As per a suggestion, I'm opening a poll.

Basically, if you are experiencing the annoying "skip" or "stutter" problem on your HD-A1, please let us all know.

Effectively:

You'll be watching a movie and all of a sudden, it seems to pause. Then, it resumes and briefly plays at a rate faster than 1x (looks like it's in fast forward). Then, it goes back to normal playback. Sometimes, after this happens, the audio and video are out of sync and require you to pause/unpause the film or move forward/back a chapter to restore synchronization.

If you ARE having this problem, please report what firmware version you are using, and if you are using HDMI vs. Component and if you are using the analog outputs vs. optical.

Finally, is this disc you were playing new or a rental (Netflix, etc) with some scratches?

A lot of people are reporting this problem with brand new disks and I'm curious to see:

1) How widespread it is.
2) Are there any common factors.

Please, no fanboyism. If it's happened to you, vote as such.

This problem is annoying a lot people and pretending the problem doesn't exist so HD-DVD doesn't look bad is just silliness.

xa1 - 1.4 FW - Have had 1 new disc lockup (Van Helsing) and 2 Netflix rentals (Syriana and Apollo 13). Had a few with original fw, none with 1.2 (only on about a week). Random places, nothing I can reproduce. Syriana locked to the point where the chapter skip, pause, play, etc on the remote wouldn't work. The "Menu" button worked and I was able to use the "Pause" option on the menu, then "Play" option on the menu. Thw other two, just a pause/play combo and went on.

I voted no because I don't have ongoing problems. I have had a problem only with the Tomb Raider disc. It seemed to "get stuck" at 2 parts and after it got stuck and resumed, the audio was off. All was well after pausing and unpausing.

-Evangelo2

I've rented 10-12 different movies from Netflix, and only 2 or 3 have skipped. They all were very dirty; one had a HUGE greasy fingerprint on it! It worked fine after I wiped it off.

I've had a total of two skipping/freezeup problems with my unit. The first occurred the day I received it. It consistantly froze at the same place (launch sequence) in "Apollo 13". It was a Netflix disk and it looked beat. I immediately went to BB and purchased a new copy and all was well. At the time, the unit had FW version 1.0. Most certainly the disk.

No further problems at all after that.

Over a month later, I upgraded to 1.4. Since then, only one problem. The unit froze up completely on a SD DVD when I pressed the "Next Chapter" button. Had to power it down. It was one of my disks ... and, for the life of me, I can't now remember which one. But I do remember that it was an SD DVD ... and it was in very good shape.

Hank Brown

Bad poll. People will need to specify if it has always skipped, or if it started after a FW upgrade.
J

Bad poll. People will need to specify if it has always skipped, or if it started after a FW upgrade.
J

Is this a public poll where we can see who voted? It doesn't make sense for people who do not own a Tosh to report skipping problems - right?

Not sure how to answer this. Bourne Supremacy would pause briefly every 2 minutes, and knock the audio out of sync, which was fixed by pausing. After it did this twice, I ejected the disc to check for flaws(none) re-inserted it, and it played fine all the way through.

Is this a public poll where we can see who voted? It doesn't make sense for people who do not own a Tosh to report skipping problems - right?

It doesn't appear to be a public poll; if it were you could click on the numbers for each vote, and the names would come up.

No problems/issues *knock on wood* with my Univeral/Warner Bros. HD-DVD's...I did have Audio Drop Outs with Paramount's Sleepy Hollow...!!!

I voted "no" but I did get a lock up/freeze, once, with Goodfellas (from Netflix). The disc was pretty scratched up so I'm pretty sure it was that as I've watched 5 other HD-DVDs and haven't had any issues.

I had 1 2-3 second glitch on one of the 21 discs I own. I marked no anyway since I couldn't repeat it... most likely just some dust.

I had some of these issues with Apollo 13 and with Bourne when I first got the player
but have not had them recently. They were both brand new. The audio would drop out and the movie would go into something like a "slow" fast forward. It recovered after roughly 10-20 seconds, sometimes less. I am running HDMI and have firmware 1.3.

I am using 1.4 firmware and HDMI audio over coaxial cable, problems so far, all these discs were brand new right out of the wrappers no rentals.

Sky Captain - Stutter on last chapter audio goes out of sync
Aeon Flux - Stutter 3 times during movie had to pause each time to fix sync
Serenity - Stutter in first chapter audio fixed itself
The Italian Job - Played Fine
Training Day - Played Fine
Tomb Raider - Played Fine
Sleepy Hollow - Played Fine

I emailed tosh today they sent the following reply.

Dear Paul,

Thanks for writing!
I apologize for the inconvenience.

Try resetting your unit by unplugging it from the electrical outlet for at least three minutes. If you continue having difficulty, I recommend contacting our Customer Solutions Department at

1-800-631-3811. They are available Mon-Fri, 8AM to 7PM Central time.

Please have your model and serial number available if you call.

Rick
Toshiba Customer Service

I have the original version no up dates as of yet, through component with analog for audio. Tried twice with Van Helsing because I love this movie, but had to exchange it to hard to watch. I am on my second try with Tomb Raider because I love this movie also, but I think its going back as well because it freezes up the player shortly after the UPS delivery seen, and I have to reboot the player every time. I have tried every thing skip, pause and starting from a new chapter after this seen but the player just freezes up, this has almost got me to the point of trying to down load a new firmware version. I am still afraid to update because of new problems with 1.4, hopefully they will come up with a good version with out any glitches. When they finally do come up with a good one I will have my kid burn it on a dvd and I will update then. Most of my Netflix rentals do pretty well with very few drop outs or stutters in the picture, not surprising those are the ones I would never buy, just my luck. I really look forward to the new gen players with out computer chips because the picture is flawless when its able to play consistently through a movie. By the way my collection consists of CoR,PitchBlack,The Last Samuri,Good Fellos, Born Supremecy,Serenty,TrainingDay,and Doom. Only had a little bit of trouble with Pitch Black, the rest are perfect?

There is clearly a trend here - 35% of people having sync/stutter issues. Hopefully either Toshiba, or someone with their ear, is paying attention to this. Surely at this rate their people are aware, I would think.
Being aware and actually caring are two different things though. I don't have skipping or audio synch problems, but Toshiba certainly didn't care about the problem I've been having, and their supposed staff of "HD DVD experts", as they call them, know very little about their line of players. In fact, a tech support person at a small online business that I bought my receiver from knew more about Toshiba's HD DVD players than Toshiba themselves. I can't wait until we have more reliable companies releasing HD DVD players, as Toshiba clearly isn't cutting it. I know this is all new, but Toshiba could be doing a lot more in terms of quality control.

I have an HD-D1 running 1.4 firmware thru HDMI using the 5.1 analog for audio.
Brand new disc of Van Helsing had 3 audio dropouts and two skips causing lip sync problems.
I also bought U-571 and Enter the Dragon brand new-no problems so far after viewing each tittle twice.

I have rented 8 discs form Netflix. I had a few skips and lip sync problems but I attribute that to scratched and dirty rental discs.

I clean all my discs now regardless if they are new or rented. This has helped quite a bit.

I have not had to unplug this unit yet.

I have the original version no up dates as of yet, through component with analog for audio. Tried twice with Van Helsing because I love this movie, but had to exchange it to hard to watch. I am on my second try with Tomb Raider because I love this movie also, but I think its going back as well because it freezes up the player shortly after the UPS delivery seen, and I have to reboot the player every time. I have tried every thing skip, pause and starting from a new chapter after this seen but the player just freezes up, this has almost got me to the point of trying to down load a new firmware version. I am still afraid to update because of new problems with 1.4, hopefully they will come up with a good version with out any glitches. When they finally do come up with a good one I will have my kid burn it on a dvd and I will update then. Most of my Netflix rentals do pretty well with very few drop outs or stutters in the picture, not surprising those are the ones I would never buy, just my luck. I really look forward to the new gen players with out computer chips because the picture is flawless when its able to play consistently through a movie. By the way my collection consists of CoR,PitchBlack,The Last Samuri,Good Fellos, Born Supremecy,Serenty,TrainingDay,and Doom. Only had a little bit of trouble with Pitch Black, the rest are perfect?

It sounds like you could use a FW update. I generally don't recomend them, but 1.2 was designed to fix some of the problems you have.
I had one skip once, but I don't have a problem with skipping. I also clean every HD disc before playing them. FWIW, just because a disc may be right out of the box, doesn't mean that it won't benefit from cleaning.
J

So far only on Friday Night Lights but lost audio/video sinc on Bourne Supremecy for the first time last evening.

I had gone to 1.4 after watching my first movie on 1.3 After I made the change, I had lots of problems with HD-DVD discs from Netflicks. SD discs play fine. I changed back to 1.3. Apollo 13 skipped several times last night. I put serenity in and watched the first 5 minutes. Skipped a couple times. Thinking about sending the player in....

I am holding off on my vote until next week. Right now I don't know whether to blame the media, the player, or the combination of both. Regardless of the culprit, it is unsatisfactory to have any skipping. I have not experienced any with SD, and I don't expect it for HD. So far I have only experienced stuttering on two occassions, (PB and Rundown). One was new, but scratched because it was loose in the case, the other was a Netflix rental. I will be pumping 6 more HD movies through my player in the next week, and at that point I will vote with more confidence in my answer.

I've only noticed stuttering on Van Helsing (around Chap12-14) and no amount of cleaning removed it completely

Hd-xa1 with 1.2 firmware.

It's a shame so many have this problem cause the picture quality is out of this world.

I've had my player for 3 days and watched three movies, so I'm not ready to vote yet, but I have experienced some stuttering so far. It happened early in Serenity, and in the cave scene in PB. I couldn't reproduce it in Serenity after going back to that section after watching the movie, and I didn't try with PB. I watched Jarhead, which was a slightly scratched rental, last night without any playback issues.

My brand new player which shipped with 1.4 and a July build date has skipped on two occassions both times it was playing brand new discs.

Interestingly enough the skips only occurred when I was doing chapter changes or after FF/RW operations on the disc.

This makes me highly suspicious that the skipping could be related to a buffering problem in the player when dealing with HD content. This could also explain why the problems don't affect SD discs.

Either that, or the blue wavelength optical pickups have issues (please say it ain't so).

All of the movies I have dropped in and played straight through (COR, Pitch Black, etc) have worked perfectly. I do now keep a can of compressed air handy to clean any tiny debris off of my discs before putting them in the unit.

Hopefully Toshiba can improve error correction and buffering problems in the next FW release.

My XA1 experienced a freeze at 1:05:00 (approx.) on Phantom Of The Opera. Right when that guy drops on a rope from above the stage. First problem I've seen. It continued on after about a second.

Backed it up to 1:04:00 and replayed the section just fine the second time.

It does this here and there throughout this movie. The other two I've played I had no problems with: Blazing Saddles, Dukes Of Hazzard

I've still got the original firmware.

I've played about a dozen titles so far and the only non-dust/scratch (2) skip has been from the Serenity disk (Block Buster) about 10 minutes into the movie, it skipped for about 1.5 seconds, then I saw the FFw'd and back to normal. I immediately rewound and played the scene again, and it didn't skip. So seemed to be a HW/SW issue. But when I played it again to watch with the wife last night I didn't see any skipping, although we only made it about 1 hr into the movie before we went to bed.
I think it's could be a data processing issue. But seeing it's pretty rare occurance, I am not too upset. I also think it could be fixed with a SW update, at least that's my hope.

Oh yeah, don't temporarily put your player on your subwoofer, duh, like I did playing U571 :rolleyes:

I voted no because I've only seen one pause (watching SD version of V) but it did not cause an out of sync issue and I could not recreate it (I tried).

Never had any stutter/sync issues until firmware 1.4 and have had a few small ones since .

--------- Jason

I randomly keep getting audio-sync drops. Pausing the movie for a few seconds and starting again resolves the problem.

Another weird problem I have with SD discs is that the audio level fluctuates over time, almost like a radio receiving variable signal strength.. :confused:

Case in point - I just watched Ultraviolet SD DVD this afternoon, and the audio was inconsistent. I played Swordfish HD-DVD afterwards, and there were no problems wiht audio levels - which was the case with all my HD discs so far. Weird. :confused:

Just an update: I've now watched around 8-10 HD-DVDs and have not had any issues whatsoever (firmware 1.2) other than the freezing with Goodfellas; which was scratched (as mentioned in my earlier post).

I have had numerous short glitches on a number of HD movies. Sahara really messed up for a minute or two. After that, it straightened out. The disc looked pristine to my eye.

OTOH, Sleepy Hollow played perfectly the next day.

I am still on firmware 1.0, scared to update it as I am afraid the black reprodution will suffer.

I was doing rather well with FW 1.4, but have had a few issues the past few days. I had some real skipping issues with Bourne Supremacy earlier this evening; it skipped more than all my other times combined. It stopped after about 30 minutes, but it was still significant, compared to the other times. It's frustrating, to say the least, but a pause and un-pause usually fixes it. I am thinking of trying to go to FW 1.2, assuming I can ever find a non-corrupt version of it.

I am thinking of trying to go to FW 1.2, assuming I can ever find a non-corrupt version of it.

Let us know when you find one.

I voted no. I've watched 4 rental disks in a row without any skipping. My player came with fw 1.4 btw.

I voted no. I haven't had any problems on the last 4 dvd's from Netflix. It seems that only 2 discs ever gave me issues. One was a new Pitch Black that was loose in the case when I got it home, the other was Rundown from Netflix. Other than that, the player has been working flawlessly with no picture or audio problems using 1.4 fw. I hope I didn't just jinx myself!

Upgraded Firmware to 1.4 (Shipped with 1.3)... video via HDMI to Panny Plasma, Audio via Coaxial Digital to Yamaha YSP-800... Watched first DVD last night.. Serenity from Netflix. Disc looked clean... yet Sound completely out of sync... As though Video needed to catch up. Tried cleaning disc, powering everything on/off, etc... wouldn't work. Also have swordfish from Netflix which I'll try tonight.

I voted no, my few minor issues don't follow the pattern described. I've never seen the skipping/stuttering problem, using FW 1.4. When I 'rewind' for a bit to catch something I missed due to dogs barking or such, sometimes when I hit play again it starts up with bad audio sync. A pause generally corrects it.

Voted yes, TR skipped a few times on viewing this evening :mad:

I have had this problem on two different players. My first one was real bad, so far the new one has only done it once for about a half second on we were soldiers. I might add, it has never ever happened on an sdvd disk, so I tend to believe it is the first software going out there and not the hardware.

I have not been having audio synch issues or what I would call stuttering, but I have had an audio problem where the sound "warbles". By this I mean that people are talking and the audio goes in and out as if you were talking into a fan. This happens when I try to feed audio through SPDIF. I have used both the coaxial and optical connections and it does it on both. My receiver is a 5 year old Sony 30ES. I have only watched two movies so far "Rumor has it" and "Assault on Precinct 13" and it happened on both of them. It happened more often and was more bothersome on Assault but it also happened a couple of times on Rumor.

The only way that I was able to get the warbling to start was by changing the SPDIF output from bitstream to pcm.

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

Yes, audio sync problems. I am running firmware 1.4 via Hdmi/DVI to an infocus projector.

It appears that about half way through the movie there will be a slight pause, and then the audio problem occurs. About a tenth of a second off. If you pause the player and restart it will go away.

It is annoying but can be fixed easily. This would be a good repair on a future firmware.

I'm wondering if this is only an issue for people listening to audio transmitted through HDMI ?? I have a CRT tv and if this isn't an issue if I use component + stereo audio I'd like to know. I had two small skips on Blazing Saddles, but no other problems with other HD titles or SD titles (using HDMI).

(I didn't vote on the poll because I haven't tried enough titles, have 3 on their way from amazon and will order some tomorrow for the coordinated AVS buy....so I should have more date soon).

I'm hoping there will be a firmware fix.

No, my audio is going direct to the receiver via coaxial digital and I have the issue.

I voted No. I am using original firmware and connect via Component through a Denon AVR 2807. I've watched 21 HD DVD discs to date and have not had a single sync issue or glitch. All of my discs are bought new. I put the discs in directly from the case without any special cleaning. I've watched Warner, Universal and Paramount HD DVDs on it. I love my A1.

I started having skipping problems with the latest paramount releases. The player will pause then seems to go fast forward with audio sync problems, then after that it’s fine.

I have it hooked up with HDMI and analog audio outs with firmware 1.3 and all the discs were new except KKBB from netflix.

The problem seems to be random and usually happens about 15 to 20 min into the movie, I Had always assumed it was dirt on the disc but this seems to be a pattern.

Only disk I've had that problem with is Sarhara on 1.4 Firmware, Component cables, Optical Sound. Stuttered for a few moments, then was out of sync, pausing / starting fixed the problem. Only watched it once though, not sure if its consistant.

I voted yes. I've now watched 23 different HD DVD discs, some more than once and recall maybe 15 of them had skipping problems and playback problems. Even brand new spotless discs have skipped or locked up. Most were Netflix, but I clean each disk before putting in, as it seems more sensitive to scratches, dust, fingerprints.

I've actually had quite a few problems. Apollo 13 would crash (hard - requiring power cord yank or press power button 10 seconds), but stopped doing that after firmware 1.2. I've had several discs that would crash when jumping to next chapter. Once had HD-XA1 door close and collide into the open tray. Once inserted HD DVD and it took much longer to read, and front panel read CD, then the blue audio-CD screen came up for a second and it crashed (hard) - upon second try, didn't do that. Navigating the HD DVD menus on Tomb Raider sent my player to Setup - that was weird. MP3 CD that could repeatedly crash it with a blue window and hexadecimal error code given (didn't write it down) on several songs - especially when jumping between songs. Best error was two nights ago on U-571 (second viewing) when blue window popped up during play and said "Cannot play the disk - error 0x4094c504". That is brand new movie and spotless and first viewing was good (maybe only one or two audio skip/sync problem). Think I only had one SD DVD problem, but can't recall what that was.

I think that I've had worse than average problems with my player and tonight returned it to the store and got a brand new HD-XA1 (with factory 1.4 firmware).

I really like to join those who don't have any skipping... I'll report back in a few weeks after watching more to see how this newer one works - hope my first was a lemon.

Mainly have issues with Netfix discs. Any sync problems always fix themselves with a hit of the pause button. Purchased HD-DVDs play perfect. That kind of comes with the territory when renting. Still, I would like perfect playback. Occasional SD-DVDs from Netfix would have playback issues as well. I'm kind of interested in how well rental Blu-Rays discs are holding up.

I was having skipping and audio sync problems with my first player (loaded with 1.4), so I got a new HD-A1 (also loaded with 1.4)...no problems with my new player.

I really like to join those who don't have any skipping... I'll report back in a few weeks after watching more to see how this newer one works - hope my first was a lemon.
Most people who have had the same problem as you have reverted to firmware version 1.2 and reported no problem with this version, at least for now.

I really like to join those who don't have any skipping... I'll report back in a few weeks after watching more to see how this newer one works - hope my first was a lemon.

Most people who have had the same problem as you have reverted to firmware version 1.2 and reported no problem with this version, at least for now.

I've had plenty of skipping with both 1.2 and 1.4. It seems recently that the skipping is self-correcting (audio would drop out, video would fast forward and then audio would come back on and re-sync with video with no manual intervention). With 1.2, I had to manually pause then resume or the audio/video would remain out of sync for a while.

Just received my new player a couple days ago. Firmware is 1.3 Using HDMI. First movie played perfectly (U-571) - but while watching Serenity last night - at the 7:20 point - I had a "freeze" then a skip. Disc was brand new. In rewinding back - the freeze wouldn't repeat itself. So now I don't trust the unit - and am reluctant to have any friends over as it would be too embarrassing to have the unit screw up while trying to watch a movie. I have a 90 day return policy (Wally World) - so that takes a little pressure off. Hoping for new firmware release soon - or a G2 model release.

Also made detailed sound comparisons w/ the SD U-571 and was pleasantly surprised how much better the HD-DVD disc sounded. I would sum it up by saying "more aggressive w/ increased impact" (reminds me of that great uncompressed laser disc sound I still miss!) I'm actually more impressed w/ the sound than I am w/ the picture. Part of that may be that I'm using a 720p projector (Panny 700) - and need to step up to a 1080p projector to fully appreciate the increased resolution.

Guess I'll watch Chronicles Of Riddick tonight (by myself) and keep my fingers crossed.

I've only had one disc give me problems and that was from Netflix - Cinderella Man. The disk looked like someone had used sand paper on it with LOTS of fine scratches. I reported it damaged so that nobody else gets it in the future - noticed a few others complained about this disc and I'm guessing it was the same one.

With that, I've watched U-571, Syrianna, Sleepy Hollow, Doom, Serenity, PB, Aeon Flux, and CoR without a single problem. I'm comfortable in saying I fall into the "don't have the problem" category.

With that, I've watched U-571, Syrianna, Sleepy Hollow, Doom, Serenity, PB, Aeon Flux, and CoR without a single problem. I'm comfortable in saying I fall into the "don't have the problem" category.
PB?

PB? Pitch Black.

The freezing/skipping issue is the sole reason I've waited 4 months to jump in. Then I simply couldn't hold out any longer. And I was hoping that I just might fall into the no problem category. I've actually been very lucky (going back many years) w/all my past equipment purchases.

The problem w/ freezes/skips - is that when the sound returns - it's quite a jolt to ones senses - not to mention equipment - especially when listening at reference level. Definitely takes you out of the movie.

Freezing/skipping was a serious problem w/ laserdiscs in the early '80's. But they managed to solve it - and for the next decade it was a thing of the past. Of the nearly 1,800 SD DVD's I've viewed (on multiple machines) - I've only had freezes/skips on maybe 6 or 7. Damn good track record. Sorry to see this problem has re-surfaced. I'm sure Toshiba is working hard to remedy it.

I voted yes! (HD DVDs only - no issues with SD DVDs)

Equipment:

Toshiba HD-A1 (Received Aug. 2)
MFG. Date: July 2006
Firmware: 1.4 / 1.09 / 2.0R


SAHAHA: (Received Aug 4th)

1) My HD-A1 did not skip, stutter, paused or freeze at all when I played my very, ... very 1st HD DVD, ... "Sahara" non-stop until the credits end. Everything was just glorious!!! :)

2) The next day, I planned to watch it again, so and after my unit powered up, ... I put in my "Sahara" HD DVD and after 1-1/2 mins., I get the message "no disc". Ok, ... open tray, check the HD DVD, clean as a surgeons scalpel, put the HD DVD on the tray, close the disk, and I get the same message "no disc". This time I power it off with the HD DVD in the tray, wait a min. and turn-on the unit and this time after 1 min., ... I get the Paramount HD Intro. Everything was going A-OK until I got to the scene where our hero's are talking to the Touareg leader, ... the campfire scene where Pitt wants to borrow his car, ... this time, the scene briefly paused (video & sound) for about a second or so, ... interestingly the right side of the screen was vertical black, about 1/4 wide from the top to bottom, cutting off the scene and then it finally skipped forward a bit to the next scene and everything was in sync. I rewound it and replayed that scene again and it didn't repeat the pause, ... so I let the movie continue playing to the very end and I didn't experience any other incidental glitches.

3) The 3rd time (next day or so), while watching "Sahara", I see for the 1st time the stuttering problem (about a second) while Penelope character rises off the couch after waking up. The audio went blank during that stuttering glitch. I rewound the scene and didn't see it the stuttering problem at that same location, but a few seconds later while she is walking in the alley way to go outside, the stuttering occured a bit. I didn't stop the movie again but just let it run and watched about an hour or so and didn't see another glitch.

Bourne Supremacy (Received Aug. 7th)

1) A few days later, I received "Bourne Supremacy" and that HD DVD played completely thru without incident.
.... a) Later on, while playing one of the featurettes, the unit did pause / skip for a second, then continued on.

Sky Captain (Received Aug. 9th)

1) Last night, I just received "Sky Captain" and so I watched it last night & everything was going great until it literally "Locked-UP" @ the scene right after Paltrow character pocketed the 2 vials and started talking to the Sky Captain after he fought the android ninja lady! Screen was frozen solid, Locked-up, ... No Buttons worked (Unit or Remote), ... so, ... I held down the Power Button for 10 secs. and powered off the unit. After a minute or so, ... I turned it on, ... then I choose the scene box close to where I left off and fast-forwarded just before the above described scene, and my HD-A1 played that scene and the rest the HD DVD movie flawlessly.

So, tonight after work, I plan to unplug my unit for about 3-mins (have not done that since I received my HD-A1 on Aug. 2nd) and see if that helps. I'm guessing here, ... but It seems to me that some system memory vs. video memory playback algorithms are getting clogged up somewhere, ... that requires stopping, pausing or completely re-booting the unit to clear the memory and re-initialize the playback program.

Otherwise, just enjoying the outstanding HD DVD images and bombastic high resolution Analog DD+ 360-degree pin-point distinct surround sound(s)!!!

Phil

It would sure be nice if the next firmware update (due soon) also re-addresses freezing/skipping. Somehow I just don't think it will - and my unit will eventually end up going back - and I'll be forced to wait for G2. I can't enjoy watching movies sittin on pins and needles waiting for the next glitch.

No problems here. Running 1.4 as well.

John, why not return the player and get a new one?

That is certainly an option. I think I'm going to test it this weekend w/ a couple more discs. Any more problems and I'll return it for another. Worse case scenario - I have to wait for G2 (w/ fingers crossed).

Also made detailed sound comparisons w/ the SD U-571 and was pleasantly surprised how much better the HD-DVD disc sounded. I would sum it up by saying "more aggressive w/ increased impact" (reminds me of that great uncompressed laser disc sound I still miss!) I'm actually more impressed w/ the sound than I am w/ the picture. Part of that may be that I'm using a 720p projector (Panny 700) - and need to step up to a 1080p projector to fully appreciate the increased resolution.

Out of curiosity, how do you have your audio setup - digital coax/toslink, HDMI, or analog?

Well, previously, I posted that I have not had any issues but I had a skip (or a fast forward) for 1-2 seconds when I watched Serenity the other night. I think it was right around the 7:20 timeframe. The skipping/fast forwarding stopped on its own and I didn't have any audio sync issues afterwards. I'm going to chalk it up to a spec of dust or dirt on the disc (although, it looked clean).

I voted no--HD-A1 July '06 build w/1.4 FW pre-loaded.

It did give me a slight stutter on Blazing Saddles (about an hour in...perhaps a layer change buffering issue?) but other than that minor glitch I've had no problems with any of my other movies:

Swordfish (watched 1 1/2 times)
Happy Gilmore (watched 1 1/2 times)
Training Day (watched 1 1/2 times)
edited 8/14/06:
Apollo 13 (watched 1 time)
Pitch Black (watched 1 time)

have Unforgiven, and Sleepy Hollow coming today or tomorrow and will update if anything else happens.

I find the movies so great to watch I'm watching em completely through and then a few days later cherry picking 1/2 the movie to watch again. :D

I voted yes, but if I wash the disk before it's played I don't think I have had any issues.

I returned my first A1 just before I got my email informing me that my 1.2 firmware disc was en route . My current player had an early build date & the 1.0 FW on it, but I had zero problems with it for a few weeks before I decided to load the 1.2 disc . Once again , no problems . At the present time my player is updated to 1.4 with the same excellent level of performance . I have a sneaking suspicion that the FW updates may or may not solve problems depending upon how stable the disc drive is in the particular unit that you have . Through about 30 HD DVDs I've had no problems . ( Watch, it will probably blow up & burn my house down now that I've said how well it's working ... just kidding ... I hope! )

I voted yes, but if I wash the disk before it's played I don't think I have had any issues.
I don't think I'll ever go to the extreme of pre-washing my discs before I play them. Seems like a huge step backwards. I use to wash my laser discs back in '81 - '84 Can't imagine having to do that again. Although DVD's are much smaller and easy to wash and have only one side. They just need to figure out what's causing the skipping and correct it once and for all.

Out of curiosity, how do you have your audio setup - digital coax/toslink, HDMI, or analog?
Audio is SPDIF (coax) for right now. Was pleasantly surprised at the improved sound quality. At least w/ Riddick and U-571. Less so w/ Apollo 13. I'll be testing the analog outs this weekend. I prefer coax as I have a center rear surround I've grown accustom to. Hate to have it sit there and be silent. Unless the analog is a huge difference, I'll stick to the coax for now - as it's at least a nice improvement over standard DVD sound. When True HD is implemented - well then the game will change. Guess I'll have to loose that center rear surround - or figure something else out.

Greetings,

HD-A1 with July 2006 build and 1.4 FW preloaded. So far no skipping issues.

Regards,

Watching Sky Captain last night I experienced my first real "glitch". It was right at the end of chapter 4. The audio dropped out for a second and then audio and video were way out of sync. I paused and then pressed play and the problem corrected itself. I am still on version 1.0 of firmware.

Stace

Greetings,

OK, I had my first experience last night while watching Friday night lights. In the very beginning of the film it froze briefly several times. This caused the audio to fall out of sync. It stopped and repeated for only a second about 45 minutes in.

Again, my player has a July 2006 build and came with 1.4 preinstalled. Of the 7 discs I have this is the only one that has exhibited this so far.


Regards,

I had the issue with 1.4. Dropped back to 1.2 and haven't seen any issues since.

Vern

I accidentally posted this in the 1.4 skipping thread but I'll post it here as well.

I originally voted I was having skipping issues. However, since I started using the analog outs and switched from bitstream to pcm, I haven't had a single glitch on the last four Netflix HD-DVDs I've watched. Could be a coincidence but I'm wondering if not having to convert the DD+ to DTS is freeing up resources. I wonder what percentage of people not having playback issues are using HDMI or analog outputs.

I accidentally posted this in the 1.4 skipping thread but I'll post it here as well.

I originally voted I was having skipping issues. However, since I started using the analog outs and switched from bitstream to pcm, I haven't had a single glitch on the last four Netflix HD-DVDs I've watched. Could be a coincidence but I'm wondering if not having to convert the DD+ to DTS is freeing up resources. I wonder what percentage of people not having playback issues are using HDMI or analog outputs.

Analog here, and no skipping problems lately, but other disc errors usually at the start. Just makes no sense at all to me at this point.

Well, I thought my 2nd player was perfect, but I just had a bunch of problems while watching Lethal Weapon last night. The audio dropped out 3 or 4 times during the movie, but was still in sync with the video afterward. I'm using coax for audio. I guess it's time to call Toshiba and ask them how many times I'm gonna have to return my player.

Well, I thought my 2nd player was perfect, but I just had a bunch of problems while watching Lethal Weapon last night. The audio dropped out 3 or 4 times during the movie, but was still in sync with the video afterward. I'm using coax for audio. I guess it's time to call Toshiba and ask them how many times I'm gonna have to return my player.


That is pretty much the reason I have not returned mine, as I don't know for sure that would fix the problems. There are too many people experiencing issues with this player for me to send mine back for repairs. Hopefully they will get a firmware fix out that will stop these issues (or at least minimize them).

I've posted about this already in that firmware 1.4 skipping thread. I wonder if that thread should be merged with this one?

Anyways. Went through about 7 movies perfectly, 1.4 the whole time, and then I started to see some quick video drop outs and issues that look like a bad layer change, for lack of a better term.

I'm not in any hurry to try and exchange the player because I'm really not convinced it's a hardware issue by any means. Looking through these threads would seem to more or less confirm that stance.

I'll try the advice on the first page about unplugging it for three minutes, although I have NO idea what that's supposed to accomplish...

Can't hurt, I guess.

unplugging the device will clear up/reset the memory. You should do this once in awhile. I also recommend doing this before installing a new firmware.

If locking/skipping is infrequent then I'd chalk that to the PC architecture. However, chronic locking/skipping is a hardware issue (most likely). By chronic I mean more frequent than 20-30%.

Remember that the Tosh uses a modest Pentium 4 chip and hence has limitations.

Remember that the Tosh uses a modest Pentium 4 chip and hence has limitations.
Like playing a movie at point 'A' through to point 'B' without skipping? thats some limitation :rolleyes:

So...yesterday I watched Lethal Weapon and had tons of problems, and tonight I watched Happy Gilmore and had no problems...the plot thickens. I'm hoping it's a disc issue, but I really don't feel like cleaning the disc and watching the same movie over again to test the theory.

Like playing a movie at point 'A' through to point 'B' without skipping? thats some limitation :rolleyes:

Like I said, skipping should be rare and momentary at most. If it's frequent or chronic, then your player should be shipped back to Toshiba. JMHO

Like I said, skipping should be rare and momentary at most. If it's frequent or chronic, then your player should be shipped back to Toshiba. JMHO
Are you kidding? this unit replaces a 9100ES (Sony) which had zero skipping and as such i expect nothing less from the A1! the only coherent thing you seem be saying is send these units back, which really is what people should be doing :)

I had two skips watching Serenity tonight. After one of them the audio sync was off. I paused it and pushed play, the audio was then fine. I've watched COR, Sahara and Aeon Flux with no problems to speak of. I'm using analog for the audio.

No disc errors, skipping or stuttering last night on Perfect Storm. Worked like a champ. This totally baffles me. I tried everything last night to get the player to baulk after watching the movie, but it wasn't going to do it. I accessed menus, paused, ff., rev, no problems! Will be getting 3 more HD movies this week, so we will see how it goes.

Are you kidding? this unit replaces a 9100ES (Sony) which had zero skipping and as such i expect nothing less from the A1! the only coherent thing you seem be saying is send these units back, which really is what people should be doing :)
Are you kidding? You expect a 1st generation player to be trouble free and perform without glitch as player that is mature and a decade old? You have unrealistic expectation my friend.

Are you kidding?
No.
You expect a 1st generation player to be trouble free and perform without glitch
Yes.You may enjoy bending over but i don't.

You have unrealistic expectation my friend.
You may have crap standards but i don't, and no i'm not your friend.

And back to topic, i had one skip during Aeon Flux this evening, i actully cleaned the disc before watching and checked for dust on the tray, but well . . . .the skipping continues.

Have had zero problems since day one. I am still running Firmware 1.0. Very Happy with this player so far. Hopefully my luck will not run out!

unplugging the device will clear up/reset the memory. You should do this once in awhile. I also recommend doing this before installing a new firmware.

If locking/skipping is infrequent then I'd chalk that to the PC architecture. However, chronic locking/skipping is a hardware issue (most likely). By chronic I mean more frequent than 20-30%.

Remember that the Tosh uses a modest Pentium 4 chip and hence has limitations.


Now go figure. I watch Aeon Flux last night with ne'er a hitch. I'd never bothered to unplug the unit or do anything with it. (shrugs)

I really wish there was a way I could get some of that hardware, like that ancient Pentium chip in there, upgraded to something respectable. I'd also like to get that 333Mhz gig of RAM updated as well.

I wish Toshiba would have some kind of...upgrade program where folks could pay x amount of dollars if they wanted to, to get work like that done.

Just imagine this player running with something like an Intel Conroe chip and mayb a gig or two of smokin' fast 1066 MHz RAM.

I think it would be a completely different animal.

I actually LIKE the PC aspects of this player because it's not a closed box, in theory.



I realize that first gen comes with some hiccups, but at this point in CE life, playback of optical formats really shouldn't be rocket science.

And no one should ever have to feel LUCKY when something works right/the way it's supposed to.

No skipping. But the unit is really new. Just bought it over the weekend.
I watched U571 with version 1.3 then upgraded on line to 1.4 and watched it again the next day. All seems ok.

Picked up Aeon Flux last night and it played without a problem. Really stunning video. Excellent audio.

HDMI video, 5.1 discrete audio (AV receiver does not have HDMI).

Netflix is sending Manchurian and 4 brothers today. Will post again if I have any problems.

Here is a thought: It may be useful to note the serial number of these rigs in the poll.
Seems like mine ends in 1088 but I need to check that tonight.
Best Buy had two units left when I bought mine and the store clerk thought it was odd I was inspecting the boxes for the highest serial number. (There was quite a difference in the two numbers).

Now go figure. I watch Aeon Flux last night with ne'er a hitch. I'd never bothered to unplug the unit or do anything with it. (shrugs)

I really wish there was a way I could get some of that hardware, like that ancient Pentium chip in there, upgraded to something respectable. I'd also like to get that 333Mhz gig of RAM updated as well.

I wish Toshiba would have some kind of...upgrade program where folks could pay x amount of dollars if they wanted to, to get work like that done.

Just imagine this player running with something like an Intel Conroe chip and mayb a gig or two of smokin' fast 1066 MHz RAM.

I think it would be a completely different animal.

I actually LIKE the PC aspects of this player because it's not a closed box, in theory.



I realize that first gen comes with some hiccups, but at this point in CE life, playback of optical formats really shouldn't be rocket science.

And no one should ever have to feel LUCKY when something works right/the way it's supposed to.

I'd be curious to know what processors are being used in the new models. I don't believe there are any P4 chips left. Anyone taken apart a July/Aug built A-1?

No disc errors, skipping or stuttering last night on Perfect Storm. Worked like a champ. This totally baffles me. I tried everything last night to get the player to baulk after watching the movie, but it wasn't going to do it. I accessed menus, paused, ff., rev, no problems! Will be getting 3 more HD movies this week, so we will see how it goes.


bakpakva, in your case I would eliminate hardware problems for now. I think you may have been unlucky with a few disks (the pressing leaves some fine dust that can disrupt the laser). Plus, software glitches with 1.4.

It's interesting, but I am yet to know of someone with a chronic hardware problem with an RCA model. Yours is RCA, right? :confused:

Are you kidding? this unit replaces a 9100ES (Sony) which had zero skipping and as such i expect nothing less from the A1! the only coherent thing you seem be saying is send these units back, which really is what people should be doing :)

This player is based on a PC architecture and that's one of the by-products of that design choice - i.e. slower start up, greater instability but greater flexibility in updating firmware....The Sony uses a different design. I cannot expect the same black levels from an LCD TV than a Plasma....each design has it's pros and cons.

It is what it is. The A-1 isn't for everyone and it'l never be as fast or as stable as your Sony 9100ES. If you can't accept that, you should perhaps return your player for a refund and be at peace with yourself. Mind you, all I am saying is that you have to be mindful that the Tosh is really a PC - with a relatively ancient processor and smallish memory to work with. Think of the HD DVD firmware as Word, or Excel or Powerpoint :)

bakpakva, in your case I would eliminate hardware problems for now. I think you may have been unlucky with a few disks (the pressing leaves some fine dust that can disrupt the laser). Plus, software glitches with 1.4.

It's interesting, but I am yet to know of someone with a chronic hardware problem with an RCA model. Yours is RCA, right? :confused:

Yep, mine is an RCA. Doubt it is a chronic problem, as too many discs play flawlessly. I think I got a couple of badly scratched or poorly pressed, that the player choked on. I intend to keep the next one I get from Netflix to give to you. I will be out of new selections anyhow, as I have been going through them like grease through a goose. By the end of the month, there will be little HD that I haven't rented. Here's hoping for some new releases soon!

I'd be curious to know what processors are being used in the new models. I don't believe there are any P4 chips left. Anyone taken apart a July/Aug built A-1?

Hmmm. Interesting. My Xa1 is a June 2006 build FWIW.

Heh, in before the cutoff? ;) I wonder what, if any differences, there are.

I wonder if build date and that hardware difference is a factor at all in any of this?


Didn't Home Theater Magazine take it apart an issue ago? That's where I got some of that info I rattled off in my previous post...

I think there's also some stuff floating around on the Internet, but of course, you have to take some of that with a grain of salt. ;)



Yep, mine is an RCA. Doubt it is a chronic problem, as too many discs play flawlessly. I think I got a couple of badly scratched or poorly pressed, that the player choked on. I intend to keep the next one I get from Netflix to give to you. I will be out of new selections anyhow, as I have been going through them like grease through a goose. By the end of the month, there will be little HD that I haven't rented. Here's hoping for some new releases soon!


Exactly. It's just like last night I played Aeon Flux with ne'er a problem whatsoever. I've had at least 7-8 discs play flawlessly in addition to that.

*shrugs*

It is what it is. The A-1 isn't for everyone and it'l never be as fast or as stable as your Sony 9100ES. If you can't accept that, you should perhaps return your player for a refund and be at peace with yourself. Mind you, all I am saying is that you have to be mindful that the Tosh is really a PC - with a relatively ancient processor and smallish memory to work with. Think of the HD DVD firmware as Word, or Excel or Powerpoint :)
Thanks for your indepth insight into the issue at hand :)

This is not a focus area for me so I am just guessing. But I suspect it has to do with the learning curve on how to recover from errors. Without enough variations in the product, one can not find these problems easily during the development.

As Q posted somewhere, Amir has hinted there could be a fix in the next firmware update :D

Thanks for your indepth insight into the issue at hand :)



As Q posted somewhere, Amir has hinted there could be a fix in the next firmware update :D

Why do you think it's indepth?

Why do you think it's indepth?
I don't.Your reply had nothing to do with the issue at hand, therefore you could have taken that comment as er. . .sarcasm? :)
And now i would really like to get back to the topic at hand, as i look forward to a solution in the form of a firmware update. :D

I accidentally posted this in the 1.4 skipping thread but I'll post it here as well.

I originally voted I was having skipping issues. However, since I started using the analog outs and switched from bitstream to pcm, I haven't had a single glitch on the last four Netflix HD-DVDs I've watched. Could be a coincidence but I'm wondering if not having to convert the DD+ to DTS is freeing up resources. I wonder what percentage of people not having playback issues are using HDMI or analog outputs.

THANKS Mad Chemist, for the post!!!

I too voted that I was have skipping issues, but after I changed my Coax SPDIF = PCM (was BITSTREAM), I could play my most problematic HD DVD, ... "Sky Captain" and I didn't experience one Lock-UP!!!

Since I received this particular HD DVD (8-9-06), I have never been able to watched the movie completely thru without it Locking-UP (no buttons work), ... so I had to 'Reset' the HD-A1 player by pressing the Power button down and holding it for 10 seconds (kinda-like our HP Laptops, when it locks it up!). After the re-boot and choosing the scene, sometimes requires fast-forwarding, where it locked-up and playing the rest of the movie to the end there was no issue.

Well, this time, ... like I said above, I watched the entire "Sky Captain" HD DVD with "0" glitch or Lock-UP last night!!! :D

The next morning (real early), I watched "Sahara" HD DVD, ... I usually experienced a one-time, '1 - 2 second pause - then skips forward' glitch, during the movie, ... and this time, ... it just played completely thru without any issues!!! ;)

I'll experiment more later tonight playing "Serenity" where I have also experienced a one-time momentary pause, the last few times I have watched it. (Yeah, I told my wife that I changed a setting and must verify that it works! :D )

More updates to come later,
Phil

Interesting. I was using an optical cable and bitstream and am having the glitching problem. I will switch to PCM analog and see if that helps. PCM analog is supposed to be better quality anyway right?

no skips etc. however i have the loud hum from the analog 5.1 jacks. i talked to toshiba and its a defect in the player and has to be serviced.so toshiba is a ware of it and a firmware update wont fix it.its a hardware issue. so you folks that have this hum or feedbacl loop you need to ship your unit or bring it to your local service store.

I don't.Your reply had nothing to do with the issue at hand, therefore you could have taken that comment as er. . .sarcasm? :)
And now i would really like to get back to the topic at hand, as i look forward to a solution in the form of a firmware update. :D

Why the scacasm :)

You think that what a firmware upgrade can achieve is not limited by the available processing power and memory in the system? Is it possible that the system (A-1) is locking up when CPU utilization reaches 100% (like on a computer)? You think it's possible that as more processor intensive tasks are added via firmware that the potential of a lock-up or instability does not go up?

I am not bashing the Toshiba Player (if anything I am totally impressed at what they have got out of it), but I am pointing out that there are limits of what can be done via a firmware and that there will have to be trade-offs in terms of performance, stability and features.....the only exception I can think of is if there are bugs in the code that Toshiba is fixing.

THANKS Mad Chemist, for the post!!!

I too voted that I was have skipping issues, but after I changed my Coax SPDIF = PCM (was BITSTREAM), I could play my most problematic HD DVD, ... "Sky Captain" and I didn't experience one Lock-UP!!!

Since I received this particular HD DVD (8-9-06), I have never been able to watched the movie completely thru without it Locking-UP (no buttons work), ... so I had to 'Reset' the HD-A1 player by pressing the Power button down and holding it for 10 seconds (kinda-like our HP Laptops, when it locks it up!). After the re-boot and choosing the scene, sometimes requires fast-forwarding, where it locked-up and playing the rest of the movie to the end there was no issue.

Well, this time, ... like I said above, I watched the entire "Sky Captain" HD DVD with "0" glitch or Lock-UP last night!!! :D

The next morning (real early), I watched "Sahara" HD DVD, ... I usually experienced a one-time, '1 - 2 second pause - then skips forward' glitch, during the movie, ... and this time, ... it just played completely thru without any issues!!! ;)

I'll experiment more later tonight playing "Serenity" where I have also experienced a one-time momentary pause, the last few times I have watched it. (Yeah, I told my wife that I changed a setting and must verify that it works! :D )

More updates to come later,
Phil
Thanks Piturra i''ll try this today, fingers crossed :D

I have watched 11 HD movies and about 20 SD movies so far on my A1 and not a single skip, jump, dropped audio, lockup or anything other than glorious HD (and some pretty decent upconverting) so far for me.

I just wiped down my Lethal Weapon disc (new, only watched it once) and played it again...not a single problem.

Well I don't know if this is related to what a few others have noted or not, but I haven't had any skipping since I replaced my Belkin PureAV PF60 surge/filter. The reason I mention this, it that I had the power disconnected from the HD-DVD player for about 15 minutes while I switched out the Belkin. Perhaps that is similar to holding in the power button for 10 seconds or unplugging it from the wall. (Strange as it may sound,I usually keep my AE700 disconnected from power to prevent banding.) If I do start to notice hiccups again, I will try removing the power and see if that fixes things. If it does, then I can always set the Belkin to 'switched outlet' for the HD player as well as the AE700. I don't fully understand why this "may" affect the performance, and I am still leaning towards a processor/buffer overload as the cause of the glitches. Perhaps future firmware releases will resolve and hopefully explain the cause. (Though usually there is not a lot of explanation to the updates other than a general statement).

Mine stays plugged in all the time, but not turned on. Works great so far.
My only complaint is a stubborn remote control. but even that seems to be working better lately. Exersize is good!

Curious observation regarding this poll....

The report at the top of the page shows 251 voters. Only approximately sixty people have made comments.
49 comments (replies) are from people who already made comments.

So 191 people voted but had no comment to make. That's 191 very quiet people.

I voted no because I don't have ongoing problems. I have had a problem only with the Tomb Raider disc. It seemed to "get stuck" at 2 parts and after it got stuck and resumed, the audio was off. All was well after pausing and unpausing.

-Evangelo2

Pretty close to my situation as well, so I think I will vote "no" since it is not an "ongoing" problem/issue.

I do not see "skipping" problems in my recollection of normal use, but it is using the analog audio outputs and video component connection. I've noticed that some users are reporting that changing the S/PDIF output from Bitstream to PCM fixes their "skipping" problems. Lower player real-time resource usage during disc read error recovery????

Bob

I'm using HDMI A/V (no receiver for decoding) set to digital bitstream (like 99% sure on that one) on a July 2006 build A1 with v1.4 pre-loaded.

Have only had 3 small glitches--2 on Blazing Saddles and 1 on Sleepy Hollow (audio drops out and video keeps playing...a simple pause/play will stop it). It has given me flawless playback on my other titles however; Apollo 13, Happy Gilmore, Training Day, Pitch Black, Swordfish, Unforgiven, Aeon Flux. So far I've been very happy as it only seems to happy like 1 out of 10 times and only once (if it does happen) during an entire viewing experience. I'm guessing it's a combination of things, but hopefully fixable with a firmware upgrade. Does seem like I'm experiencing a much more sedate issue than some people are reporting (later build?).

I'm using HDMI A/V (no receiver for decoding) set to digital bitstream (like 99% sure on that one) on a July 2006 build A1 with v1.4 pre-loaded.


I thought most people using HDMI letting the player decode and passing PCM.

I thought most people using HDMI letting the player decode and passing PCM.

Well, my ...

1st connection setup:

1) HD-A1 VIDEO = HDMI
2) HD-A1 AUDIO = COAX (Spdif) to Yamaha RX-V1300
.... a) COAX option = Bitstream

2nd connection setup: (after I bought my 3 pairs of Audio Cable)

1) HD-A1 VIDEO = HDMI
2) HD-A1 AUDIO = ANALOG 5.1 to Yamaha RX-V1300 6.1CH INput

still connected:
3) HD-A1 AUDIO = COAX (Spdif) to Yamaha RX-V1300
.... a) COAX option = Bitstream

AFter reading your previous post, I changed the following ...

.... b) COAX option = PCM (still connected to my RX-V1300)

.......... and I finally watched "Sky Captain" HD DVD completely thru without it completely lock-up. :)
-------

I just recently changed the AUDIO option for my HDMI = PCM, ... because I had a small pause while playing "Serenity" the other night. Looked good afterwards but still need to find time to verify these changes - hopefully tonight! :D

Phil

<shrug> My tv has decent sound capabilities, but nothing amazing, is switching bitstream --> PCM going to enable better quality sound?

I thought most people using HDMI letting the player decode and passing PCM.

Interesting posts on this page.

FWIW, and I've written this in other firmware threads, I've used the analogs since day one and have been using FW 1.4 since day one.

Whatever issues I've had are completely at random and utterly unpredictable. Like I wrote before, now I'm back to making it through movies without ne'er a problem.

No problems here.

I am using firmware 1.2 and analog 5.1 for audio.

jer

FWIW, I am on the bandwagon that says this is some kind of memory overload or leak. I don't know much about the internals, but I have had one HD disk and one SD disk lock up in one spot. I am sure that there is a some scratch or defect on the disc, but believe the player should be able to handle it. I had to do a reset (by unplugging) before I could get it past the welcome because of some freezing last night. I also changed the SPDIF to PCM to see if that mattered. Both of my problem disks played through the bad parts with no problem. I then went back to SPDIF in Bitstream and still no problem. Looks like in my case it is good to occasionally give it a hard reset.

FWIW, I am on the bandwagon that says this is some kind of memory overload or leak. I don't know much about the internals, but I have had one HD disk and one SD disk lock up in one spot. I am sure that there is a some scratch or defect on the disc, but believe the player should be able to handle it. I had to do a reset (by unplugging) before I could get it past the welcome because of some freezing last night. I also changed the SPDIF to PCM to see if that mattered. Both of my problem disks played through the bad parts with no problem. I then went back to SPDIF in Bitstream and still no problem. Looks like in my case it is good to occasionally give it a hard reset.


For laughs I may hard reset it every so often, but like I wrote in another thread. I set all the audios to PCM per the working theory around here and I had 16 Blocks do a hiccup on me anyways, so that theory is pretty much off the radar as far as I'm concerned.

I'm using HDMI A/V (no receiver for decoding) set to digital bitstream (like 99% sure on that one) on a July 2006 build A1 with v1.4 pre-loaded.

Have only had 3 small glitches--2 on Blazing Saddles and 1 on Sleepy Hollow (audio drops out and video keeps playing...a simple pause/play will stop it). It has given me flawless playback on my other titles however; Apollo 13, Happy Gilmore, Training Day, Pitch Black, Swordfish, Unforgiven, Aeon Flux. So far I've been very happy as it only seems to happy like 1 out of 10 times and only once (if it does happen) during an entire viewing experience. I'm guessing it's a combination of things, but hopefully fixable with a firmware upgrade. Does seem like I'm experiencing a much more sedate issue than some people are reporting (later build?).

Same thing happened with my "Sky Captain" (audio drops out and video keeps playing).

"CoR" had a slight pause, like a layer change, at the beginning and one freeze-up that required a push for 10 sec. on the front panel.

That's all thar ahs happened with mine. July '06 build with 1.4 pre-loaded.

I had 3 glitches last night on Assault on Precinct 13. I hope this isn't a trend, or I will have to change my vote from No to Yes (I know, this isn't even possible).

:(

I had 3 glitches last night on Assault on Precinct 13. I hope this isn't a trend, or I will have to change my vote from No to Yes (I know, this isn't even possible).

:(

It's already yes if you've had the problem even once.

You and I are both yes on this, easily.

It's already yes if you've had the problem even once.

You and I are both yes on this, easily.

I do wish I could change my vote.

I explained that although I had 2 glitches (one within the first 2 minutes of owning the player) after watching 7 movies, I felt, as another poster did, that since it did not appear to be an "ongoing problem" with my player, I voted "no".

After last nights viewing, with 3 glitches, I would have to change my vote to "yes".

:(

After last nights viewing, with 3 glitches, I would have to change my vote to "yes".

:(

Yup. No way around it.

Although my second player....an RCA version...still has skipping problems, as well as hdmi errors and occasional player freeze up (have to unplug it to get it to open the tray)....its far less frequent than my original HD-A1.

Thats two players bought months apart that both have these problems to one degree or the other.....what are the odds?

After last nights viewing of a netflix HDDVD with visible scratches, Syriana, I don't know what to think. I was sure it would skip, burp or something by the looks of it, but this time, low and behold, not a flinch, played perfectly. Is my machine finally broken in ? Lets hope so.
Jim

Just finished watching my new copy of Chronicles of Riddick. Not one single glitch. I needed that after having 3 glitches during the last movie.

Riddick looks fantastic too! :cool:

SO the working theory is that Analog 5.1 out is reducing the problem? The only skipping I have seen was with a DVD R+ , never a HD DVD release. I only I heard of from the people I know was with with SPDIF.

Here is a thought: It may be useful to note the serial number of these rigs in the poll.
).

an excellent idea perhaps

1. Build date

2. Serial no

3. Fax details to Toshiba

4. Same response as Onkyo/ Integra (will ducks for cover!) :D

Oh no. Not this again...


an excellent idea perhaps

1. Build date

June of this year for me.



2. Serial no

Probably doesn't matter.




3. Fax details to Toshiba

Probably wouldn't accomplish anything. Toshiba had been made well aware of this forum and threads like these, thanks to Amir and some others.





4. Same response as Onkyo/ Integra (will ducks for cover!) :D

How did you have that problem since you were running via component video only and not even able to make use of the Onkyo' upscaling capabilities? Your TV doesn't have an HDMI or a DVI input. SCART was no option for you, either.

To this day, have you EVER been able to see the Onkyo in full power with its upconverting capabilities in use, or did you finally give it up and sell it after MONTHS of whining, ranting, trolling, and complaints?



It was funny watching you bitch and rant in Onkyo threads since you bought an expensive player that you weren't even fully equipped and prepared to use! LOL!

It was YOUR fault! You bought a player that you couldn't make full use of its features.

I hope that little episode taught you to do some more research before you throw down the big bucks next time. ;)

Now THAT is funny, Will. :D




How do you respond to something that doesn't affect the entire product line?

That what bothers me about these issues we're seeing now with the Toshiba.

Unless some people are just lying outright, which...who knows, but why would they?... We have FAR LESS than a 100 percent of HD-DVD owners around here complaining about issues.

So how do you solve the problem?

I almost wish the Onkyo thing and this had been dead on 100 perent because then that truly DOES mean you can come up with something and take a shot and put it down vs. the completely random and unpredictable nature of both issues.

Kind of annoying ,really.

What I meant Q was that perhaps if one wanted to find a cause for the Toshiba glitches compiling a list of build dates and serial numbers might provide some clues.

i think from one of the on-line polls, approx 30% of A1 and xa1 owners have experienced glitches. A real shame as the picture quality is out of this world.

A systematic approach with regards to serial numbers sounded like a good idea (to me).

If I remember correctly, it was lip-synch delay that Onkyo/Integra owners were trying to rectify. Through sheer perserverance and careful collation of data, one bright spark in Australia found that for a certain generation of Pioneer players , lip-synch delay was due to faulty implementation of the Dolby Digital decoder.

I will however refrain from further attempts at lame ass humor and return to my cave with my fellow trolls :) Good night Q

What I meant Q was that perhaps if one wanted to find a cause for the Toshiba glitches compiling a list of build dates and serial numbers might provide some clues.

It might. Somehow...I doubt it.




i think from one of the on-line polls, approx 30% of A1 and xa1 owners have experienced glitches. A real shame as the picture quality is out of this world.

Agreed.




A systematic approach with regards to serial numbers sounded like a good idea (to me).

Could be.



If I remeber correctly, it was lip-synch delay that Onkyo/Integra owners were trying to rectify. Through sheer perserverance and careful collation of data, one bright spark in Australia found that for a certain generation of Pioneer players , lip-synch delay was due to faulty implementation of the Dolby Digital decoder.

Hmmm.... :)




I will however refrain from further attempts at lame ass humor and return to my cave with my fellow trolls :) Good night Q

You're no fun. ;) You can dish it out but can't take it? :p




For me it's real simple: This next firmware that's supposedly coming in a short amount of time has to finish it.

I'm simply going to wait until that next FW comes and install it and run it and I'm either going to see the problems end or they will not.

After installing that new firmware, if I see the problems return even one more time...that's it.

If the problems do not end with the new firmware, then at that point I will be taking action...probably getting rid of the player.


I'll be mightily sad to part ways with great HD like this, but I simply am not going to tolerate something like this at any price, with no end in sight.

I'll simply take it as a lesson to never leave my original conviction again: Never early adopt, no matter how tempting or what the price is.

And I never have in 30 some odd years until this.

So we'll see where I end up before all is said and done.

Just finished watching my new copy of Chronicles of Riddick. Not one single glitch. I needed that after having 3 glitches during the last movie.

Riddick looks fantastic too! :cool:

If I remember correct Precinct 13 was one disk I had a major glitch on - locked the player. I got the disk exchanged at BB (although it looked fine upon examination) and the new disk played and plays fine, but I've experience one or two minor audio synch issues with this specific title. Apollo 13 was the other one I had minor synch issues in one of my viewings.

FWIW: Even if your disk looks fine it may be defective.

This is the part that confuses me. A little more than 1/3 of the owners that have responded to this poll had skipping issues at one time or another. There are a few different versions of f/w released, but there are posts of skipping in all versions (even if it is less in some than others). The audio connection (digital or analog) also shows skipping, so I think that can be ruled out as well. It is difficult to get to the root cause because the skipping occurs at random times. You can replay a section that has skipped and it will play flawlessly. You can play a disc without any issues, and then play it again and have skipping. A player might go through several discs without issue, and then have several glitches the very next time you use it. The glitches may be as simple as a slight pause (similar to a layer change) or stop with a disc error message, or even lock up completely requiring a reboot.

Without being able to directly observe the data stream, there is no way for a user to know exactly what caused the glitches to occur. Was the player unable to perform error correction on the disc in a timely fashion? Did it run out of resources that is corrected by stopping, pausing, opening the tray or rebooting? Did the memory get corrupted somehow during playback or some synchronization lost? Is there some handshaking issue going on during playback? Was there a piece of dust or a marginal read spot on the media that interrupted the playback? The list goes on and on and we have no way of knowing what the weakest link is in the playback chain.

My hope is that these glitches have been observed by Toshiba engineers in a lab somewhere, and they were able to observe the hardware and software status during this time. If they can identify the root cause, then they can work towards preventing it. This may be why the latest firmware has been some time coming.

I agree with Q in that the next release needs to fix the problem. If it is a hardware issue that requires everyone that is having random skipping issues to return the players to the factory (as some have suggested), then this 1G player is doomed. Granted there probably are a select few players that may have more serious manufacturing defects and would benefit from a repair, but that is the nature of CE products.

I had a slight glitch last night at the beginning of 16 Blocks that did not result in a lip synch loss. CD's and SD's have played flawlessly. If it turns out that the laser pickups need to be tweaked to near perfection, or that they easily are knocked out of alignment somehow during shipment or movement of the player, then we have a more serious issue going on. If it is software/resource based, then the firmware should be able to fix things. We will all know soon enough if rumors of a 2.0 version is release in the coming week(s). Until then, it is all speculation on our part and red herrings and folklore will fill these threads.

<snip>


I agree with Q in that the next release needs to fix the problem. If it is a hardware issue that requires everyone that is having random skipping issues to return the players to the factory (as some have suggested), then this 1G player is doomed.

Agreed.


Granted there probably are a select few players that may have more serious manufacturing defects and would benefit from a repair, but that is the nature of CE products.

I had a slight glitch last night at the beginning of 16 Blocks that did not result in a lip synch loss.

I probably had the same glitch with this movie you did. Looked like a bad layer change and then it moved on?


CD's and SD's have played flawlessly. If it turns out that the laser pickups need to be tweaked to near perfection, or that they easily are knocked out of alignment somehow during shipment or movement of the player, then we have a more serious issue going on.

It goes back to your earlier point, imo.

If it is software/resource based, then the firmware should be able to fix things. We will all know soon enough if rumors of a 2.0 version is release in the coming week(s). Until then, it is all speculation on our part and red herrings and folklore will fill these threads.

Exactly right. For me, it's very simple.

i agree i had issues with the analog 5.1 inputs {ground feedback} toshibas answer is it needs repair,send to a service center,near you. i find it hard to belive they didnt catch this issue at the factory or during production. most companys put out new products to get the jump on other companys ,in this case blu-ray,and they know theres going to be issues. its not about profit at first,i know this because the company i work for does the same thing,they get the product out and worry about the issues later.i sent my a1 back to the seller i got it from and wait to see what happens with the next gen player,or see if the next fw does the trick,i think toshiba should start being concerned about the issues because im sure blu-ray is working on putting out a player with no issues ,they better at 999.00. right now hd has a big lead in the game,they want to keep it that they need a better bullpen!!

i agree i had issues with the analog 5.1 inputs {ground feedback} toshibas answer is it needs repair,send to a service center,near you. i find it hard to belive they didnt catch this issue at the factory or during production. most companys put out new products to get the jump on other companys ,in this case blu-ray,and they know theres going to be issues. its not about profit at first,i know this because the company i work for does the same thing,they get the product out and worry about the issues later.i sent my a1 back to the seller i got it from and wait to see what happens with the next gen player,or see if the next fw does the trick,i think toshiba should start being concerned about the issues because im sure blu-ray is working on putting out a player with no issues ,they better at 999.00. right now hd has a big lead in the game,they want to keep it that they need a better bullpen!!

You could have had an early component failure that is not widespread in production. I haven't seen a great number of people claiming a ground feedback issue. That is not to say you didn't get a lemon, just that nothing is perfect in production. Our company thoroughly tests every piece of equipment that we ship, yet we still have a small number of problems with the hardware in the field. We replace any part that fails, that is about all we can do. Electronics are just not infallible. You had the option of repair or return, and you decided to return it. Nothing wrong with that choice.

You could have had an early component failure that is not widespread in production. I haven't seen a great number of people claiming a ground feedback issue. That is not to say you didn't get a lemon, just that nothing is perfect in production. Our company thoroughly tests every piece of equipment that we ship, yet we still have a small number of problems with the hardware in the field. We replace any part that fails, that is about all we can do. Electronics are just not infallible. You had the option of repair or return, and you decided to return it. Nothing wrong with that choice.


I remember the ground feedback was a defection issue that we heard about in the earliest units.

That's definitely a defective unit that needs to be exchanged if it has that analog hum problem.

I remember the ground feedback was a defection issue that we heard about in the earliest units.

That's definitely a defective unit that needs to be exchanged if it has that analog hum problem.

Must have been back when I was still cutting my teeth on Oppo upscaling. If it were an early defect, then a swap or repair would fix it. I do not think it is a concern amoung recent owners that I am aware of. I will have to do a search. :)

I remember the ground feedback was a defection issue that we heard about in the earliest units.

That's definitely a defective unit that needs to be exchanged if it has that analog hum problem.


Yep, my original HD-A1 had the ground loop issue as well as the static popping when certain functions were used.
My RCA has neither of those issues, but does have all the other issues to a lessor extent.

Amirm speculated that it might be a kind of error checking issue that causes a sync problem.

Others have speculated that it might be an issue that combines error correction with the DD+ to DTS conversion for the SPDIF connection.

It seems that more people has a more serious problem when using SPDIF than using the pure 5.1 analog outputs.

Since a similar problems or occurs more frequently with dirty or scratched rental disks, that may be a clue.

The problem also happens with SD disks and happens more with DVD-R+ disks.

Just my humble summary after reading these threads and getting direct feedback from 10 users. None of the people I know using analog out 5.1 find it serious enough to be a serious irritant. Its seems worse with SPDIF.

The other thread is showing less issues with analog out.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=712000

The other thread is showing less issues with analog out.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=712000

I tend to disagree. Of those that are experiencing skipping issues, there is not a significant difference in the connections used. The difference is 1-3 people, which doesn't mean much with such a small polling number.

Of those that are NOT having skipping issues, there are more using the HDMI/ananlog. But that could just be that there are more people using that connection than the other means.

If it were related to the audio connection type, I would expect to see no HDMI skipping or analog skipping. That is not what I see in this poll.

So , how many of you who are having playback problems(skips, freezes , audio sync or dropouts etc.) have done nothing more than place their player ,as is , on their shelf or equipment rack ,made the wire connections & maybe gone into the setup menu before starting play ? One of the first things I noticed about this player was how you could feel a slight vibration from the cooling fan & how insubstantial the feet on the A1 appeared to be . I think that anything you can do to drain vibration away from the player might help as I think a lot of the playback problems are stemming from the disc drives . I can't think of any other loadable A/V disc drive player I've ever owned that had a continously running fan inside of it .

I can't think of any other loadable A/V disc drive player I've ever owned that had a continously running fan inside of it .
That's because the A1 is basically a PC.

That's because the A1 is basically a PC.
Yes , I did realize that . I made the comment more as an attempt to bring attention to the possibility that most other players (even very inexpensive ones) don't appear to have the playback problems that a lot of these players are having . Could the fact that this is a computer first be causing some slight mechanical instabilities that could lead to playback problems if some extra care isn't taken when the player is physically setup ? In other words this may not be the ideal "plug & play" component given the way it was designed . I did take some extra care in setting up my player with these considerations in mind . My thinking was that I've just been fortunate w/ my player , but that may not be the only reason my playback has been outstanding compared to what I've been reading from others for quite some time now .

Like it or not, we are all a part of a science experiment by purchasing such new technology so early. I find it sort of exciting.

I am resolved that my unit might have to be returned to a factory center for updates, even though I have not had a problem. Toshiba may discover a laser defect later on. It will not be a big deal to stuff this unit back in the original carton and take it to the UPS center. It is not a plasma TV, it's like the size of a toaster. If Toshiba recalls my unit, they will likely send the UPS truck to my door.

It may also come to pass that Toshiba will produce a better unit and forget about the first edition. That's a fact I had to come to grips with before plunkin' down the money to play this game. One reviewer I read put it nicely by saying something to effect that even if this format bombs, The Toshiba is a really good up-converting player that can be used for years to come.

Like it or not, we are all a part of a science experiment by purchasing such new technology so early. I find it sort of exciting.

I am resolved that my unit might have to be returned to a factory center for updates, even though I have not had a problem. Toshiba may discover a laser defect later on. It will not be a big deal to stuff this unit back in the original carton and take it to the UPS center. It is not a plasma TV, it's like the size of a toaster. If Toshiba recalls my unit, they will likely send the UPS truck to my door.

It may also come to pass that Toshiba will produce a better unit and forget about the first edition. That's a fact I had to come to grips with before plunkin' down the money to play this game. One reviewer I read put it nicely by saying something to effect that even if this format bombs, The Toshiba is a really good up-converting player that can be used for years to come.

Jesus! you must toast a whole loaf at a time :)

Like it or not, we are all a part of a science experiment by purchasing such new technology so early. I find it sort of exciting.

I am resolved that my unit might have to be returned to a factory center for updates, even though I have not had a problem. Toshiba may discover a laser defect later on. It will not be a big deal to stuff this unit back in the original carton and take it to the UPS center. It is not a plasma TV, it's like the size of a toaster. If Toshiba recalls my unit, they will likely send the UPS truck to my door.

It may also come to pass that Toshiba will produce a better unit and forget about the first edition. That's a fact I had to come to grips with before plunkin' down the money to play this game. One reviewer I read put it nicely by saying something to effect that even if this format bombs, The Toshiba is a really good up-converting player that can be used for years to come.


For a 4 poster, you hit the nail on the head. Well said!

Jesus! you must toast a whole loaf at a time :)

Oh yes, I meant 'Georgia' toaster. We do a whole loaf at a time down here...
(But I found you can only burn one piece at a time on the Tosh) ;) .

Has anyone experienced these issues with the AX1?

I have the RCA HDV5000 using HDMI and analog out. I had the sync issue with VAN HELSING.(Brand New) But I have firmware 1.0 too. I've had my player for 2 days. I have to read up on how to upgrade this.(firmware)

When the 2.0 firmware is released. can someone who has had the skipping/sync issue report back and tell us if the firmware update does anything at all to reduce or correct it?Please?

2.0 is not released yet Kosty.

There is a unofficial version out, and the official 2.0 is rumoured to be out soon.

Notice I did say "when" :D

What I meant Q was that perhaps if one wanted to find a cause for the Toshiba glitches compiling a list of build dates and serial numbers might provide some clues.

i think from one of the on-line polls, approx 30% of A1 and xa1 owners have experienced glitches. A real shame as the picture quality is out of this world.



I agree on the picture being nice on most titles.....but I bought two players with skipping ect problems many months apart.....and if you read through the hd dvd player section....many have bought three, and a few... four players that all had the skipping problem.

Its higher than 30%....and if we could vote more than once....the numbers would reflect this.

Also...there are a few people that voted before they had a chance to see the player do any skipping who can't change there vote.

This poll is anything but accurate imo.

Has anyone experienced these issues with the AX1?

yes. But it appears that firmware 2.0 might be the messiah of firmware's

Will

yes. But it appears that firmware 2.0 might be the messiah of firmware's

Will

I wish.

But I doubt it.

I kicked off the 2.0 firmware update before I went to work this morning. I'm hoping when I get back to find that my audio sync/garbled dialog is resolved!

Well, I have had the hd-a1 for 10 days and here are my findings:

Build Date=July 2006

Video out=HDMI

Video Resolution=1080i

Audio Out=Coax

FW=2.0

I had AOP13, Bourne Supremacy, Doom, Pitch Black all "freeze" on me. The only way i could fix it was to "reboot"-unplug unit and plug back in. On AOP13, it was the same spot same time ,disc was brand new, clean and owned by me. I am not an engineer, but i think this will be fixed in a firmware update and has something to do with the ram or buffer used in processing the video as it is happening ,in my case, on brand new disc's.

Had Pitch Black freeze on me today, sound also lost sync and I'm running fm 2.0. This happened after I skipped a few chapters and has never happened before, the player is 3 weeks old.

Almost never, but always fixable by cleaning the disk. Cleaning disks is going to be a way of life for these small featured disks.

Since updating to FW 2.0 I've had slight glitches on Serenity (which I believe to be a disc problem since it always freezes up in the same spot) as well as Sahara (brand new disc) and Training Day (brand new disc).

It's typically a quick .5 second or so glitch in the audio/video and it's a little frustrating as I've also had the player have zero problems with terribly scratched HD-DVDs that I've rented.

I'm wondering if the problem is actually with the player or with early pressing problems with certain movies.

If Toshiba can't get a handle on this I might have to get an A2 just to compare the performance and disc handling with the new player. I should point out that while the glitches are annoying I am still thoroughly enjoying the HD-DVD movie watching experience.

2 glitches - Constantine (skipping/freezing) and Happy Gilmore (audio/video sync). I FF'ed on Constantine and took out Happy and put in a different movie. Both were Netflix rentals, so I figure it was a disc problem, not player issue.

I cleaned my pitch black with some domestic plastic polish and it looked really clean, but froze about 10 times in the last 30 minutes of the movie. I took the disc out and cleaned it with luke warm water to remove any residue from the polish then popped the disc back in and watched the last 30 mins again. The result was only one small freeze, about 1 second, it played perfectly apart from that. I've come to the conclusion that the toshiba player is very sensitive to even an oily disc surface, and washing the disc is probably the best way to clean the discs, even though this doesn't work 100%

I have now played 6 HD-DVD's in a row without a single glitch.

I'm on a roll! :)

Played Four Brothers last night and had two short freezes and then a sound drop-out. Only happened for a few seconds close together. I cleaned the disk. Went back to the same place and no problem. I'm convinced that most of these problems are related to disk cleaning.

I have been having audio sync problems from the moment I purchased the player through, 1.2, 1.4 and even now with 2.0.

I have seen countless people say that cleaning the disc might help.

My question is "why doesn't the player have audio sync problems with SD DVD's?"

I have watched around 20 SD movies and NEVER had an audio sync problem. It is almost like the player gets "overwhelmed" with HD material and when it gets back on track it messes up the internal clock.

Just my two cents.

I think the reason why we are having the skipping/Sync problems with HD DVD's only is that they contain so much more information and that the buffers for error correction become overloaded. This should not be the case with SD DVD's. When I have this problerm I hit the pause button and wait a few seconds. I than press play and this has usually solved the problem.

I agree, do you think maybe the player doesn't have enough processing power? Need more memory? Have either of these items been addressed on newer players?

Glad to see Rwestley seems to agree with me.

I have been having audio sync problems from the moment I purchased the player through, 1.2, 1.4 and even now with 2.0.

I have seen countless people say that cleaning the disc might help.

My question is "why doesn't the player have audio sync problems with SD DVD's?"

I have watched around 20 SD movies and NEVER had an audio sync problem. It is almost like the player gets "overwhelmed" with HD material and when it gets back on track it messes up the internal clock.

Just my two cents.

I must concur.... SD DVDs play flawlessly and NEVER a skip or sync problem here either.

Serenity and AOENflux both skip for me tho for a brief moment and not in same spot....... as if buffer overload or something like it

Am still on firmware 1.4 and am holding off ugrading to 2.0

I had major skipping problems with pitch black, but cleaning the disc with luke warm water has cured the problem. Using CD/DVD cleaning fluids didn't work, it just made matters worse. You need the discs to be squeek clean and free of chemical based cleaners.

I had major skipping problems with pitch black, but cleaning the disc with luke warm water has cured the problem. Using CD/DVD cleaning fluids didn't work, it just made matters worse. You need the discs to be squeek clean and free of chemical based cleaners.

Did you just run warm water over it? what do you use to dry the disc?

After playing 6 HD-DVD's in a row without a single glitch, I had one hiccup on Four Brothers. It was the typical symptom: a slight hesitation as though it was a layer change, followed by audio and video being out of sync. Hit the pause button, then play, and the sync was re-established and the rest of the movie played perfectly.

I've seen pausing on my brand new copy of Serenity also. Firmware version 2.0. Didn't need to pause/restart to resync audio however.

OK, it's official: now I am confused (more than normal).

Afer a little troubleshooting session (read: playing back Serenity and noting exactly where the "layer-change-type" skip occured, and playing back the same sequence several times with different audio settings), I have more questions than answers. While the pause does not occur at the same spot, it does occur around the same *time*, and mostly the first time the sequence is played. After the initial pass, repeating the sequence only reproduced the glitch once, and not in the same place. Also, the severity (for lack of a better word) varied with pass. After the third time running the same sequence ("Do you know what your sin is, Doctor? I'ts pride."), I was unable to reproduce the skip at all. This seems to eliminate the disc being the culprit: after the initial run, it is unlikely that the glitch would happen again anyway. In a large majority of cases, I suspect, it would be mere coincidence that removing the disc and cleaning it, would then replay (the same scene) without incident. Further, the player was barely warm (strike heat as a possible cause), and the scene was not bass heavy (strike vibration - I have knocked pictures off the walls two floors up with no problems). And I think it highly unlikely that the player hardware is at fault: We all have the exact same hardware, and yet some of us have had no problems whatsoever. The rest of us have seen varying severity of glitches, even with the same firmware (everything from momentary pauses to complete lockups). There has to be a commonality to those who are getting flawless playback; some combination of setup settings that avoids a S/W conflict, a buffer overload, or an error-correction problem? I have read posts by every combination I can think of: Component, HDMI, SPDIF = PCM (even though that one did help somewhat), etc. I cannot see any pattern. Even the FW updates seem to vary in effectiveness..... on the exact same hardware...?!? I was tempted to return my player for an exchange (hoping to get a "flawless" one), but even that is little more than a crap-shoot. I am at a loss....... any my barber is losing business because of it.... aaaarrrgggghhhh!

Well, i took mine back and exchanged it. came home, did 2.0 fw upgrade and the hdmi kept flashing on my tv and the player was constantly losing hdmi sync....i uplugged it and plugged it back in and have had ZERO problems since!!!!

I just watched Kiss,Kiss,Bang,bang from netflix and it was all scratched up and it played with no problem whatsoever......I wish Toshiba would specify to unplug power after FW update and plug back in to complete update.

"Did you just run warm water over it? what do you use to dry the disc? "


No, I just wet a clean, abrasive free cloth and clean the disc with water, making sure there is no oily surface. The disc is dried with a soft Dvd cleaning cloth. I do this before I play any movie and have not suffered any skipping or freezing problems since.

I have come up with a theory, with not a single fact to back it up (just my own reasoning and physics background). It does seem to explain the variation between players, why the skipping seems to disappear with multiple passes, and why cleaning is sometimes helpful, while other players will play coasters with no problems…

***********************************
Question: Why does the disc skipping seem to vary between identical hardware and firmware?

Proposal: Light of a given wavelength (420 nm?) must make it to the reflective layer with sufficient intensity to give return a 1 or a 0, right? Now, if the laser was obstructed by, say, a piece of dirt, or even a fingerprint, this would decrease the intensity at the source. It still may be fine, because all we care about is that there is enough to return 1 or 0. However, if there were something on the disc itself that further decreased the intensity before reflection we might run into problems, even to the point of not getting anything. What if an extremely thin film (of varying thickness) was left behind in the manufacturing process, one that either blocks some of the light, or absorbs it (or at least part of it). This could be the cause of "garbage data", resulting in pauses, skips, and lockups. Exactly how severe an error would depend on the amount of "garbage data" relative to what the error correction code can compensate for. This would in turn be determined by the thickness of the film, and how broad an area is obscured (to the laser, not the naked eye). This might explain the variation between disc playback on different machines. Cees Alons on HTF gave me this idea.

Question: Why does the skipping seem to disappear after one or two passes?

Proposal: While the player does not get hot to the touch (or even warm, in my case), at the surface of the DVD it's a different story. The laser light will heat up the surface of the disc, expanding the film. This might make it less of an optical obstruction, and where we were getting garbage before now might be just fine. It would also explain why some people have had luck cleaning their discs with warm water, removing the film altogether.

Question: Why do some players play everything thrown at them with no problems at all?

Proposal: There is no dirt on the laser itself, so the full intensity of light makes it to the surface of the disc. With full intensity, enough light would make it through even scratched, dirty discs (ie. Netflix) with no problem (who cares if you lose a little when you start with a lot?). Just through the luck of the draw, some people got a player with a clean laser…
***********************************
This is the result of my mind constantly trying to fit some explanation to the facts, so I would like the experts here to tear it apart and let me know where I'm on the wrong track. On the plus side, it would mean that the player is not defective (per se), but on the minus side I have no idea how to clean the laser: I have heard from many people that commercial disc player cleaners are bad news, in that you run the risk of either knocking the laser out of alignment, or scratching it. Commence criticism and ridicule…:)

I swear, I have started cleaning my discs and have had no further issues with this.

I don't really clean more, but I have found nearly every disc in my existing DVD collection could of used a good cleaning. And I have found that if I clean a new HD-DVD disc, I have not needed to clean it a second time ever so far.

:)

I have come up with a theory, with not a single fact to back it up (just my own reasoning and physics background). It does seem to explain the variation between players, why the skipping seems to disappear with multiple passes, and why cleaning is sometimes helpful, while other players will play coasters with no problems…

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Question: Why does the disc skipping seem to vary between identical hardware and firmware?

Proposal: Light of a given wavelength (420 nm?) must make it to the reflective layer with sufficient intensity to give return a 1 or a 0, right? Now, if the laser was obstructed by, say, a piece of dirt, or even a fingerprint, this would decrease the intensity at the source. It still may be fine, because all we care about is that there is enough to return 1 or 0. However, if there were something on the disc itself that further decreased the intensity before reflection we might run into problems, even to the point of not getting anything. What if an extremely thin film (of varying thickness) was left behind in the manufacturing process, one that either blocks some of the light, or absorbs it (or at least part of it). This could be the cause of "garbage data", resulting in pauses, skips, and lockups. Exactly how severe an error would depend on the amount of "garbage data" relative to what the error correction code can compensate for. This would in turn be determined by the thickness of the film, and how broad an area is obscured (to the laser, not the naked eye). This might explain the variation between disc playback on different machines. Cees Alons on HTF gave me this idea.

Question: Why does the skipping seem to disappear after one or two passes?

Proposal: While the player does not get hot to the touch (or even warm, in my case), at the surface of the DVD it's a different story. The laser light will heat up the surface of the disc, expanding the film. This might make it less of an optical obstruction, and where we were getting garbage before now might be just fine. It would also explain why some people have had luck cleaning their discs with warm water, removing the film altogether.

Question: Why do some players play everything thrown at them with no problems at all?

Proposal: There is no dirt on the laser itself, so the full intensity of light makes it to the surface of the disc. With full intensity, enough light would make it through even scratched, dirty discs (ie. Netflix) with no problem (who cares if you lose a little when you start with a lot?). Just through the luck of the draw, some people got a player with a clean laser…
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This is the result of my mind constantly trying to fit some explanation to the facts, so I would like the experts here to tear it apart and let me know where I'm on the wrong track. On the plus side, it would mean that the player is not defective (per se), but on the minus side I have no idea how to clean the laser: I have heard from many people that commercial disc player cleaners are bad news, in that you run the risk of either knocking the laser out of alignment, or scratching it. Commence criticism and ridicule…:)
Intresting, so how to clean the laser head without damaging it?

I get skipping, pausing, and the display quits updating until I unplug/replug my HDMI cable.

Running 2.0

Ken

Guys I visited the Japanese site and found out exactly what firmware 2.1 does.

It is not a major update with any feature changes, just one very important bugfix.

They claim that disk reading efficiency has been improved. The random video and sound drop out issues are finally corrected now.

You're welcome,

Ken

Guys I visited the Japanese site and found out exactly what firmware 2.1 does.

It is not a major update with any feature changes, just one very important bugfix.

They claim that disk reading efficiency has been improved. The random video and sound drop out issues are finally corrected now.

You're welcome,

Ken

I'm not going to thank you or anyone else until it is confirmed fixed. 2.0 was supposed to be the ultimate fix for skipping and video freezes and many users including myself continue to experience problems, even on new discs.

I didn't "upgrade" to 2.0 and after listening to many people who didn't have problems claim that there were "hardly any people who did" , I conducted a poll.

The results indicate that 20% of those who upgraded to the 2.0 firmware saw the firmware introduce problems that weren't there before.


At least now we have some data.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=801346

There are 550 respondents so far. Poll closes on April 7.

John

2.1 ready for U.S. download now.....

I just updated my XA1 to 2.1 a half hour ago.

The player is still slow as molasses...too early to provide any real assessment, but seems fine so far. Playing Troy right now.

I just updated my XA1 to 2.1 a half hour ago.

The player is still slow as molasses...too early to provide any real assessment, but seems fine so far. Playing Troy right now.

How does the player upscale SD DVDs compared to how it did before the upgrade?


John

How does the player upscale SD DVDs compared to how it did before the upgrade?


John

The quality of standard dvd upscaling is the same, excellent as before. The major improvement is that the random video dropout problem is now completely cured. It would occasionally happen with DOOM and CoR, but not once since updating.

The quality of standard dvd upscaling is the same, excellent as before. The major improvement is that the random video dropout problem is now completely cured. It would occasionally happen with DOOM and CoR, but not once since updating.

Error correction does seem better but some "known problem" discs continue to exhibit problems on my player and those of others.

For example, the well documented problem of Happy Feet glitching at the 28.xx minute mark still happens on my player, even after the update.

It seems that the 1st gen NEC readers in our A1/XA1 decks are never going to be able to deliver consistent glitch-free playback on all HD-DVD titles.

As per a suggestion, I'm opening a poll.

Basically, if you are experiencing the annoying "skip" or "stutter" problem on your HD-A1, please let us all know.

Effectively:

You'll be watching a movie and all of a sudden, it seems to pause. Then, it resumes and briefly plays at a rate faster than 1x (looks like it's in fast forward). Then, it goes back to normal playback. Sometimes, after this happens, the audio and video are out of sync and require you to pause/unpause the film or move forward/back a chapter to restore synchronization.

If you ARE having this problem, please report what firmware version you are using, and if you are using HDMI vs. Component and if you are using the analog outputs vs. optical.

Finally, is this disc you were playing new or a rental (Netflix, etc) with some scratches?

A lot of people are reporting this problem with brand new disks and I'm curious to see:

1) How widespread it is.
2) Are there any common factors.

Please, no fanboyism. If it's happened to you, vote as such.

This problem is annoying a lot people and pretending the problem doesn't exist so HD-DVD doesn't look bad is just silliness.
Never have. :)

It seems that the 1st gen NEC readers in our A1/XA1 decks are never going to be able to deliver consistent glitch-free playback on all HD-DVD titles.

I'm curious, what is the exact model number of the NEC HD DVD-ROM drive in our players? Maybe...perhaps there is a firmware update for the drive itself which would improve performance further.

I could remove the drive, interface it to a desktop through its standard ATA connector...then flash it.

^^ I am pretty sure the Toshiba firmwares include firmware flashes for the NEC drive...

^^ I am pretty sure the Toshiba firmwares include firmware flashes for the NEC drive...

Admittedly, the thought did cross my mind. We have to verify this as true or not.

Admittedly, the thought did cross my mind. We have to verify this as true or not.

This is definitely true. When FW 2.0 came out it was the new flash to the optical drive that prevented loading older firmwares onto the deck.

This is definitely true. When FW 2.0 came out it was the new flash to the optical drive that prevented loading older firmwares onto the deck.

Alright, that takes care of that. Good.