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Tosh HD-XA2 1080p HD DVD - First End User Reports!: USERS ONLY PLEASE! - Page 147

post #4381 of 4603
9/27/09 at 7:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FroDaddy View Post

Toshiba was very quick! I received the replacement player yesterday, and I am very excited because I think it is a brand new HD-XA2! All of the original packing was inside the box, the manufacturing date is October 2007, and firmware 2.2 was loaded.

So I updated the firmware to 4.0, configured the player, and then I played 3 hours of CDs and 8 hours of DVDs with no problems. Since my PS3 is only for Blu-Ray, I'm thrilled to have a fully functioning XA2 for CD/DVDs! This is a GREAT player

Great to hear. I wish you'd stayed at firmware 2.2 for a wee bit, then upgraded to 3.0 (not 4.0) for a time before finally going to 4.0. Would have been an interesting comparative exercise and provided opportunity to see if you got any of the 4.0 bugs.

Cool on 3 hours of CDs and 8 hours of DVDs . . . but don't forget to try some HD DVDs to make sure the/any native 1080 content HDMI/HDCP issues are indeed resolved!
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post #4382 of 4603
9/28/09 at 4:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowghost View Post

Nice ending. The XA2 is an awesome unit, and still holds a candle to the latest BD players.



Don't you mean the latest BD players finally caught up to the XA2?
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post #4383 of 4603
9/28/09 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ti-triodes View Post

Don't you mean the latest BD players finally caught up to the XA2?

I'm not sure any of them at the same pricepoint ($500) can upconvert like the XA2 can? I hunted for one but couldn't find one; I'm skeptical about the Oppo. I owned one a few years ago and didn't like the quality nor upconversion
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post #4384 of 4603
9/28/09 at 6:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ti-triodes View Post

Don't you mean the latest BD players finally caught up to the XA2?

Oooh, snap!

Fro, the reviews of the BDP-83 are ebullient, including/especially its upconversion capabilities.
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post #4385 of 4603
9/28/09 at 7:14pm
FroDaddy, the BDP-83 is the crem_de_la_crem of Blu-ray players under $1000.
Top notch BR playback, SACD/DVDA, plus a plethora of user made media compatibility via USB.
Dvd scaling and deinterlacing is top notch, even a notch above the XA2's capabilities.

I have two players in my rack. The XA2, and the BDP-83.
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post #4386 of 4603
9/28/09 at 7:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smarty-pants View Post

FroDaddy, the BDP-83 is the crem_de_la_crem of Blu-ray players under $1000.
Top notch BR playback, SACD/DVDA, plus a plethora of user made media compatibility via USB.
Dvd scaling and deinterlacing is top notch, even a notch above the XA2's capabilities.

I have two players in my rack. The XA2, and the BDP-83.

So do I, but I'm not 100% sure the BDP-83 is better for upscale. However, going forward the BDP-83 is the one to get.
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post #4387 of 4603
9/28/09 at 8:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowghost View Post

So do I, but I'm not 100% sure the BDP-83 is better for upscale. However, going forward the BDP-83 is the one to get.

I am.
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post #4388 of 4603
9/28/09 at 9:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smarty-pants View Post

I am.

Good for you.

But the only reason I upscale with the Oppo is to save the XA2 for HDs since the Oppo and its ilk are still in production.

On the occasions I do run an SD on the XA2 it is apparent the Silicon Optix Reon chip really is on par with the Anchor Bay 2010.
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post #4389 of 4603
9/28/09 at 9:23pm
In the same ballpark snowghost, yes, they are very close.
Neither is perfect, but I prefer the attributes of the ABT.
Most notably the natural skin tones and more film_like image.
It's more noticeable on a large projection system, as opposed to a television set.
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post #4390 of 4603
9/29/09 at 3:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smarty-pants View Post

In the same ballpark snowghost, yes, they are very close.
Neither is perfect, but I prefer the attributes of the ABT.
Most notably the natural skin tones and more film_like image.
It's more noticeable on a large projection system, as opposed to a television set.

Smarty-pants, I don't want to turn this into an Oppo thread, but I *really* don't want to wade through the actual 7000 page Oppo thread. I do have one question.

Does the BDP-83 have the same sync problems with DVD-R/+R playback that all the other Oppo's have?

Thanks
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post #4391 of 4603
9/29/09 at 4:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ti-triodes View Post

Smarty-pants, I don't want to turn this into an Oppo thread, but I *really* don't want to wade through the actual 7000 page Oppo thread. I do have one question.

We DO have a search function that could shorten that "wade." That said, pleas ask your question there. This thread is for the XA2.

Thanks.
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post #4392 of 4603
11/8/09 at 2:18am
Hi,

I am the owner of a Toshiba HD EX1.

I have a problem when I insert the HD-DVD Combo Matrix, the screen displays a message "Error reading 408bc509 code".
The HD-DVD disc is brand new and has no fingerprints.

I have the latest firmware update 4.0

Any solution?

Thank you,
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post #4393 of 4603
11/8/09 at 8:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bman_1 View Post

Hi,

I am the owner of a Toshiba HD EX1.

I have a problem when I insert the HD-DVD Combo Matrix, the screen displays a message "Error reading 408bc509 code".
The HD-DVD disc is brand new and has no fingerprints.

I have the latest firmware update 4.0

Any solution?

Thank you,

Sounds like a disc error more than the player, but you might try initializing the Toshiba and see if that takes care of it.
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post #4394 of 4603
11/11/09 at 7:44pm
Finally snagged an XA2 off of Ebay. This will be my 3rd HD DVD player. I'm curious to see how it compares to my HD-A1 and A35. Honestly, I'm quite excited and can't wait for it to arrive since I couldn't afford these players when they were retailing for $999.
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post #4395 of 4603
11/17/09 at 10:32pm
So I received my XA2 today. However I have a small problem with the XA2 that I'm hoping someone may have experience with here on AVS. I'll start by explaining the basic setup - The XA2 outputs via HDMI to my Denon AVR989 receiver and the receiver then outputs to my TV.

The Denon is capable of decoding both DTS-MA/HD & Dolby Digital Plus/True HD audio formats. So in the audio setup menu of the XA2 I set the "Digital Out HDMI" to "Auto", which according to the manual, the receiver will then decode the audio. While I believe this is happening here is what the receiver tells me "Multi Channel In". Weird. The last time I've seen that message is when I connected via analog. So I plugged in my other players - LG BD390 & HD-A35. They seem to work correctly. Both pass the audio to my receiver via HDMI and my receiver decodes the audio correctly, displaying the appropriate codec and the nice blue light on my receiver comes on. Not so with the XA2. Is this a player/firmware issue?

I tested multiple hd-dvd's with the same result and one DVD - "Dawn of the Dead". Playback of the DVD is the only time the player correctly displayed the audio codec on the receiver, which in that case was "DTS Surround".
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post #4396 of 4603
11/17/09 at 11:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emannikcufesin View Post

So I received my XA2 today. However I have a small problem with the XA2 that I'm hoping someone may have experience with here on AVS. I'll start by explaining the basic setup - The XA2 outputs via HDMI to my Denon AVR989 receiver and the receiver then outputs to my TV.

The Denon is capable of decoding both DTS-MA/HD & Dolby Digital Plus/True HD audio formats. So in the audio setup menu of the XA2 I set the "Digital Out HDMI" to "Auto", which according to the manual, the receiver will then decode the audio. While I believe this is happening here is what the receiver tells me "Multi Channel In". Weird. The last time I've seen that message is when I connected via analog. So I plugged in my other players - LG BD390 & HD-A35. They seem to work correctly. Both pass the audio to my receiver via HDMI and my receiver decodes the audio correctly, displaying the appropriate codec and the nice blue light on my receiver comes on. Not so with the XA2. Is this a player/firmware issue?

I tested multiple hd-dvd's with the same result and one DVD - "Dawn of the Dead". Playback of the DVD is the only time the player correctly displayed the audio codec on the receiver, which in that case was "DTS Surround".


Turn "Digital Direct Audio Mode" to ON.
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post #4397 of 4603
11/18/09 at 6:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smarty-pants View Post

Turn "Digital Direct Audio Mode" to ON.

Thank you for that piece of information. However I've scoured my manual and all the XA2 menu settings and for the life of me, I just can't find an option for "Digital Direct Audio Mode". How do I access this? Here is a list of the audio option in the XA2 setup menu:

Digital Out SPDIF - Bitstream/PCM
Digital Out HMDI - Auto/PCM/Downmixed PCM
Dynamic Range Control - Auto/On/Off
Dialog Enhancement - On/Off
Speaker Setting - 2.0/5.1/ Speaker Setup

I'm checking the Denon receiver setup menu now and not finding this option there either.
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post #4398 of 4603
11/18/09 at 6:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emannikcufesin View Post

Thank you for that piece of information. However I've scoured my manual and all the XA2 menu settings and for the life of me, I just can't find an option for "Digital Direct Audio Mode". How do I access this? Here is a list of the audio option in the XA2 setup menu:

Digital Out SPDIF - Bitstream/PCM
Digital Out HMDI - Auto/PCM/Downmixed PCM
Dynamic Range Control - Auto/On/Off
Dialog Enhancement - On/Off
Speaker Setting - 2.0/5.1/ Speaker Setup

Maybe your firmware is old, and it needs to be updated.
If you have it network connected via an ethernet cable, it should be easy to update through the player's menu.
If not, you'll have to go to Toshiba's website, download and burn the fw to a CD-R for updating.
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post #4399 of 4603
11/18/09 at 7:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smarty-pants View Post

Maybe your firmware is old, and it needs to be updated.
If you have it network connected via an ethernet cable, it should be easy to update through the player's menu.
If not, you'll have to go to Toshiba's website, download and burn the fw to a CD-R for updating.

Firmware 4.0 is the latest and overall best.
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post #4400 of 4603
11/19/09 at 4:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowghost View Post

Firmware 4.0 is the latest and overall best.

My 4.0 didn't work so well with my XA2 and Panny plasma. I would get random video blackouts. Went back to 2.7 and so far, so good (knock on wood).
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post #4401 of 4603
11/20/09 at 2:31pm
"Emannikcufesin": It was the first thing I was gonna ask earlier--what firmware are you on?
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post #4402 of 4603
11/21/09 at 6:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emannikcufesin View Post

Thank you for that piece of information. However I've scoured my manual and all the XA2 menu settings and for the life of me, I just can't find an option for "Digital Direct Audio Mode". How do I access this? Here is a list of the audio option in the XA2 setup menu:

Digital Out SPDIF - Bitstream/PCM
Digital Out HMDI - Auto/PCM/Downmixed PCM
Dynamic Range Control - Auto/On/Off
Dialog Enhancement - On/Off
Speaker Setting - 2.0/5.1/ Speaker Setup

I'm checking the Denon receiver setup menu now and not finding this option there either.



For audio from the HDMI you should be set up -

Digital Out SPDIF - Bitstream

Digital Out HMDI - Auto



If you don't have anything but the HDMI connected to your denon , there is no reason for it to say multi channel. Sounds like the problem would be with the Denon.


I would also check the menu of the HD dvds to make sure the audio selected is the lossless and not the DD as default.
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post #4403 of 4603
11/21/09 at 9:36am
2.2 Firmware.
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post #4404 of 4603
11/21/09 at 9:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emannikcufesin View Post

2.2 Firmware.

Wow, at least get up to 2.7.
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post #4405 of 4603
11/21/09 at 9:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowghost View Post

Wow, at least get up to 2.7.

My plan for today was to download 4.0 and retest the unit on the Denon. For the time being I moved the XA2 into the bedroom and have A35 and LG BD390 in the living room since those players aren't having the same issue as the XA2. I do not believe the receiver is the issue.
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post #4406 of 4603
11/21/09 at 10:07am
Per High Def Digest's Josh Zyber's review of the XA2 (which is a terrific resource; scroll down to "Updated Video and Audio News (November 15, 2007)" towards the bottom), the Digital Direct Audio Mode Smarty-pants refers to was added with firmware version 2.7. You won't see that option in Setup until you upgrade to 2.7. Try that and report back.
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post #4407 of 4603
11/22/09 at 8:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by snowghost View Post

Sounds like a disc error more than the player, but you might try initializing the Toshiba and see if that takes care of it.

How can I initialize the Toshiba?

thanks,
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post #4408 of 4603
11/27/09 at 4:03pm
Re ^^: Take (another) look at the Setup menu options. Initialize is I think under General --> Maintenance. Page 63 of the manual has a wee bit more info.
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post #4409 of 4603
12/4/09 at 11:17am
i noticed a strange problem for the first time last night after years of flawless performance. i'm on the latest firmware and bitstreaming audio via hdmi to my onkyo 805. whenever i try a dolby trueHD track, it starts off fine and i get the trueHD indicator on my receiver. however, if i do anything like pause, skip forward or rewind/fast forward, i lose all audio to the receiver. anyone else have anything like this happen? it's happening on multiple discs.
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post #4410 of 4603
12/5/09 at 5:01pm
I was playing CDs today in my XA2 and came across a CD that wouldn't play past track 8. There are slight hairline scratches but nothing out of the ordinary. In my first XA2 I had no problems playing this CD, and the PS3 plays it just fine.

I recall that read problems are the fault of the drive? That an HD-A2 drive could fix the problem?

I'm getting tired of dumping money into this player though
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