Yeah, unfortunately I only have room for one DVD player on my main setup so I opted for the oppo 980h, and am waiting for it to arrive before returning the XDE.

Another issue I have is I have a set of features I need (good upscale, plays DVD-+R well, Region free) and I must have optical output for digital audio since my receiver doesnt have HDMI. these needs really narrow what is available to me (at my budget) and left me w/ only a few choices. TOSH-XDE/OPPO-980h/LG-DN898

The oppo's specs and reviews seemed like a good fit but I have yet to see it in action, hence why I havent returned the XDE yet. The LG's reviews arent very impressive.

The $69.99 price point of the XDE was just too good not to try first.

I dont mean to slander the XDE I think its a nice player for the price, I just wanted to post my experience with it to inform others of my specific DVD-R troubles.

If I only had room for one I would probably choose the Oppo too. But I do like the XDE picture and features except for the fact that it doesn't remember where you left off.

Just for the record, my first XDE had problems playing a few discs (and especially a few dual layer DVDs); but after swapping it out I've had no problems at all. (I should state that I've only played two DVD-R's on it, though.)

But this does all go back to QC: It seems to be fairly obvious at this point that Toshiba initially rushed these out and/or cut a few too many corners in its construction.

With the PQ being so good at such an attractive price it's a shame that Toshiba couldn't have followed through with better overall QC. If they had, they would probably have had a bona fide hit on their hands.

In any event, I'm very happy with my current XDE and will probably keep it around even after I upgrade to Blu-ray.

thinking of getting a mitsubishi dlp tv. this years are all have "smooth 120" whatever that is. does anyone have one of these hooked up to a mits with this feature and does it work well. i like the fact that this player upconverts to 1080p with 24fps. this feature appeals to me and i wonder if it is the only "lower priced" dvd player to do this and if it works on mitsubishi dlps?

thinking of getting a mitsubishi dlp tv. this years are all have "smooth 120" whatever that is. does anyone have one of these hooked up to a mits with this feature and does it work well. i like the fact that this player upconverts to 1080p with 24fps. this feature appeals to me and i wonder if it is the only "lower priced" dvd player to do this and if it works on mitsubishi dlps?

I have a Mits 73833 with 120 and it works great with the XD-E500. I think the picture looks great.

wow... apparantly you have access to blueray as well as hddvd's. do you still prefer to use the xd-e500 for upconverting the older non-hi-def dvd's? if so do you use the 1080p with the 24fps feature? if so is there a noticable difference between the 1080p and the 1080p/24fps?

wow... apparantly you have access to blueray as well as hddvd's. do you still prefer to use the xd-e500 for upconverting the older non-hi-def dvd's? if so do you use the 1080p with the 24fps feature? if so is there a noticable difference between the 1080p and the 1080p/24fps?

Yes, I use a blu-player for blu-ray movies, an HD DVD player for HD DVD movies and the XD-E500 for all DVD movies. To be honest with you, I've never tried the Mits/XD-E500 combination without 1080p/24fps. There probably is not a big noticable difference between the two.

All 120Hz processing makes the 24p support in any DVD player utterly useless. To achieve a 120Hz rate all incoming signals are converted to 60p (and then doubled) which inherently recreates the 3:2 telecine that 24p eliminates. To truly use 24p on any of these sets, you need to disable this processing. There's a thread somewhere which has a list of sets and if they can support 24p in their native modes and if so how to disable the frame doubling/interpolation processing. (I think they need to be able to convert 24p x 5 == 120Hz which I think some can't)

souds like doug g's response makes sense and if it does then the mitsubishi's dlp's are not really 120's instead are some sort of hybred with something called "smooth120" which is not the same as 120hz. still it would be interesting to see what, if anything happenes if you switch to 1080p/24.

I just got my XD-E500 at Best Buy because it was on sale. I tested some movies. The TV I use is 52" XBR4. I compare it to Toshiba DVR410 and a older Sony progressive scan player and I think the XD-E500 is better. However, I do not find it better than my Toshiba A20. I also tried outputting it at 1080i and let my TV do the deinterlacing and I don't see much difference. (I also have a couple of cheap Philips upconverting machines but I am too lazy to do a direct comparison.) I have read all the pages here and I have the following observations.

1) I agree with most here that it has a high pitch whine when it is in standby mode. It doesn't really bother me as I do not hear it unless I am right next to it. (Closing the door on the stand helps.)

2) I haven't decided which of the enhancement is better.

3) I really don't see any artifacts that bother me.

4) For good transfer, the picture is excellent but no better than A20.

5) The "split screen" error did happen once. Like others have reported, turning it off and back on again fixed it.

I do have one question. Do you know any movies that XD-E500 will output as 1080p/24 automatically? I know my TV is cable of receiving it. I am forcing it to output as 1080p/24 but would like to know whether it will do it under auto setting for some movies.

I probably will keep it even though I don't think it adds anything better than my other machines.

Thanks.

Ed.

I do have one question. Do you know any movies that XD-E500 will output as 1080p/24 automatically? I know my TV is cable of receiving it. I am forcing it to output as 1080p/24 but would like to know whether it will do it under auto setting for some movies.
IIRC, people reported problems when player video based DVDs with 1080p24 output so it seems the player can not auto detect film-based DVDs. Not surprising. Not a real big deal, too.

larry

Hi Larry,

Thanks. (I have seen problems for video based DVD when I force it to output 1080p/24 also.)

Ed.

Video is 30fps, so 24fps output can't look very good. :)

larry

To Elbarto1 and any others who may have had problems playing burned dvds -

I've had my Toshiba XD-E500 dvd player since Christmas. I've never had a problem playing any of my hundreds of burned discs on it.. Perfection..tremendously detailed video,,,I'm extremely happy with the Toshiba.

But I must say, recently I began to have the SAME problems as Elbarto1 and others have described above....having videos FREEZE, Macroblocking, then also jumping to a different chapter...I thought that the Toshiba XD-E500 was going bad on me !

Till I realised that this problem started when I started to use a new stack of Phillips DVD+Rs that I purchased recently.. These problems only exist when using Blank dvds from THIS stack of new Phillips DVD+Rs...

(I tried the same burned dvd's from this stack of Phillips dvds in other DVD players.. yup; the SAME problem (freezing, macroblocking, jumping chapters) occurs in any other dvd player.. I have 3 other standard Dvd players, beside the Toshiba..the problem occurs in all of them, with these dvd's.

These problems do NOT exist when I use burned dvds from OTHER batches of blank dvds... Perfect video playback.

Soo.. my conclusion? The problem lies NOT in the Toshiba XD-E500.. This unit is NOT malfunctioning. Rather, the problem is BAD MEDIA.

By the way.. I found my back up dvd of the cleaned up version of STAR WARS that George Lucas released around 1997...popped it into the Toshiba XD-E500.. and literally was FLOORED.. I never realised that so much DETAIL existed in this movie.. the picture was flawless.. my wife came in, she thought that I was watching a tv High Definition broadcast of STAR WARS.. nope.. this was the old standard 4801 backup of Star Wars that I made years ago, played back on the Toshiba XD-E500 dvd player.

This is exactly what the Toshiba XD-E500 was MADE for! This Dvd Player breathes new life and brilliance to our standard DVD collections!

All I'm suggesting is that those people who might dismiss the Toshiba XD-E500 on the basis of others reporting video playback problems may wish to try this player out for themselves. Elbarto1 and others may have had problems with BAD MEDIA..who knows ? All I can say is that I've had the same type of problems; but I've discovered that the problem was NOT the Toshiba XD-E500 malfunctioning, but rather it was BAD MEDIA.

Philips=CMC=crap. There's only two manufacterers of high quality media, Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim.

I'm currently using a Toshiba HD-A3 HD-DVD player (no HDMI/bitstream).
I'm not planning on buying any more HD-DVDs.
(Hopefully there will be a Blu-ray player under the Christmas tree for me.
Along with Star Trek, Terminator 4, Transformers 2, GI Joe, all on Blu-ray)
I would like to be able to Bitstream SD-DVDs to my Onkyo TX-SR606 for the time being.
So I'm looking at getting the XD-E500.
Has anyone compared the SD-DVD Video up-scaling between the XD-E500 and the HD-A3?

I think somewhere way back in this thread the comparison has come up.

My local Fry's has the XD-E500 on sale.
Good as time as any to compare it to my HD-A3.
I've got Serenity on SD-DVD and HD-DVD to use for comparison.

Bought the XD-E500, it appears Fry's is having a "close out" sale on the XD-E500.

So I'm playing Serenity HD-DVD on the Toshiba HD-A3 at 1080i and sound is PCM HDMI/Dolby D+.
Also playing Serenity SD-DVD on the Toshiba XD-E500 at 1080p (sharp) and sound is Bitstream HDMI/Dolby 5.1.
This on a 18 month old Philips 42" LCD (7422) and an Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver.
Sound wise they seem the same, with the video the HD-DVD might be 5% better.
On the Philips LCD settings are Contrast 65, Brightness 50, Tint 0, sharpness 5, Color Temp Normal.

So far I've only watch the beginning graphics, school scene and escape.
I've frozen the picture at the same spot on both, to my untrained eye the pictures seem the same.

I'll post more later on after watching more, or if someone has some ideas for changing settings.

I paid $59.00 + tax for the XD-E500 and so far I LIKE IT.

May/24/09
I'm returning the XD-E500, my Toshiba HD-A3 is just as good at playing SD-DVDs.

You're not going to do better than a Toshiba HD-DVD player for SD-DVDs.

I tried the XD-E500 and just don't see what everybody is raving about. People's TVs must have poor upconversion. I could see the contrast mode having some advantage on certain DVDs but build quality of the Toshiba is so poor it's just not worth the price for what little it does, which isn't much to me. My JVC and Pioneer players both have color/tint/contrast/brightless/gamma/sharpness adjustments, I can pretty much do anything the E500 can do with my other players and build quality on them is far superior to the Toshiba.

People are raving aboout the $79.00 price as opposed to the hundreds of dollars for an hd-dvd player. (if you could find one) also, if the tv you have has the ability to accept a 24fps signal (and properly display it) the toshiba xd-e500 will output that signal. The hd-dvd has no such ability for standard dvd's. (unless of course toshiba's hd-dvd has a new update i'm not aware of.

My 2004 JVC player and my TV's upconversion do as good or better a job than the Toshiba. Like I said people must have TVs with poor upconversion. The Pioneer DV-410 is better than the XD-E500 and I picked one of them up on ebay for less than $30 shipped. Still it really has no advantage over the TV's upconversion but it does play other region PAL DVDs.

The Pioneer DV-410 is better than the XD-E500 and I picked one of them up on ebay for less than $30 shipped.

Operator error? Or you've got a lemon for XDE? I 've got both players [and some more], no question Pio is at the lower end of the spectrum, and XDE is the best for SD DVDs. Here is my line-up in terms of picture quality:
Toshiba XDE > Panasonic BD35 = Toshiba A30 > Pioneer DV48 = OPPO 970 > Toshiba A2 > Onkyo 405 > Philips 5960

note: Pio 410 is equivalent to Onkyo 405

I have the top end Denon now and a XDE I bought when my Denon video section went out. I have the Denon back for a month and it's still pretty flawless(should be at that price). I bought Valkrie and watched it on the XDE and I would have to say, no it's not BD, but the picture was so good many wanted to buy the Denon but were suprised when I told them it's not the Denon but the XDE that weighs as much as the Denon power chord.

Some discs are great and some have macoblocking and artifacts so bad that it renders the movie non watchable. The Matrix won't play, Cold Comfort Farm, Abandoned(which will probably be remade in the USA for no reason since the original is great) macroblocks at the climax.

I just don't see anything on this player. My TV upconverts better. Good transfers basically look the same and debatable or poor transfers just look grainy and lousy. Add to that the ringing mentioned back in this thread and the artifacts in some scenes that I NEVER see with my TV upconverting and I won't even get started on the very poor build quality of this thing, there just isn't anything here.

To each his own I guess, I just don't see it. It's a step backwards to me.

I just don't see anything on this player. My TV upconverts better. Good transfers basically look the same and debatable or poor transfers just look grainy and lousy. Add to that the ringing mentioned back in this thread and the artifacts in some scenes that I NEVER see with my TV upconverting and I won't even get started on the very poor build quality of this thing, there just isn't anything here.

To each his own I guess, I just don't see it. It's a step backwards to me.

We heard your point. I even suggested two possibilities that help to explain it: [1] operator error, [2] lemon.

We heard your point. I even suggested two possibilities that help to explain it: [1] operator error, [2] lemon.

[3] Some people just don't think that smothering a DVD picture in edge enhancement makes it "better".

[3] Some people just don't think that smothering a DVD picture in edge enhancement makes it "better".

Most of the people here agree that you see increase in detail on this player, not "smothering". It was noted here as well that the TV needs to be calibrated to see most out of this player. Otherwise, you may see the artifacts you saw.

Josh Z only likes Blue Ray which is fine, and he dislikes this Toshiba because they compared it to Blue Ray when it was announced. People who still watch SD DVDs can just enjoy our movies and not worry about the Blue Ray is better crowd.

He just can see past the "wow" effect to the real PQ of the player.

It has nothing to do with a defective player, operator error or calibration. To discerning eyes this player just adds unwanted enhancements that make the PQ worse, not better. I really wanted this player to be everything it's made up to be but it just isn't.

Like I said before I could see where the contrast mode might be useful on some DVDs, unfortunately the DVDs that could use it are usually the ones that are already on the grainy side and don't need any detail enhancement making them look worse. Since you can't use the contrast mode without the sharpness mode it's pretty much worthless.

The sharpness mode is comparable to VSM on a CRT, videophiles will pass on both.

"Josh Z only likes Blue Ray which is fine, and he dislikes this Toshiba because they compared it to Blue Ray when it was announced."

That is an inaccurate statement in regards to both Josh and his review.

TOSHIBA said it was like blu-ray, not Josh. To compare it then to blu-ray was relevant and appropriate and Josh was right to do so. Josh has nothing against Toshiba nor sd-dvd.

The player for many of us was a gimmick. Sorry but there it is.

I didn't say Josh said it was like Blue Ray, I said they, meaning Toshiba. You can compare it to Blue Ray if you want to but it's just an SD DVD player. I thought I would be getting a Blue Ray soon, but if doing so would mean that I can no longer enjoy my SD movies because they aren't good enough then I don't want one.

Sorry, my misread.

I have never seen macroblocking with the XDE. I have a panny 9uk.

You can compare it to Blue Ray if you want to but it's just an SD DVD player.

It's not even a particularly good SD DVD player. Edge enhancement makes a DVD picture worse, not better.

I posted my experience earlier. I recently made a couple of more comparisons.

1) Shooter in HD-DVD in A20 vs DVD in XDE500
2) Underworld in Blu-ray in PS3 vs DVD in XDE500

The XDE500 performed very well. I also tried comparing it against a Philips upconvert 5990 and it is better.

It's not even a particularly good SD DVD player. Edge enhancement makes a DVD picture worse, not better.


I gotta agree. My 4 1/2 Year old player and the TV's upconversion look as good or better, plus my old player has a lot of picture adjustments the Toshiba doesn't.

I very rarely used the VSM when I still used CRTs, it basically did the same thing, it looked worse. Once in awhile I'd come across a DVD that the picture was just too soft on and I'd turn the VSM on, it wasn't very often.

I also tried comparing it against a Philips upconvert 5990 and it is better.


The Philips players are Funai garbage. What isn't better?

It's not even a particularly good SD DVD player. Edge enhancement makes a DVD picture worse, not better.

We have gone a few rounds about this before. I do respect your opinion and your knowledge and I know you are a videophile. Most people are not as discerning as others and to us it looks good. I know that it bothers you that we like it and I apologize for any thing I posted that you took offense to.

The Philips players are Funai garbage. What isn't better?

The Philips players are OK, not great but at $40 not bad. I use them for dubbing. I also do most of my recording on Magnavox DVD recorders. I know, more Funai garbage. But they do the job.

It's not even a particularly good SD DVD player. Edge enhancement makes a DVD picture worse, not better.

maybe Josh is a bit at a disadvantage here with his opinions: he does not have a player, and did not calibrate his TV when he did have it. He should not be so worried about an $80 player: it won't kill Blu-ray:D

maybe Josh is a bit at a disadvantage here with his opinions: he does not have a player, and did not calibrate his TV when he did have it. He should not be so worried about an $80 player: it won't kill Blu-ray:D

What are you talking about? He probably doesn't have it now but he had the player when he did his comparsions. You are dishing FUD.

In fact, I do still have the player.... boxed up in the closet. I posted it on Craig's List a few times, but nobody wanted it. :(

As for calibration, we've already been through this before. Oversoftening the picture with your TV controls is not a proper "fix" for oversharpening applied by the DVD player.

Edge enhancement destroys picture detail. Electronic edge halos now overlap on top of detail that was previously present in the picture. You can soften the picture to mask those halos, but the detail is still gone (not to mention even more detail lost as a result of the softening).

It's just a no-win scenario all around.

What are you talking about? He probably doesn't have it now but he had the player when he did his comparsions. You are dishing FUD.

What looks good to some doesn't look good to everyone. It's our own personal taste and debating it won't change anything. You like it and I like it, some guys hate it so much they have to bash it repeatedly. I dislike lots of products but if someone likes them so be it.

Wasn't adressing his like or dislike of the player. The FUD was what he said about Josh Z owning the player and not calibrating his TV. jurid0012 was dising Josh Z's opinon by lying.

I posted my experience earlier. I recently made a couple of more comparisons.

1) Shooter in HD-DVD in A20 vs DVD in XDE500
2) Underworld in Blu-ray in PS3 vs DVD in XDE500

The XDE500 performed very well. I also tried comparing it against a Philips upconvert 5990 and it is better.

Before I bought this dvd player the salesman took one out of the box and hooked it up to an lcd tv and inserted an old Bruce Willis film (Striking Distance issued years ago) and it was startling out of the box. The 24fps feature did not work because he had not attached it to a 120hz tv. The salesman was so impressed with the picture that he actually found a 120hz lcd tv (same brand new model) and found that we could use the 24fps feature now. Played the same movie. Great again. Did not notice a particularly better picture but thought the 24fps gave the action scenes a smoother look to it. Took it home and couldn't believe it our did (not by much) my XA2 HD-DVD player. (which i paid big bucks for)

In fact, I do still have the player....

Oversoftening the picture with your TV controls is not a proper "fix" for oversharpening applied by the DVD player.


So you still have the player. I would disagree with you on what this player does: it certainly does not "oversharpen" anything for me, and for many of us here. But I am definitely interested in your opinion. Here is my line-up of players in terms of picture quality:
Toshiba XDE > Panasonic BD35 = Toshiba A30 > Pioneer DV48 = OPPO 970 > Toshiba A2 > Onkyo 405 > Philips 5960
In your experience, what would be your line-up of the players you have [or tested] in picture quality?

Wasn't adressing his like or dislike of the player. The FUD was what he said about Josh Z owning the player and not calibrating his TV. jurid0012 was dising Josh Z's opinon by lying.

Oops, I actually meant to quote jurid001 but quoted you by mistake.

So you still have the player. I would disagree with you on what this player does: it certainly does not "oversharpen" anything for me, and for many of us here. But I am definitely interested in your opinion. Here is my line-up of players in terms of picture quality:
Toshiba XDE > Panasonic BD35 = Toshiba A30 > Pioneer DV48 = OPPO 970 > Toshiba A2 > Onkyo 405 > Philips 5960
In your experience, what would be your line-up of the players you have [or tested] in picture quality? Many people don't mind extra sharpness being applied to a video image. A lot of it is because they have been watching TV with video sharpened for such a long time. Default settings for all TVs have sharpness enabled. Then there's also other factors beside personal preference like viewing distance, proper calibration, display accuracy, etc.

One thing that surprised me was the high score with the "new" Secrets benchmark. If indeed you can compare the SD-DVD playback score against the "old" benchmarks (I don't think you can because some tests were not done) then for the low cost of the player with 1080p24 output for SD-DVD, it's not a bad player at all leaving the video munging options off.

larry

Many people don't mind extra sharpness being applied to a video image. A lot of it is because they have been watching TV with video sharpened for such a long time. Default settings for all TVs have sharpness enabled. Then there's also other factors beside personal preference like viewing distance, proper calibration, display accuracy, etc.

One thing that surprised me was the high score with the "new" Secrets benchmark. If indeed you can compare the SD-DVD playback score against the "old" benchmarks (I don't think you can because some tests were not done) then for the low cost of the player with 1080p24 output for SD-DVD, it's not a bad player at all leaving the video munging options off.

larry

Exactly the point. This has the 1080p/24 capability and for those with tv's that allow this the picture if not better is certainly "smoother." In this price range is their any other dvd player that playes standard dvd's that has this feature? I don't think so. I did see two quite critical reviews on the Oppo site so I looked at them. One review admitted that his tv did not have this feature but that didn't stop him from being critical of the xde. Thew second one did have a tv capable of this but decided not to use this feature as it would not be and even up comparison.

Exactly the point. This has the 1080p/24 capability and for those with tv's that allow this the picture if not better is certainly "smoother." In this price range is their any other dvd player that playes standard dvd's that has this feature? I don't think so. I did see two quite critical reviews on the Oppo site so I looked at them. One review admitted that his tv did not have this feature but that didn't stop him from being critical of the xde. Thew second one did have a tv capable of this but decided not to use this feature as it would not be and even up comparison.

In the Cnet review (http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/toshiba-xd-e500/4505-6463_7-33224998.html), they could see no difference using 1080p/24:

"We also took a look at the XD-E500's 1080p output at 24 frames per second, also commonly referred to as 1080p/24. The idea behind 1080p/24 is that by outputting at film's native rate of 24 frames, you can avoid some of the judder that occurs from 2:3 pull-down processing--although the idea makes more sense with Blu-ray Discs which are natively encoded at 24 frames per second, than with DVDs, which are encoded at 30 frames per second. In our tests, we didn't see any benefit from enabling 1080p/24 mode, and we looked closely at panning sequences on both Star Trek: Insurrection and Serenity.

We enabled the appropriate modes on the TVs we used for the test--48Hz and 72Hz modes for the Panasonic and Pioneer plasmas, dejudder off for the 120Hz Samsung LCD--but couldn't detect any difference between those and the standard 60Hz TVs."

That's too bad, as I have a lot of DVDs that will probably never appear on blu-ray, and I thought this could be a great feature.

Can anyone confirm Cnet's findings on this feature?

Sometimes it's spectacular if you don't look to close to the scenery. Sometimes it doesn't play anything correct, chapter skipping and macroblocking. I had guest over and we watched Valkyrie by the end many send it was worth the Highend Denon, surprise surpris, it was the Toshiba XDE. I'd have to say with the right disc it gives the expensive Denon a cold sweat and perhaps outperforms it. The next XDE will be the killer.

In the Cnet review (http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/toshiba-xd-e500/4505-6463_7-33224998.html), they could see no difference using 1080p/24:

"We also took a look at the XD-E500's 1080p output at 24 frames per second, also commonly referred to as 1080p/24. The idea behind 1080p/24 is that by outputting at film's native rate of 24 frames, you can avoid some of the judder that occurs from 2:3 pull-down processing--although the idea makes more sense with Blu-ray Discs which are natively encoded at 24 frames per second, than with DVDs, which are encoded at 30 frames per second. In our tests, we didn't see any benefit from enabling 1080p/24 mode, and we looked closely at panning sequences on both Star Trek: Insurrection and Serenity.

We enabled the appropriate modes on the TVs we used for the test--48Hz and 72Hz modes for the Panasonic and Pioneer plasmas, dejudder off for the 120Hz Samsung LCD--but couldn't detect any difference between those and the standard 60Hz TVs."

That's too bad, as I have a lot of DVDs that will probably never appear on blu-ray, and I thought this could be a great feature.

Can anyone confirm Cnet's findings on this feature?Some people claim to be "sensitive" to 3:2 jutter. However, prior to 1080p24 output we were watching 60hz video for a long time and enjoying it. I switch between 1080p24 and 1080p60 output for SD-DVDs and wouldn't know what I was watching except for knowing what resolution I set. And since film is 24fps, panning a camera too fast can cause jutter that you can not get rid of - it's in the movie. For me, it's the least required feature I would want if choosing between good deinterlacing, scaling, color decoding (in display) etc.

larry

In the Cnet review (http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/toshiba-xd-e500/4505-6463_7-33224998.html), they could see no difference using 1080p/24:

"We also took a look at the XD-E500's 1080p output at 24 frames per second, also commonly referred to as 1080p/24. The idea behind 1080p/24 is that by outputting at film's native rate of 24 frames, you can avoid some of the judder that occurs from 2:3 pull-down processing--although the idea makes more sense with Blu-ray Discs which are natively encoded at 24 frames per second, than with DVDs, which are encoded at 30 frames per second. In our tests, we didn't see any benefit from enabling 1080p/24 mode, and we looked closely at panning sequences on both Star Trek: Insurrection and Serenity.

We enabled the appropriate modes on the TVs we used for the test--48Hz and 72Hz modes for the Panasonic and Pioneer plasmas, dejudder off for the 120Hz Samsung LCD--but couldn't detect any difference between those and the standard 60Hz TVs."

That's too bad, as I have a lot of DVDs that will probably never appear on blu-ray, and I thought this could be a great feature.

Can anyone confirm Cnet's findings on this feature?

I can't. I use and love the XDE features although it took me a while to find the right combination of the XDE features that worked for me. (some like sharponess, others color others contrast)

I re-raed the CNET review and discovered that they turned off all of the exclusive XDE features (as they determined them to be easily recreatable from your tv's internal settings) before testing between the 1080p vs. 1080p/24.

I have the XDE features that work for me always on because my tv does NOT have the ability to recreate internally what the XDE does for sharpness and contrast. Turning them off and trying to run my own 1080p and 1080p/24 test did not work because the picture was so degraded that I coulnd't tell any difference. That being said I turned the XDE features back on and was able to see a small amount of difference between the two settings, not in the picture quality itself but in the "smoothness" of the scenes esecially where there was a lot of panning taking place. The amount is small but because the XDE allows you to switch between the 1080p and the 1080p/24 "on the fly" you can see what it does on your set or the set you are thinking of purchasing. When I bought mine the tv salesman allowed me to actually hook up the XDE to the tv before I bought it.

Finally as an aside, I was a bit miffed at CNET the more I read the article. They compared ths dvd played to an Oppo which they liked. (and I believe it is a good dvd player as meny AVS members rave about it) That being said I feel it was unfair for CNET to turn off all of the features that make the XDE the XDE before comparing it to the OPPO. While I understand that they have the right to determine that the XDE features should be turned off because they can be recreated by your tv's internal settings (I don't think that to be true in many sets, including mine) by doing so they have created an unequal test between players.

Finally, the XDE is the only reasonably priced DVD player that has 1080p/24. If you need this feature (and maby you will as the newer tv's may want the dvd player to perform this function) why not have it. Chack it out for yoursel...

I agree the benefits of 24p can be subtle at times. I also think that below 50" the advantages are somewhat debatable. Yes, fast camera pans can exhibit "stutter" even in their native mode but its also a lot less noticeable due to the speed. I also think interlaced displays tend to mask the effects of judder so its much less obvious than when viewed on a 30/60fps progressive display.

However judder is very real. Its most obvious on medium to low speed pans on larger screens. Anyone with a projector knows exactly what I'm talking about. Using any 30/60 progressive rate creates a very distracting uneven movement in panning shots, e.g. "judder". Again, this has nothing to do with the source and everything to do with how it was processed to be put on a DVD. Once you've seen what 24p can do for shots like this, you never want to go back! Using 24p native, these kinds of wide slow pans are silky smooth! Not even a hint of any irregularity in the scene movement. I found 24p so effective on my large projection screen that I made 24p support for DVD a non-negotiable requirement when looking for a BD player. Luckily the Panasonic BD60 offers this and I must say the 24p mode is far more robust than what the XDE has to offer. The upconversion certainly isn't as "sharp" as the XDE, but its still what I consider "very good" and I don't find it unwatchable even at 104" by any stretch.

I didn't read the review linked above but I will say when it comes to technical expertise for anything non-computer related, CNET is definitely not on my "trusted source" list.

I agree the benefits of 24p can be subtle at times. I also think that below 50" the advantages are somewhat debatable. Yes, fast camera pans can exhibit "stutter" even in their native mode but its also a lot less noticeable due to the speed. I also think interlaced displays tend to mask the effects of judder so its much less obvious than when viewed on a 30/60fps progressive display.

However judder is very real. Its most obvious on medium to low speed pans on larger screens. Anyone with a projector knows exactly what I'm talking about. Using any 30/60 progressive rate creates a very distracting uneven movement in panning shots, e.g. "judder". Again, this has nothing to do with the source and everything to do with how it was processed to be put on a DVD. Once you've seen what 24p can do for shots like this, you never want to go back! Using 24p native, these kinds of wide slow pans are silky smooth! Not even a hint of any irregularity in the scene movement. I found 24p so effective on my large projection screen that I made 24p support for DVD a non-negotiable requirement when looking for a BD player. Luckily the Panasonic BD60 offers this and I must say the 24p mode is far more robust than what the XDE has to offer. The upconversion certainly isn't as "sharp" as the XDE, but its still what I consider "very good" and I don't find it unwatchable even at 104" by any stretch.

I didn't read the review linked above but I will say when it comes to technical expertise for anything non-computer related, CNET is definitely not on my "trusted source" list.

I too feel that 24p support is non-negotiable and have a feeling that those who are not big fans of itdo not have large enough sets to see the difference. I mysely (at a BB who allowed me to hook up an XDE to a 46 inch 120hz XDE) was unable to tell the difference between the 1080p and the 1080p/24 setting. However I was so impressed with what the unit could do to contrast, color etc. that I bought it anyway. Then I got it home and there definately was a difference. Especially in the smoothness of action scenes. For all those with big screens please consider our two opinions.

I see you are moving up to a blue ray. I have recently noticed how many of them specifically say they have 24p support but they never mention that they are not talking about standard dvd's. You can not look at the box to see if their upconverter for standard dvd's provides 24p support. I understand that a majority of blue ray players do NOT have this feature. Certainly the lower priced ones do not. Do you think that as time goes on they will all have this feature?

Hi my brother just bought a Toshiba XDE dvd player. It is connected via hdmi cable to Sony XSRD projection television, and there is no sound coming out of the tv-speakers. The XDE is set to PCM in the setup. But no sound. What should he do?

For my TV there are 2 types of HDMI input, one for both video and audio, another one for video only, audio has to be feed in separately.

Just double check your HDMI input is for both audio and video.

Hope that help. Good luck!

finally pulled the trigger at 59.99...popped in Gladiator and was very impressed!

People are raving aboout the $79.00 price as opposed to the hundreds of dollars for an hd-dvd player. (if you could find one) also, if the tv you have has the ability to accept a 24fps signal (and properly display it) the toshiba xd-e500 will output that signal. The hd-dvd has no such ability for standard dvd's. (unless of course toshiba's hd-dvd has a new update i'm not aware of.



It's pretty obvious you don't check your facts about HD DVD players because anyone that has a Toshiba XA2 has been enjoying this "new update" for 1080p/24 for 2 years now. :rolleyes:

It's pretty obvious you don't check your facts about HD DVD players because anyone that has a Toshiba XA2 has been enjoying this "new update" for 1080p/24 for 2 years now. :rolleyes:

As has the HD-A35.

There are also several Blu-ray players that will upconvert DVD to 1080p24.

my player just died with it saying bad disk or just keeps saying loading all the time. I see where quite a few are having the same problem. I took the top off of mine and the disc was not running at times and other times running slow. It appears the loaders in these units are poorly made to not last very long. I am disappointed as this is the first player i have used that had this problem. My player was not used alot to warrant a failure of this kind. Oh well i guess i should have expected this to happen as it seems there are quite a few problems with this model and i can only wonder about the new 600 that is cheaper made version of this. Beware of cheap player.

When I set the HMDI output to 480p
AND my Panasonic to 4:3 aspect, it works.
I used the THX Optomiser Video Test on the Incredibles DVD to check 4:3 setup.
Any other HDMI output setting besides 480p streches the picture width.
Also I engaged the HMDI Contol in the setup menu

Also if you are using ANY of the Enchanced picture setting in 1080i or 1080p you MUST turn them off first to go to other HMDI settings like 480p or 720p.

ONLY THE 480p works on my display. 720p and above streches the picture

GOOD LUCK:):D:D

That solves the stretch problem at 480p, but it doesn't let you upconvert to 1080p without stretching, and that it one of the main reasons people bought this player, to use it at 1080p.

No you can't upconvert through this player and not stretch the picture.
But all the 16:9 can be upconverted and enchanced to your hearts content.
And now you can watch the skinny Captain Kirk instead of the chubby one and let your tv upconvert.


And, who moved this thread?
What is the problem?

Good suggestion, but no success. I ordered it from Amazon and they already have a replacement on the way. Unit is very small and lightweight. Does not appear to be of good quality but then again it does not cost much either.

Fry's has these (new) and is currently blowing them out at unbelievable prices. Understand that if they do not sell out their remaining ones they WILL have them discounted even more on Black Friday. (for those of you interested in playing chicken with remaining inventories) Unfortunately they have decided NOT to sell the XD-e600's.

That solves the stretch problem at 480p, but it doesn't let you upconvert to 1080p without stretching, and that it one of the main reasons people bought this player, to use it at 1080p.

I ran accross a 1990s movie (Zero Effect) that was cut to 4:3 for the DVD (hate that). I set it HDMI res 480p and 4:3 and let the TV (cheap Vizio) do the upconverting to 1080P. While it didn't look as good as the 1080P with "sharp" from the player, it still looked just fine and I really don't come across too many 4:3 movies anyway.

Oh, this was with the XDE-600. I'd still recommend one of the XDE players from Toshiba. For the vast majority of recent movies and TV show DVDs its fine at 16:9 and the Sharp feature gives you about the best IQ you'll get from a DVD player these days (especially for the low price). This is from doing an A:B comparison with a Pioneer DV-49AV and Oppo 980H.

I ran accross a 1990s movie (Zero Effect) that was cut to 4:3 for the DVD (hate that). I set it HDMI res 480p and 4:3 and let the TV (cheap Vizio) do the upconverting to 1080P. While it didn't look as good as the 1080P with "sharp" from the player, it still looked just fine and I really don't come across too many 4:3 movies anyway.

Oh, this was with the XDE-600. I'd still recommend one of the XDE players from Toshiba. For the vast majority of recent movies and TV show DVDs its fine at 16:9 and the Sharp feature gives you about the best IQ you'll get from a DVD player these days (especially for the low price). This is from doing an A:B comparison with a Pioneer DV-49AV and Oppo 980H.

I think the XDE-600 (and 500) puts out a great picture too. It is my player of choice for DVD. It's just too bad they screwed up the "stretch" thing. With my new JVC LCD TV, I can use the "slim" mode to get the stretched 1.33 picture back to the correct ratio. When using my projector, however, I need to show 1.33 films using my XA-2 HD DVD player for 1080p upconversion via HDMI.

$34.99 on ebay deal of the day today

i have a problem with my toshiba XD-E500. it says on the manual if you hit the progressive button it should give you better picture quality if your tv is compatibale. well i have a sony32XBr6 tv im pretty sure its compatibale.

i hit the progressive button while the movie is playing and lost signal. says on tv no signal check the external input or select another input. i read the manual to hit the progressive button many times to reset it and nothing happens. i tried turning it off unpluging it you name it.

the player turns on fine and everything its just that it doesnt send a signal at all to the tv after hitting that button.

also why does the 500 model cost more than the 600 ? http://www.toshibaxde.com/models.html

i have a problem with my toshiba XD-E500. it says on the manual if you hit the progressive button it should give you better picture quality if your tv is compatibale. well i have a sony32XBr6 tv im pretty sure its compatibale.

i hit the progressive button while the movie is playing and lost signal. says on tv no signal check the external input or select another input. i read the manual to hit the progressive button many times to reset it and nothing happens. i tried turning it off unpluging it you name it.

the player turns on fine and everything its just that it doesnt send a signal at all to the tv after hitting that button.

also why does the 500 model cost more than the 600 ? http://www.toshibaxde.com/models.html

What connection method are you using? If you are using HDMI I believe that progressive is unavailable. I noticed that with my 600 this is the case. It works with Component though.

What connection method are you using? If you are using HDMI I believe that progressive is unavailable. I noticed that with my 600 this is the case. It works with Component though.yeah im using HDMI. so the player wont support progressive with HDMI but component yes ? thats weird. and what can i do to reset it ?

Just to recap...

Is there a fix for the 4:3 stretching? Snow White isn't supposed to be thick.

Just to recap...

Is there a fix for the 4:3 stretching? Snow White isn't supposed to be thick.

The only way you can stop it is set the player to 480p (unless your TV can force a pillar box). Unfortunately that disables the XDE settings, but I'd rather do that than have a stretched picture.

My player is now flaking out. When I play a DVD, the screen breaks up. If I pause it, the image is clear as a bell, but as soon as the moving images resume, the screen breaks up in a way that would make you think the disc is seriously damaged.

Of course, I've tried this with multiple pristine discs.

Anyone got a fix?

I am currently having issues with my XD-E500. For some reason when I watch DVD's every 15min to 10min, sometimes less, the screen goes blank. I am forced to switch off the player and turn it back on, sometimes it doesn't even turn on, and I have to wait a long while before I can turn it on again.

And when it turns on before the welcome screen, I get a blurred Blue & black waves like it can't locate the signal or something. I've tried every single HDMI cable I have, I tried other HDTV's with this player and I get the same issues, so it's definitely the XD-E500 that is the issue.

Ever since my warranty ended I've been getting these issues. Darn, I should have gotten that 3 year extended warranty off Best Buy Canada for a small $34.99 fee. Now I am paying the price by not using this player anymore...

Any suggestions?

Anybody got a FIX?

I'm sorry to Necro this thread but I'm scratching my head right now.

I have a XDE500 and I'm experiencing problem with burned DVDs.

I have seen somewhere that xde has problem with burned DVD, but I must make a try here.

For the record I wanted to save my recorded VCR superbowls on DVD, and it took forever to do it because my old hauppauge card is not accepted by win7 so I had to make an old PC, and... well long story.
I did several tests for quality images with a DVD RW Sony and everytime the DVD were loaded properly.

Then, I burned the whole file in severals DVD (Memorex, Verbatim) and it was not loading.
After a few tries it was loading.
Then the next day it was not loading (the same DVD), so i tried to at 1st read a 'true' DVD film then open the XDE and load my burned DVD.

It appears than the DVD load only a very few times when I'm lucky.

May be it's because the writing mode when the DVD has been burned was too high, may be the XDE can't read DVD that have been written over than 4X I don't know.
May be the laser lens is cheap I don't know

Is there a fix for that, a firmware upgrade (I have seen Automan posts but links are broken) or something (my version is XD_E500TE_00G_R2), or am I completely fu....ed ??

Thanks in advance

Repulsif, it should be able to play those DVD's no problem. I believe it's the method you used to burn those DVD's maybe. I think this player is over due for a nice firmware update...

Here is what it can play:
•DVD,DVD-R,DVD-RW,DVD-RW DL,DVD-R DL,DVD+R,DVD+RW,DVD+RWDL,DVD+R DL, CD, CD-DA,CD-R, CD-RW,VCD, SVCD,DivX (with subtitle support)

LINK:
http://www.toshiba.ca/web/product.grp?lg=en&section=2&group=521&product=8590&part=8472#spectop

hi,

thanks for the message.

when i load the burned dvd r in a phillips dvdr 3480, it's fine
in a computer pionneer dvd player, computer asus, computer lg, it's fine.

only in the xde i have problems.

I use deep burner for my burning dvd, i didn't experienced ant problem before.
i wanted to slow down the burning speed for a test but deep burner does allow not me to ; for each dvd it applies a speed you can not change (and sometimes it burns at x20 on x16 dvds).

Is it really a burning sofware problem ? :confused:
what are the (free) other reliable softwares in this case ?
Thanks

Humm, in that case it may very well be your Toshiba player. I find sometimes I cannot play DVD-R and/or DVD+R's in my other Toshiba DVD players. Not all discs, just some of them for some reason, though I have no issue playing them in my LG player.

Have you tried NERO?