View Full Version : How often do you experience skipping on your HD-A1?
Hi all,
I've owned 2 HD-A1s since July 2006, and I've always experienced some minor skipping.
I'm trying to decide if this is significant enough for me to call Toshiba, and maybe have the unit replaced.
I experience brief skipping, not very often, but maybe once for every 3-4 hours of HD-DVD viewing. This brief skipping is similar in duration and severity to a layer change on an older SD DVD player.
I'd like to hear from what the rest here have experienced. If this is totally expected from a first-gen, early-adopter unit then maybe I wont bother calling Toshiba.
Thanks.
Mani
gsearles
11-22-06, 02:06 PM
No skipping here, but mine is prone to hard freezes if the disc is smudged at all. I used to get annoyed with the machine, but now just rub each disc quickly before putting it in the drive and no problems anymore. Fingerprints that cause no problems on regular DVD's seem to cause major problems with the HD-DVD's. Try wiping discs off before each use and see if this is part of the problem. Also make sure you have firmware 2.0.
Greg
blackbill
11-22-06, 02:45 PM
I have never had a skipping problem with my homeburned HDdvd's, but I have had one or two skips on a couple of commercial movies. These disks must be ABSOLUTELY clean, whereas the homeburned disks play fine even with finger prints on them.
The difference I *think* is that the commercial HDdvd disks have much tighter read tolerances and if the beam gets even slightly refracted then there is a problem. My homeburned HDdvd's are burned on regular 4.7/8.5 gig disks and the read tolerences are not as tight on these (just a guess)
drhollen
11-22-06, 03:29 PM
I've watched over 60 HD DVDs on my XA1 since June and have had skipping problems on probably about 20 discs. I took back one XA1 for replacement, but newer one also skips. Early firmwares were skipping on nearly all of the movies. Firmware 2.0 seems to be the best (tried 1.0, 1.2, 1.4 and 2.0).
Currently, I figure that I'm averaging about one skip per 6 movies and am making a log of movies & skips to confirm this average.
I haven't been watching quite as frequently in the last two months though.
Even my brand new HD DVDs have encountered skips, but rewind and replay that section and no skip, so it appears to be random.
Like others, I've found that cleaning my Netflix discs does help and I've had many Netflix discs that did have minor blemishes play through flawlessly after cleaning.
I plan on replacing my XA1 with XA2 if the newer models appear to solve the skipping problems.
BruceOrlando
11-22-06, 05:38 PM
My A1 player is only a couple of months old, but I've had nada trouble with skipping or freezing. Been running 2.0 and we watch mostly NetFlix HD-DVD's as well as a couple of our own.
I've been *very* happy with the performance of the unit.
-bruce
ottscay
11-22-06, 05:59 PM
I get skipping about once every 1.5 hours...but it isn't a consistent average. For example, I've never had a skip on Aeon Flux, but I can't get through KK or Van Helsing without a couple.
I'll get an occurance once every 8-9 disks, and it's only ever happened once during the movie. It's all been with relatively beat up nf/bbo disks, so I just chalk it up to that.
sdlehman
11-23-06, 09:03 AM
My HD-A1 skips on HD DVDs on occasion, but not every disc. This has happened regardless of firmware version so it may be dirt or smudges on disc? The one problem that does seem due to firmware 2.0 is the "hard freeze". This typically happens with SD DVDs and I have to hard power down and restart the system to get things going again. It is sporadic but I don't remember it happening before firmware 2.0.
Stace
I notice some weird speed up in some scenes. Last one I remember was in T3 when they are having the chase seen. I noticed it and I was like WTF was that. Don't know if its the player or the discs though.
i am sure there is still room for improvement in the duplication/mass publication of HD-DVD discs, or blue-laser discs in general. Both HD and BR are still very new and immature technologies. They pushed both out the door just to try to win the "war". I am sure the manufacturering processes for both formats, for both players and discs, are meeting only the very minimum of their QC or QA requirements.
oliverjg
11-23-06, 10:05 AM
after upgrading to firmware 2.0 i replayed hd-dvd disks that had caused trouble before and they played end to end with no glitches. also, menu problems were fixed. there are still infrequent minor playback glitches. maybe one every 3rd disk on average.
my current conclusion is that the glitches are caussed by minor errors in the media and the errror handling code in the firmware will continue to improve over time.
my a1 plays sd dvd disks that older dvd players won't play.
msu89dawgs
11-23-06, 10:14 AM
After getting a new TV yesterday, a Hitachi 57F59, with HDMI, which has solved the HD digital video output problems that plagued my A1 with my old Aspect 51M200 which had a DVI input, I played Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (brand new, never taken out of the case) last night. At what appeared to be a layer change, I had some significant breakup, and the audio and video got badly out of sync. I stopped playback, then went back to the beginning of the scene, and it played through perfectly. Just before the end of the movie, the picture went out, the screen going to gray, while the audio kept on playing. The picture came back within a few seconds, and synced up fine with the audio. Could have been a brief HDMI handshake issue that resolved itself. I'm using the HDMI cable that came with the HD-A1. I played two SD DVDs last night and this morning for my kids (Cars and Ice Age: The Meltdown), and both played perfectly. THe other couple of SD DVDs and one other HD DVD (Polar Express) that I've played on the A1 played through perfectly.
I just got my first Netflix HD DVD (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and plan to watch it within the next day or two, when the kids are asleep or playing in their rooms.
I was blown away by the detail and picture quality of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the A1 has done a great job upconverting the SD DVDs we've watched so far. I hope the random nature of the playback issues means that the problems are software-related, and that future updates will increase the reliability of playback.
oliverjg
11-23-06, 10:54 AM
After getting a new TV yesterday, a Hitachi 57F59, with HDMI, which has solved the HD digital video output problems that plagued my A1 with my old Aspect 51M200 which had a DVI input, I played Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (brand new, never taken out of the case) last night. At what appeared to be a layer change, I had some significant breakup, and the audio and video got badly out of sync. I stopped playback, then went back to the beginning of the scene, and it played through perfectly. Just before the end of the movie, the picture went out, the screen going to gray, while the audio kept on playing. The picture came back within a few seconds, and synced up fine with the audio. Could have been a brief HDMI handshake issue that resolved itself. I'm using the HDMI cable that came with the HD-A1. I played two SD DVDs last night and this morning for my kids (Cars and Ice Age: The Meltdown), and both played perfectly. THe other couple of SD DVDs and one other HD DVD (Polar Express) that I've played on the A1 played through perfectly.
I just got my first Netflix HD DVD (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and plan to watch it within the next day or two, when the kids are asleep or playing in their rooms.
I was blown away by the detail and picture quality of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the A1 has done a great job upconverting the SD DVDs we've watched so far. I hope the random nature of the playback issues means that the problems are software-related, and that future updates will increase the reliability of playback.
firmware version?
mngmikes
11-23-06, 10:58 AM
i've had one instance of the disk skipping and it was when i was watching Grand Prix but after watching it when i took out the disk i flipped it over and it was scratched all to hell i'm surprised it even played. it was a rental from blockbuster online.
BuGsArEtAsTy
11-23-06, 11:56 AM
I wonder if they may partially be a drive generation thing.
Skipping doesn't seem to be a widely reported problem with the 360 Toshiba drive. I've certainly never had a disc skip, but then again I don't actually have that many discs, and none are rentals.
I wonder if they may partially be a drive generation thing.
Skipping doesn't seem to be a widely reported problem with the 360 Toshiba drive. I've certainly never had a disc skip, but then again I don't actually have that many discs, and none are rentals.
http://www.i4u.com/article5008.html
The NEC HR-1100A is not a disc writer it only can read HD-DVDs, DVDs and CDs. NEC uses one lens in this drive. CT Magazine finds very slow access times (370 ms for HD-DVD) with this pre-production model. Data transfer rates from HD-DVDs clocked in at 8,7 MByte/s. Error correction is a problem with the HR-1100A. NEC says the final HR-1100A will have those issues fixed.
The HD-A1/XA1 use an NEC HDDVDROM drive while the 360 addon & HD-A2/XA2 use a Toshiba drive. Maybe the error correction problems on the NEC were NOT fixed.
rover2002
11-23-06, 12:38 PM
http://www.i4u.com/article5008.html
The HD-A1/XA1 use an NEC HDDVDROM drive while the 360 addon & HD-A2/XA2 use a Toshiba drive. Maybe the error correction problems on the NEC were NOT fixed.
I said it was the drives !!! Nice find Ruined :)
ONce on a Netflix rental disc, it skipped when I rented the Thing. Interestingly, the result was the sound and picture were out of synch. I stopped and restarted from the select scene menu and the problem was fixed. It did not recur.
scottd327
11-23-06, 01:32 PM
I have watched about 60 hd-dvd discs on my XA1, and only experienced a few minor freezes/dropouts on Paramount titles (after Firmware 2.0). Absolutely glitch-free on all other playback, including SD DVDs.
msu89dawgs
11-23-06, 01:34 PM
firmware version?
Yeah, that info would have helped. Firmware is 2.0.
I've had skipping with 4-5 discs out of ~25. I had basically none before upgrading to 2.0 (from 1.3), but I didn't watch enough discs then to be able to say anything for certain.
I've had more stuttering and skipping problems since 2.0 too. In particular, it's about ninety percent likely that there will be a few minutes of skipping after fast forwarding. Even scene selecting mid-way through a movie will cause it.
As long as I set the remote aside after starting a disc, it will play start to finish without any hiccups...but if I want to jump around, it's stutter city.
Packman1999
11-23-06, 04:21 PM
I use component only and I have yet to see a skipping issue.
jmpage2
11-23-06, 04:30 PM
Even with clean discs I get the occassional skip.
I've learned to "live with it" as being the price of cutting edge tech and the best PQ possible on my 60" SXRD.
From store demos I've seen, the BR players are also prone to skip if the disc is not pristine.
I have owed both a A1 and XA1 since May and have not experienced a single skip, sych, or freezing issue. This is with Netflix disks, purchased disks, and burned single and dual layer DVDs. Never cleaned a disk, even some pretty bad ones from Netflix. Maybe I was lucky with the two units :D, but I can only describe my operational experience with both as flawless other than the startup time, which is not a big deal for me :p.
Currently only using the XA1 with a HDMI-DVI connection to a 65" RP-CRT. Using the 2.0 version of firmware without any "black crush" issue.
web
My experience has been the same as Web described above. I only had one issue ever and it was the copy of Batman Begins I had once I replaced it no more issues.
Cheers
I'm happy to report that I have never had any skipping problems!
moralpanic
11-24-06, 11:31 AM
I have never had skipping on my A1, but i did experience a problem where if i went into the settings while watching a movie, and came back to it, i would get a red tint... until i rebooted the machine.
oliverjg
11-24-06, 11:43 AM
the problem with playback issues is that there is almost no way to tell if it is a media problem, dirt, environment (temp., humidity. etc), player hardware, or player firmware.
when i reported playback problems on my a1 in this forum 2 months back people told me to return the player or disk or clean disks. i did/do none of these. the nearest thing i do to cleaning disks is to blow on them to get rid of any dust.
i left the player as it was for a while and eventually upgraded to 2.0 firmware. now playback issues are rare and i replayed disks that had problems.
IMHO they are still getting the bugs out of the error correction in firmware. my advice to anybody is to upgrade to 2.0 before returning a player. also, return a disk before returning the player.
my brother has more issues with his older sd dvd player then i have with my a1 and he will have to throw his out and get a new one becasue it cannot get a firmware update. my a1 plays his buggy sd dvd disks without problems.
moralpanic - i have the exact same issue with mine, the machine starting up with a red tint. this seems to only happen with universal titles. i am using HDMI to a Westinghouse 42", 2.0 firmware on the A1. how about you?
it is some comfort that i'm not alone here with the skipping, which was the purpose of starting this thread. however, i do believe this skipping is unacceptable and all of us with issues should contact toshiba for replacement/repair. the skipping i notice is always on PRISTINE disks that i triple-check before putting in the machine, and i am using the latest firmware.
one thing to notice, i have a shag carpet in front of the A1 which throws a lot of small strands into the air. last night i blasted the inside of my A1 with some compressed air, have yet to experience a skip in about 2 hours of viewing. i'll post again with an update if i dont have a skip for a while.
oliverjg
11-24-06, 12:31 PM
moralpanic - i have the exact same issue with mine, the machine starting up with a red tint. this seems to only happen with universal titles. i am using HDMI to a Westinghouse 42", 2.0 firmware on the A1. how about you?
it is some comfort that i'm not alone here with the skipping, which was the purpose of starting this thread. however, i do believe this skipping is unacceptable and all of us with issues should contact toshiba for replacement/repair. the skipping i notice is always on PRISTINE disks that i triple-check before putting in the machine, and i am using the latest firmware.
one thing to notice, i have a shag carpet in front of the A1 which throws a lot of small strands into the air. last night i blasted the inside of my A1 with some compressed air, have yet to experience a skip in about 2 hours of viewing. i'll post again with an update if i dont have a skip for a while.
you could have a player problem. but....
can you connect to a different display or try composite instead of hdmi?
does it always do the same thing with the same disks?
is it close to the floor? is it inside a cabinet?
have you tried unpligging from power for a while to make sure everything is completely reset?
playback problems are unacceptable if they cannot be fixed. these are not normal things you should have to do for a mature technology but for g1 of anything electronic they cannot test every single configuration and environment. they cannot anticipate every media error. i have been going through this g1 thing for 25 years. i always try to figure out what is differnt about my setup from the people who have things working properly.
funny story...
when pcs first came out i remember a guy that was pissed because he kept loosing data on is floppy disks. it turned out he was sticking them to the fridge with a magnet.
P. Anthony
11-24-06, 01:09 PM
I get skipping, FF, pause, and lip-synching on almost every other HD-DVD (never on regular DVD's), sometimes my player locks on "V For Vendetta" even though I've cleaned my discs, unplugging, etc. Surprisingly, I didn't experience any problems during "The Polar Express" on Thanksgiving day. :) That's why I'm so looking forward to getting my A2.
Firmware 2.0, have owned the A1 since August and have played a LOT of disks with nary a skip
I watched "End Of Days" the other day and got my first experience of skipping.
It did this quite a number of times and I found that if I backed up and re-played the skipped segment, it played fine so it is NOT repeatable.
This is only the second TRUE HD Audio disc that I have owned as well as played so I wonder if there is any relation.
Disc was new and visual inspection showed it to be perfect.
oliverjg
11-24-06, 02:47 PM
Firmware 2.0, have owned the A1 since August and have played a LOT of disks with nary a skip
I watched "End Of Days" the other day and got my first experience of skipping.
It did this quite a number of times and I found that if I backed up and re-played the skipped segment, it played fine so it is NOT repeatable.
This is only the second TRUE HD Audio disc that I have owned as well as played so I wonder if there is any relation.
Disc was new and visual inspection showed it to be perfect.
that is the exact type of problem that i would expect from a firmware bug. very hard to track down because it isn't repeatable.
hard to find these in testing. might find them in code inspections.
also, these can be there lying dormant from prior releases and not triggered untill some new feature is turned on.
fixing firmware is like whack-a-mole.
Firmware 2.0, have owned the A1 since August and have played a LOT of disks with nary a skip
I watched "End Of Days" the other day and got my first experience of skipping.
It did this quite a number of times and I found that if I backed up and re-played the skipped segment, it played fine so it is NOT repeatable.
This is only the second TRUE HD Audio disc that I have owned as well as played so I wonder if there is any relation.
Disc was new and visual inspection showed it to be perfect.
I too have only had skipping issues with End of Days (rented, not in the best shape, FW2.0) No probs with anything else, though i can't say i've played very many HD DVDs.
Never had skipping with my HD XA1 and 2.0 firmware. Earlier had a HD A1 with firmware 1.4 that a few times (2-3) had a audio sync issue that would stop if I hit pause and then restarted. One time had the HD A1 stall out as I hit too many buttons on the remote when I first got the player. After I restarted the player, it worked fine.
Firmware 2.0 seemed to greatly improve the error checking.
Bill C.
11-24-06, 03:56 PM
Actual skips? I've had two with my 'A1 (1.4 firmware at the time--none since upgrading to 2.0), on Syriana and Serenity (the latter resulted in a brief lip-sync issue, IIRC). I need to fire up the 'XA1 and feed it some stuff, though...
williamtassone
11-25-06, 02:01 AM
i am sure there is still room for improvement in the duplication/mass publication of HD-DVD discs, or blue-laser discs in general. Both HD and BR are still very new and immature technologies. They pushed both out the door just to try to win the "war". I am sure the manufacturering processes for both formats, for both players and discs, are meeting only the very minimum of their QC or QA requirements.
spot on
topcat2001
11-27-06, 09:42 PM
I had never encountered skips on my A1 till this weekend when I thought I encountered my first one on Seabiscuit. It was pretty bad and across a few chapters and would freeze the player. Ultimately though it turned out there was a small sliver of the the packaging plastic on the disc and once removed everything was fine. So I've basically never encountered any skips in the 5-6 movies I've watched. All were brand-new HD DVD discs though.
HPforMe
11-27-06, 10:12 PM
Two disks gave me problems and one of those every time I play it, cleaning notwithstanding. FF Tokyo Drift - sound drop out and freezes in a couple of areas. On Saturday playing Phantom of the Opera. With the TrueHD track skipped and froze. I had to reboot the machine. I then switched to the DD+ track and was no problems going over the same scenes. Who knows.
I have an RCA HDV5000 I just bought. I also bought a new HD-DVD--- Miami Vice. I experienced a defect in playback whereby the movie seemed to go into slow motion with no sound. I started it over and same thing at the same place. Started it again and it played on for about 35mins then started the same thing.
I looked at the disk under light and noticed it was cloudy in some areas. I washed it with warm water and dish soap and dried it with a microfiber cloth. It now plays ok in the areas where it was "skipping".
I'll see how it plays and post results after I get some more run time...
I also heard from someone I know who recently bought an HD-A2 that they have experienced skipping...
Hi all,
I've owned 2 HD-A1s since July 2006, and I've always experienced some minor skipping.
I'm trying to decide if this is significant enough for me to call Toshiba, and maybe have the unit replaced.
I experience brief skipping, not very often, but maybe once for every 3-4 hours of HD-DVD viewing. This brief skipping is similar in duration and severity to a layer change on an older SD DVD player.
I'd like to hear from what the rest here have experienced. If this is totally expected from a first-gen, early-adopter unit then maybe I wont bother calling Toshiba.
Thanks.
Mani
never skipped on me once. maybe a batch of them had bad drives? probably the ones manufactured after launch, Im guessing maybe toshiba used cheaper drives and parts towards the end run of the hd a1?
Megalith
12-29-06, 02:27 AM
My player was manufactured in September, and I've never encountered any issues with playback.
Only issues include a stubborn firmware updating process, and sometimes the unit likes to tell me that the tray is still opening even when it's is already out. On some occassions, I need to press twice before the tray actually opens.
I've watched about 20 movies (both HD and SD) on my A1 and I have literally never had a single skip. Most discs are from Netflix. I'm actually hesitant to upgrade to 2.0 because of my good fortune thus far. Knock knock.
Malvoe1
01-16-07, 12:26 PM
Probably 80% of the HDDVDs I have watched, all Netflix rentals, have had sound dropouts, skipping, or lock-ups. I assumed that they were all due to scratches, as most were repeatable. However, it looks like there may be more going on. this is VERY frustrating, to say the least
HD-A1
Firmware 2.0
Well, I did upgrade to 2.0 and experienced my first skipping incidents during King Kong. The disc was a little scuzzy (Netflix) so that might have been the problem. I've watched a couple SD's since then without incident.
sharkshark
01-16-07, 12:44 PM
As I plow through my collection, I've been getting what seems to be an increasing number of skips (bascially, momentary lapses in audio, coupled with the picture slightly moving foward to catch up) It has been mostly on Uni titles (Hulk, Kong, Fear and Loathing, etc.), but I also seem to have more uni titles that I'm going through now, as opposed to my initial wave of almost exclusively Warner.
MI: I and II played with glitches, III did not. I did a marathon of Goodfellas and Casino and both played flawlessly.
For F&L, I hoped to get away with one or two - I had to stop at about the 20 min mark, "downgrade" to DD from TrueHD, and the rest of the film played fine.
FW 2.0, analogue connections.
I have yet to hear about these specific problems on the A2/XA2 (I know they have -other- issues, but not this specific problem). Annoying to say the least, but I've lived with it for now. It's the prime motivation for me to jump into G2, despite the fact that it's stupid expensive for me and I won't reap many of the HDMI/1080p benefits with my setup.
ps. These are all sealed from the factory discs, and I often give a spray of compressed air before they go in the machine for giggles.
BrandonJF
01-16-07, 12:46 PM
My player was manufactured in September, and I've never encountered any issues with playback.
Only issues include a stubborn firmware updating process, and sometimes the unit likes to tell me that the tray is still opening even when it's is already out. On some occassions, I need to press twice before the tray actually opens.
The tray thing happens with me, too.
I have had skipping a couple of HD-DVDs, the worst being Miami Vice.
BTBuck1
01-16-07, 01:08 PM
I've noticed (and maybe this is coincidence) but after a hard reset (unplug the cord for 5 minutes) that I only get the glitches(audio drops + fastforwarding) about every 5 or 6 movies now. The exception being End Of Days...it will do it every time I put it in, yet plays fine in my 360 add on :rolleyes: .
Interesting I can watch a standard DVD with no worries in the A1, it has never once had an issue with a SD-DVD. And being that it's a stellar DVD upconvert I commend thee.
I've dealt with it's "issues" thus far because of it's standard DVD performance, and peice of mind that I have a somewhat reliable player in the xbox add on. However, should the A1 completely crap out on me, I severely doubt I'll buy another Toshiba HDDVD player. I personally don't think the unit is defective, because it's problems are so intermittant. I think it's a design flaw (HTPC wanna-be). I feel like I have narrowed it down to some sort of internal memmory or cache getting filled up, & by hard resetting it...seems to clear it and then it play fine for a while.but then how do I explain End of Days??? Who knows...i'm no engineer/computer geek.
If my A1 does break completely, hopefully it will be around the time HDDVD players are made by several companies and I can get a solid player relatively cheap (not some chinese branded crap). But this years CES doesn't give me a warm sense of security in the format. I feel that ultimately I'll replace it with another Blu-Ray player, Then use my ps3 exclusively for gaming and move my HDDVD collection (34 discs currently) to my bedroom next to the 360 & sammy Bdp1000 and just play them back there....and Buy Blu-Ray discs exclusively there after. But we'll see...i'm still so indecisive about all this HD/Blu-Ray stuff. I've been just buying Universal titles in HDDVD and everything else on Blu-Ray...but with Universals lack of title announcements so far, my HDDVD players might not get much use over the course of the next year.
JOHNnDENVER
01-16-07, 01:33 PM
I had a couple of minor issues 6 months ago when I first got my player. I have not had one in so long, I have not even thought about it. I own 45 titles and use it for my Sd-DVD player as well. Lots of use on this thing. You know, I don't think I have had one skip since the 2.0 FW was put on.
Lou Sytsma
01-16-07, 01:45 PM
No skips but it did freeze once watching the IME on Batman Begins.
Experienced another skip the other day while watching 'King Kong'. Also had a skipping problem with 'Serenity'. No issues with Batman Begins or Superman Returns, so it seems to be somewhat random.
divianb
01-16-07, 10:24 PM
I have watched three movies this week ( after several months without using the A1) and I did not experience skipping or any other issues. I saw The Interpreter, Harry Potter 4 and also Superman Returns.
RaymondBlue
01-16-07, 11:30 PM
I've watched over 60+ HD-DVDs (including Netflix) and countless number of SDs, not including homemade of both, with no skipping whatsoever, I don't even clean them. I've had only one bad netlfix disc and it looked like it had a hair-line crack in it, the A1 would not even recognize it.
eizenga13
01-16-07, 11:39 PM
My screen was dropping and turning GREEN only, like all the other colors were bad, I would LIGHTLY tap the side of the HD DVD player and it would correct it... I sent it in for servicing and they told me it was because of my HDMI connection on the "TV" I replied "WOW really that is why when I tape the PLAYER not the TV it corrects itself... AMAZING"... PS my TV is toshiba, so if they want to service that then that is fine with me, they just need to come and get it :)
JOHNnDENVER
01-17-07, 10:25 AM
Look into some things called port savers. (I think that is what they are called) Some cables just don't seat well, even when there is nothing wrong withthe cable or the connector.
webphilosopher
01-17-07, 04:34 PM
I have two HD-A1s, one manufactured in March and the other manufactured in August, with firmware 2.0 installed on both. I have had no skipping problems with either. I suspect that some of the NEC drives were better than others. I also suspect that many problems were due to rough treatment during shipping. I wonder what Robert's (Value Electronics) statistics for defective units were like, since he double-boxed all of his shipments, whereas some retailers did not.
kevinlc
01-17-07, 07:14 PM
Never had a disc skip on me. 122 HD DVDs and counting...
craftech
01-17-07, 07:24 PM
Happened with Serenity in the exact same place everyone else said it skipped. Eagles DVD skipped on both my HD-A1 and my son's HD-XA1. I washed it (despite looking spotless) and the problem went away so it was the disks in those two cases.
With MI 3 I got a lip synch problem in the beginning. I restarted the scene using the chapter menu and the problem went away and never returned. It didn't occur at all on my son's machine when he played the same disk therefore it must have been my machine so the answer then is:
ONCE.
I am using formware 1.4 which came with it and also came with my son's player. Both of us were smart enough to leave well enough alone and have both been happy campers.
John
TrevorS
01-17-07, 10:41 PM
I've an HDV5000 that has only evinced two problems.
1) Kept momentarily pausing at the beginning of Serenity, but would then proceed OK without intervention. Turned out the disc required cleaning, after which the problem ceased.
2) It once locked up when I was trying to quickly bounce around during playback. Had to perform a hard boot. Solution was to take my time with the remote -- no recurrance.
The player is running 1.0 and I've only actually watched 7 HD-DVD's to date, but it's been very reliable. I play far more SD DVD than HD, though I still have 11 HD-DVD titles waiting to be opened :). Bought the player in July. (No skips or drop outs.)
Some three months after upgrading to the version 2.0 firmware, I have been experiencing periodic skipping which is very annoying. Prior to this upgrade, I've had no problems with my HDA1. BTW, all my discs are in perfect condition. King Kong skips the most!
Seldom enough that it's basically a non-issue for me.
I'm running the A1 with FW2.0.
I never have skipping on store bought disc or clean netflix rentals. However, I got a few of the HD Sopranos discs that were scratched all to hell. Sure enough, each disc skipped several times, including locking up the player. The spots were all repeatable.
I don't really blame the A1 all that much. I'm sure drives will improve over time. The severity of the disc damage makes me more angry at disc carelessness than it does at the Toshiba.
lazerfan
01-19-07, 06:40 AM
Some three months after upgrading to the version 2.0 firmware, I have been experiencing periodic skipping which is very annoying. Prior to this upgrade, I've had no problems with my HDA1. BTW, all my discs are in perfect condition. King Kong skips the most!
I finally did my 2.0 upgrade just a couple of days ago. Previously, it had played the last 10 HD DVD's perfectly with no glitches.(before this stretch,maybe one glitch every 3 films.)
Well, King Kong was a disaster. At least 7 skips during the first hour, and the player stopped by itself at the 1 hour 13 minute mark. But, once I hit play again and chapter searched to that point to continue, it was flawless to the end.
My player wouldn't play Lady in the Water at 1.2, but played it perfectly with 2.0. Also watched V for Vendetta, and like before, it did play perfectly.
So, I'm hoping I'm one of the lucky ones and that I only have trouble with King Kong!
khwiggins2
01-19-07, 09:26 AM
I haven't had trouble with any of my 52 hd-dvd movies, using hd-a1 firmware 2.0.
DaveKennett
01-19-07, 11:08 AM
None! Before or after FW2.0.
Dave
phansson
01-19-07, 11:20 AM
On my HD-D1 I have had skipping problems (audio sync) on every disc from the day I purchased it. After thinking that firmware upgrades would fix it, which they did not, I finally sent my unit back to Toshiba last week for repair. It was sent back to me with a new mother board and HD DVD drive and my skipping problems have been solved.
If any of you have this problem I would suggest sending it back to Toshiba for repair.
Very rarely I've gone 20 HDDVds so far and only had a small pause last night, but it wanst during any dialog so I didn't care.
Since my last reboot 20 discs ago I've only used the player for HD-DVD playback. No DVDs or CDs (as I have a samsung upconverting player for DVDs, a 5 cd changer and MP3 player for that)
So I don't know if that's it or if I just have a good player...
Oddly enough my samsung 841 DVD players been having more issues. The digital audio over both optcail and coxial cut out every once in awhile any were from 1-5 per movie. Although it only breif second. So I think illget a new one as the old one uses DVI and forces me to us the AV in1 for audio on the TV. Which means I have to sacrifice that input. But so far my ampifer does all the switching...
Up tonight is clerks II HD-DVD or if I'm lucky like a few pepole here ill get my 3 free HDDVDs. At which point its dukes of hazzard....
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