Firmware 4.0 available for A-3, A-30, and A-35 - Page 27

Correct (as the other poster mentioned)...The A30 can't bitstream the advanced codecs for external processing. The player can only decode them internally. That's just the way it is.

bdgeary, did you not read what I wrote in the post above your last entry?

ok got it. thanks

Interesting and encouraging that therre is still posts to this thread, I have been very happy with my A20 and even though I now have a BD player, I still scoop up deals on HD-DVD discs.

Heck if I can get a title for less then the rental cost why not!

Still on the fence with firmware, I may update to version 4.0, I know that the version I am at (2.0 I think) has so issues with 1080P playback, if I check the image with a test pattern is actully shows that the signal is being recognized as a 540P signal not 1080P at all!?

I wonder if v4.0 addresses this...

I have to say v4.0 has been a godsend for me (A35) and was more than worth updating to. Operationally speaking, I did notice initially that SD upconversion wasn't as good as on some of the prior versions. After a lot of experimentation, I found that the 1080p Frame Rate setting (not to be confused with the Picture Mode setting) needed to be at Auto. Deinterlacing of SD DVD and 1080i HD DVD improved dramatically on my setup when I did that (bringing performance back to its excellent v1.3 levels, the last version that actually performed flawlessly all the way around), so I leave it there as default and will change it to 1080p/24Hz when playing the appropriate material.

The Frame Rate feature (new to v4.0) was designed to be used with future HD DVDs which were to have been embedded with coding that would have automatically put the player in 1080p/24Hz mode when presented with 24fps material. Alas, the format war ended and the feature became dead on arrival. With Frame Rate deactivated, upconversion was noticably inferior to that of v2.7 (which had its own problems, to be sure). v2.0 had issues as well, though I don't recall 1080p downconversion to 540p as being one of them (particularly if you're referring to the HDMI output).

Clearly other opinions differ, but my recommendation would be to do the update, particularly if you're still buying HD DVDs.

Re:
I guess that I could have been clearer, I have a test disc that was left behind by the ISF calibrator that did my BenQ W9000, it has a couple of images that have fields of 1 pixel wide black and white (essentially striped), instead of seeing a fine black/white image all you see is black, no white at all. When displaying the 2 pixel wide black and white image you can see the pattern correctly... it seem that if the video flag is set then there is a problem, at film frame rates I think that all is OK...

Update, I upgraded to v4.0 and the observation still stands, no change in the vertical resolution images of 1 black/1 white.

Also, not that I use/need the clock feature, but I can change the time zone but not the date and time, what did I miss?

I tried to update my HD-A30 firmware to 4.0, but the update failed during the process and just had a string of numbers across the display. After over an hour I finally had to unplug the power cord. Now it comes up and temporarily gives a Welcome display then goes to an error code 2007c010 and I can't get the tray to open so I can get the upgrade disc out. Is the player bricked or is there something I can do?

Well, usually when they're bricked you can't get past the Welcome screen. Have you tried pressing the tray open button to power it up? It might eject the disc before going into the error message. If not, with it powered off, if you pull down the tray cover there should be a small hole in the tray that with a unfolded paper clip you can press a button inside that will release the tray & remove the disc. Hopefully that error message means bad data on the disc, and with it removed it will power up normally.

So with A30 (or A20) for that matter, what is the resultant audio stream with the player set to PCM when True HD and DTS MS are involved?

And, with the A35 and bitstreamed codecs, doesn't the AVR have to be able to read/decode these for proper playback?

The reason I ask is I have an older AVR (Denon 3805) and was looking to add a Toshiba A30 to my collection of equipment, moving the A20 upstairs out of the theater and would like to what to expect from the A30 and the latest codecs... or do I nead an A35?

I have tried powering it up with the tray open/close button and that doesn't work. After it gives the error code 2007c010 if I push the tray open/close button it gives a message that it can't play the disc to check the disc. If I press the tray open/close button again it says opening, but never opens the tray. I can get to the setup screen and it looks like if a version was available online I could update the firmware that way, but it says it can't connect to the server. Has Toshiba taken the online updates down? In the update screen it now says 1.0/? . I looked for the little pin hole to manually open the tray, but didn't see it. I'll look again when I get home from work tomorrow.

I was able to get the disc out and get the player to download the firmware update via the internet. It is now on step 4 of 4 of the update process. Hopefully this will get me back up and running again.

No luck. I am now showing 4.0/ . No value to the right of the / . I believe someone said the value to the right of the / is the firmware version of the drive. It appears that my main board firmware is fine, but the firmware for the drive is toast. The error code after the welcome screen has also now changed to 200bc600. Anyone have a unit that failed the update farther into the update process that might have a good drive but toasted main board firmware? It seems like all I need to do is replace the drive if I can find one. The model number for the drive is DAV-RB722. I believe this same drive is used in several different units, so a drive from an A3 or A35 may work for me. I don't know if the older A1s, A2s, A20s or XA2s used the same drive or not. I'm thinking the drive portion of the update was during the step 1/4 stage so if your update got past that before failing, your drive may be good and help me get back up and running.

Ebay. Lots of 'damaged' HD DVD players for sale.

I've been looking on Ebay since this happened and have a couple prospects, but thought I'd ask if anyone on the forum had a working DAV-RB722. I thought it might be a little less risky getting one from someone here than the ebay route. I plan to call Toshiba support to see if I can get a drive from them as well. One way or another, hopefully I can get a working drive to put back in this unit and get it functional again.

Via HDMI - a PCM stream with the full resolution of TrueHD, and a PCM stream of the DTS "core" only, at 1500kbps. No HD DVD player can decode the full DTS-HD Master Audio, but then only Pan's Labyrinth and a few concert HD DVDs released in the US used DTS MA, although several European HD DVDs used it.


Correct - the receiver must have HDMI 1.3a or higher, and be able to decode those codecs.


Ah, that receiver doesn't have HDMI, so you would be using digital optical? Digital optical doesn't have the bandwidth to support more than 2 channel stereo PCM. So your best bet is to go with an A35. It has 5.1 analog output, which can handle the full PCM stream the same as HDMI.

Well, that's strange the FW update didn't the drive as well, yes, the value to the right is the FW version of the drive. The flash memory on the drive must have become corrupted. Yes, that DAV-RB722 drive was used on all 3rd gen. players, A3/A30/A35, but a different Toshiba made drive was used on the 2nd gen. players and an NEC drive was used on 1st gen. players, so the drives are not interchangeable. eBay is your best bet, look for listings that say "stuck on Welcome screen" - the player was most likely bricked during a FW update, but the drive, power supply & fan are most likely good.

Just a minor correction in terminology... Actually SPDIF (optical/coax) does have the bandwidth to handle high-resolution multi-channel audio. It happens to be a common misconception that it doesn't. The manufacturers (at the behest of the content providers) deliberately excluded SPDIF from the HDM specs (ostensibly for piracy concerns; hence the advent of HDMI, the demon we're all now stuck with). That being said, the SPDIF connection is indeed limited to 2-channel PCM and multi-channel legacy DD/DTS.

Thanks for jumping in on this one, your statement summarizes the information that I thought to be true as well.

I use SP/DIF for the audio tracks from my HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and HTPC.

So going with this for the moment, I of course see(hear) legacy DD/DTS but are there cases where "only" a DTS-HD Master Audio or DD TrueHD audio on a HD-DVD to make this a concern?

I didn't check my entire collection, but the prevalent audio stream on the HD-DVD movies I have is Dolby Digital Plus 5.1

Thanks, and yes you're quite right. I goota get out of the habit saying "doesn't have the bandwidth" and just leave it at "is limited to".


Yes, DD+ is the most common audio codec used on HD DVD. Legacy DTS (DTS 'core') can always be extracted from DTS-HD HR/MA. Legacy DD can't be extracted from TrueHD, but because of that studios always include a DD track on discs with TrueHD audio. But with that nice a receiver, I think you're missing out not enjoying TrueHD with a 5.1 analog connection on the A35. I enjoyed TrueHD audio for year and half with my 1st gen. XA1 and my old receiver, until I upgraded to an Onkyo 605 with HDMI and TrueHD/DTS MA decoding.

Well in my efforts to find a broken 3rd generation player that I could salvage a working drive from, I found and purchased a working A35 locally on Craigs list for $50. So I'm still looking for a drive to fix my A30 with, but I have the A35 to watch my movies on. If I can get the A30 fixed, I'll keep it as a backup player.

Sweet deal. I bought a XA2 for $50 on CL once.

Does anyone know if the drive used in the Venturer SHD7000 is the same drive used in the 3rd gen Toshiba players?

Yes.

My preference would be a A35 but I have't had much luck finding then buying it for a reasonable price, Leroy's purchase of an A35 for $50 is where I would like to be!

Rght now there seem to be a bit of a run on these on eBay and the prices are $150 and up, with shipping some pushing over $200 which even for a great machine a bit steep considering it is a dead format...

I just need to keep looking for the right deal.

I think I just got really lucky and the guy hadn't done any research before posting his listing on Craigs list. He was asking more than he will get for his HD-DVDs and yet only asking a 1/3rd of what he could have gotten for the player. I think I checked the listings right after he posted it, otherwise I'm sure someone else would have snatched it up. Now I just need the same luck finding a replacement drive for my A30.

Hi, does anyone have for sale a DAV-RB722 drive?
Thanks,
AS

eBay.

Toshiba tech support was useless. They referred me to their parts distributor who wanted to charge me $240 for a replacement disc drive. Back to trying to find a reasonably priced broken unit on Ebay.

Crikey, for that kind of money you wouldn't even have to buy a broken one to come out way ahead!

I won a D3 on Ebay today. The add said it won't power up, so hopefully the problem is with the power supply and the drive is still good. Wish me luck.

Yeah, from what I've read, Toshiba will exchange the whole player for $115 and they aren't repairing any players that they get returned to them, so I don't know why they are still charging so much for the drives they have left. You'd think they'd be selling them for whatever they can get for them if for no other reason than to just help their customer out for PR purposes.