiba_XD_E500_Upconverting_1080p_Extended_Detail_DVD_Playe r_%28TOSXDE500%29-112232303-139862238-p!.shtml

But their price has gone back up now....

I know the 500 can be made region free, but will it play PAL discs from the UK?

I know the 500 can be made region free, but will it play PAL discs from the UK?

It will, but the reported performance of the PAL-NTSC conversion is fairly poor. I region-free'd mine briefly and a new neighbor just moved in from the UK loaned me a couple DVDs to try. I watched an hour or so of material from Simon Schama's "A History of Britian" and thought they looked quite good with no obvious artifacts or judder. OTOH, the first several minutes of a movie entitled "Withnail and I" (I think) were horrible. Constant jerkiness as if frames were being dropped regularly. Unwatchable. Probably a flagging issue with the disc made much worse by the required conversion is my guess.

In the end I decided to just go back to R1 on the player. I had really been hoping to use the region free capability to replace my non-anamorphic copy of Armageddon with the R4 anamorphic version but given the reports and my own experience, I just decided I'd not bother. There's some info on PAL in this thread you can find easily by searching it.

Doug G, Thank you for the reply I am having no luck at all with PAL discs but will search the thread.

Folks, this thread is for the XDE-500 player. Not other companies tech or HD-DVD vs BD days. Most of you wont notice 'cause you can't see the deleted posts. :)

larry

ok larry.

I know the 500 can be made region free, but will it play PAL discs from the UK?
I purchase PAL discs from the UK, France and Germany every few months from Amazon. The DTS version of the "The Philadelphia Experiment" from the UK was very jerky and unwatchable. But "True Lies" from Germany and "The Patriot" from the UK (with Steven Seagal not Mel Gibson) look great. I buy the anamorphic versions anywhere I can.

A quick check of another dozen PAL discs produced no obvious problems for me. I am keeping my 500 as an all-region player. I have two other PAL players but they have only component output so I may be getting an even better picture from the 500.
JGD

Folks, this thread is for the XDE-500 player. Not other companies tech or HD-DVD vs BD days. Most of you wont notice 'cause you can't see the deleted posts. :)

larry

Thank you!!!!!

$79 until Christmas?...

Roberto
New price...
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2493/xde50083ry9.jpg

Roberto

missed it. seems to be back at $97

does anyone know if you can force the output of 1080p/24hz like in the ps3? For some reason going either thru a receiver or hdmi to dvi my hd-dvd player will not output 24hz when my display does support it. I need to know if toshiba enabled this feature.

Regarding 1080p/24 mode.


OPERATION AND MENUS

Most of the functions on the XD-E500U are common to all DVD players, so I won’t cover those. What is different is the ability to output in the 1080p/24-frame mode, something you don’t see on many upconverting DVD players. In fact, the first place I saw 24-frame playback appear was on blue laser (HD DVD and Blu-ray) players, so the XD-E500U does break new ground, given its $150 price point.

CONCLUSIONS

It’s amazing how far DVDs have come since the first players appeared way back in 1997. Back then, 480p was a pipe dream. Now, 24-frame playback of standard definition movies is available for just $150, and that’s impressive.
http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_c/Toshiba_XDE500U.html


3. The XD-E500 offers both 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 (http://hometheater.about.com/od/televisionbasics/qt/1080ivs1080p.htm) output capability via HDMI output. NOTE: 1080p/24 output requires 1080p/24 compatible HDTV and 480p/24 source material.

Note: The Toshiba XD-E500 includes a 1080p/24 viewing option. This option is very rare on an upscaling DVD player. It is usually reserved for Blu-ray Disc players. I was not able to actually to test this feature, as I didn't have access to a 1080p/24 compatible TV or video projector during this review period.

3. 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 output capability. NOTE: 1080p/24 output requires 1080p/24 compatible HDTV and 480p/24 source material.
http://hometheater.about.com/od/dvdplayerrecorderreviews/fr/toshxde500full.htm

Roberto

missed it. seems to be back at $97
Price again $83...

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/171/8317pe6.jpg

Roberto

Don Lindich

Columnist | Consumer electronics

Don Lindich writes about consumer electronics. Submit questions at www.soundadviceblog.com.

Q What do you think of the Toshiba XDE DVD player? It looks interesting, but at $149 it costs more than other players. Is it worth it?

DAWN WALTON, NORFOLK, VA.

A The Toshiba XDE-500 is an up-converting DVD player that uses proprietary technology to enhance the colors, sharpness and contrast of ordinary DVDs. Some reviewers like it; others have been less impressed.

I tested it and preferred the XDE-500 to any other DVD player selling for less than $200, including the Oppo models I have recommended. It lacks the Oppo's advanced audio capabilities, but I prefer the XDE's picture quality. The enhancements don't always improve the picture, but they can be toggled on and off to find the look that pleases you.


The downside is the price. You can get an Insignia Blu-ray player for $229, and it up-converts DVDs as well as plays Blu-ray Discs in true high-definition picture and sound. The Insignia does not do as well with DVDs as the XDE-500 does, but DVD performance will be satisfactory for most consumers.

I'd recommend the XDE to anyone with a large DVD collection or who wants the best DVD playback for less than $200. If you can only have one player, spend more for the Insignia Blu-ray. With its true high-definition capability, it's a better long-term investment.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/33229834.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc: aUUF

Roberto

My XD-E500 started emitting a high-pitched whine even when turned off. I returned it to BB with the intention of getting another one. The returns clerk told me that they have had a number of returns and recommended that I buy a different model. I decided to wait a bit before I decide. Anyone else heard of this high-pitched noise issue?

My XD-E500 started emitting a high-pitched whine even when turned off. I returned it to BB with the intention of getting another one. The returns clerk told me that they have had a number of returns and recommended that I buy a different model. I decided to wait a bit before I decide. Anyone else heard of this high-pitched noise issue?

The high-pitched whine has been previously mentioned by other XDE owners in this thread.

My XD-E500 *does* emit this whine; but I have to get right up next to it to hear it. From about 20" away from the unit I can't hear it. For me it's a "non-issue".

For the record, I've owned my XD-E500 for about a month now and have been very pleased with it.

Editorial

October 2008

Toshiba's XDE -- Trick or Treat?

http://www.hometheatersound.com/features/editorial/pics/200809_toshiba_xde_360w.jpg

http://www.hometheatersound.com/images/rad_editorialheader.jpg


http://www.hometheatersound.com/features/editorial/200810.htm

Roberto

Regarding aspect ratio setting problem in upscale with non anamorphic DVD´s:

480p (hdmi/component) as a "temporary workaround"?...(until a firmware fix...)

Roberto

The high-pitched whine has been previously mentioned by other XDE owners in this thread.

My XD-E500 *does* emit this whine; but I have to get right up next to it to hear it. From about 20" away from the unit I can't hear it. For me it's a "non-issue".

For the record, I've owned my XD-E500 for about a month now and have been very pleased with it.


I've noticed that accidently on my unit 2 days ago. It seems a power supply thing, when the unit doesn't draw power (when it's off/standby) the PSU screams to give the power it creates. :)

Toshiba XD-E500 review (polish)

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/9069/copyofxde052largepr9.jpg

The XDE demo disc:
http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/4939/53eb81ddc8a39bfcdh2.th.jpg (http://img122.imageshack.us/my.php?image=53eb81ddc8a39bfcdh2.jpg)http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/7193/121152c1e35b117cbr4.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=121152c1e35b117cbr4.jpg)

Review tests with Matrix Revolutions and Spiderman movies.

FullHD 46" and 52" (X3500 and ZF) from a distance of 6.5ft and 9.8ft (2 and 3 meters).

1080p upscaling considered similar to a HD-DVD HD-XE1 - Reon-VX (HQV Silicon Optix).

Polish (http://hdtvpolska.com/index.php?showtopic=12400&st=0&p=116872&#entry116872)

Polish > English (http://translate.google.com.br/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fhdtvpolska.com%2Findex.php%3Fshowto pic%3D12400%26st%3D0%26p%3D116872%26%23entry116872&sl=pl&tl=en&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8)

Roberto