Tosh HD-XA2 1080p HD DVD - First End User Reports!: USERS ONLY PLEASE! - Page 151

Any source for the files to make this region free? I need to play some Japanese discs and can't find the region free hacks anymore.

Brian:
If it only happens sporadically, I would suspect something like fingerprints on the laser-side of the DVD. The disc needs cleaning. But you say it did not repeat when you rewound and played again. In that case I would suspect an HDMI problem (if you are hooked up using HDMI). And that would require a new HDMI cable (get them from Monoprice - they are excellent and inexpensive), or a technician may have to replace the HDMI plug in either the TV, receiver, or your Blu-Ray player. Perhaps others may have more (and better insight on this).

fooled me

These XA2's ALL DO THAT. So far, I've noticed this happen on DVD's only, I think.

I've actually owned quite a few of these XA2's, and they all did the video blackout thing every once in a great while. It happened on 2 different HDTV's, using HDMI, and again, I think just with DVD's.

The same thing happened on mine last night while I was watching "Shooter" (HD DVD). A momentary video dropout just like a layer change with some DVDs. I rewound past the dropout and ran it again and things were fine. First time it's done that.

Is the loader/drive the same for all second generation HD DVD players? In other words is the loader/drive the same in the A2/A20/XA2? I was told the drive was the same in the A2 and XA2. I was wondering if that was also true with the A20.

All second generation players (A2, D2, XA2 and A20) have the same HD DVD drive. It's a Toshiba SD-E802A.

All third generation players (A3, D3, A30 and A35) have another drive. That's a Toshiba DAV-RB722.

Venturer 7000 (which is an A3 clone) also has Toshiba DAV-RB722.

The Xbox 360 HD DVD AddOn drive is Toshiba SD-S802A (notice the difference from the second gen SD-E802A drive).

where can i download 4.0 or newer firmware for XE1? i did the change from xa2 to xe1 pal change but its on 2.5 i want to upgrade 4.0 but cant find the file anywhere

thanks

http://cid-6948f2460bdd190c.office.l...DXE1%5E_TE.iso

HI
IM an lgbh200 owner and have just obtained a toshiba ep30 hd dvd player as back up to my lg is there any known problems with this machine

Don't know if there is anyone left on this thread but will post my observations of the HD-XA2.
My main deck is an Oppo 93 for blu-ray and 3D, however I bought the XA2 for viewing SD DVD's. I have tried alot of players for upconverting regular DVD's and nothing comes close to the XA2.....still.
My Oppo 93 doesn't come close on stardard DVD's.
I will hang onto my XA2 until there are no more SD DVD's.

Actually a lot of displays and AVRs come close now so you don't need either one.

I think you want a different thread.

Mine has gone nuts! I can't access the setup menu and it doesnt respond to most commands. I can't find the manual. Does anyone know how to reset the microprocessor? I wanted to set it to 1080p because I finally got a new tv. I love this machine, especially for it's upconversion. Maybe it's worth getting it repaired. If anyone has any resetting suggestions, I'd appreciate it. I've already tried unplugging it for a while...

Pressing ON/STANDBY for 10 seconds forces the player to turn off. I think that does the reset.

Here is the pdf for manual

http://a248.e.akamai.net/pix.crutchf...2/052hdxa2.pdf

That doesn;t work, but I really appreciate the pdf! Thanks!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1#post20836201

Thank you both! What actually worked for some reason was the firmware update on a cd-r. Now, my beloved Xa2 is back in business and I'm finally able to see HD dvd's in 1080p with my new TV! And I can't wait to compare the Reon upscaling to the ABT chipset in my AVR!

The look and sound of still useful!

Has anyone taken the time to compare the up-scaling of the XA-2 to the scaling in the iScan Duo?

I am still running a 720p projector so it may not be a big difference for me one way or the other... just curious if anyone has done any comparo

I compared it a while ago to my vp30, back when I had a 720tv that seemed to look best when fed 1080i. I recall thinking it was very close, but I paid about $1800 for the vp30 and about $300 or $400 for the XA2 when the price dropped.

Maybe I'll hook up the vp30 again to my 1080p set. My new avp uses an ABT chip, as well, so I want to compare them.

I had felt the xa2 was superior to the scaling by Faroudja in my denon 3910, oppo and Sony upscaling players I was using at the time. And those are good machines.

I have an Oppo BDP-83, Oppo BDP-95, and an HD-XA2. (and a PS3).

For playing DVDs - I drop the DVD into whatever machine is already on or the easiest to reach at the moment....

Ditto for Blu-rays. Expect when they refuse to play in an Oppo - so then the PS3 is the only choice. (You have to have a PS3 to fall back on for those times when a newly released Blu-ray won't play on your Oppo players...).

Technically, the Oppo-83 is supposed to be the superior DVD player. Oppo focused more on Blu-ray (and on audio) than on DVD for the 93/95. So if you *really* want the best DVD player ("best" meaning - passes all the DVD/up-conversion tests AND handles all the strange cases, including really weird frame-cadences only found on bizarre Animes - at least I think that's what Oppo said...) - then you want an Oppo-83. (And nope - you can't have mine. I want to keep it 'cause it's the best...)

I've got a question about the Picture menu (not the one in the Setup menu but the one accessed by the Picture remote button). I hadn't tried it before now (very late to the party I guess), and when I opened it up, all the settings for the 3 slots were OFF or 0. After using various settings mentioned on the boards, I don't notice any significant difference in the picture quality on an SD DVD.

I don't notice really any difference at all when the movie is playing. If I pause the movie and scrutinize a frame by repeatedly going back and forth between a slot with everything off and a slot with the adjustments enabled, I can see the tiniest bit of difference, so I can't claim they're literally not working. But it simply isn't nearly as noticeable as what I've read some people say. I wonder if I have other settings wrong somewhere else.

In the player's Setup->Picture menu, I have enhanced black on, RGB output range enhanced, picture mode auto, resolution setting up to 1080p/24hz, framerate 1080p/24hz . I'm connected to the TV via HDMI cable. I'm on v4.0 firmware, if that would matter. TV is set to Dot by Dot and shows input as 1080p 24hz. Didn't know if any of those settings might be a problem when watching a SD DVD.

The picture looks quite satisfactory to me with these settings, it's just that I didn't know if the extra menu was supposed to be the main factor in the upconversion. I guess my main question is, is the upconversion already happening even without using this Picture menu? Sorry if that's a dumb question, but I am just not very savvy with this stuff. I've been watching all my SD DVDs on this player since I got it some time ago, so maybe my eyes are just adjusted to it if it's already doing something to the picture, and these extra Picture tweaks are supposed to be like icing on the cake.

Maybe my eyes just aren't very discerning or some DVDs work better than others with this menu. Since excellent SD upconversion is supposed to be one of this player's hallmarks, I wanted to double-check I'm not doing something wrong and missing out on it.

Thanks in advance.

The "Picture" settings are additional places to tweak the video signal. As long as you have your resolutions settings in the "SET UP" menu at anything over 480i, then the SD DVDs are getting up converted. That said, I have noticed sometimes it's best to have the Set Up settings : RGB Output Range = Standard, Picture Mode = Auto, Resolution = 1080i, and Frame Rate = Auto. The reason I say this is that sometimes the DVD may be an older letter boxed or other format and 1080i or even 720p works better. . . at least with my TV. If you set the resolution to 1080, many TVs will not allow full screen with a 4:3 movie format.

The Picture button should give you noticable differences especially in the Brithness and Contrast values. On two TVs I have (Mitusbishi LT-46231 and LG 42LD550), these settings have marked influence on brightness and contrast and color if they are turned up to level 7. I have 1, 2 & 3 with slightly higher values as I go from 1 to 3 and in 3 I also have mosquito and Random noise turned ON. I have done this since I sometimes watch older or foreign DVDs that have poorer video quality. Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot for the reply. I definitely see the difference like you said when I increase the brightness and contrast values that high. I guess I had been focusing too much on the bottom settings with the ON/OFF toggle.

But given your reply it seems these are really additional tweaks on top of the upconversion which is controlled in the core menu, which I'm happy to know. I'll test out 720p and 1080i and see if it works even better than what I have.

Thanks again!

This might help. I copied it from a thread on here somewhere:

Using the "Picture" button on the remote (top left, 3rd button down) a box comes up on the screen during playback. You have 3 settings that can be customized.

I used various setup discs to calibrate and found that turning contrast down to -4 outputted a contrast level that provides the greates detail without being overlybright and washing out detail. If you leave it at "0" then turning contrast down on the monitor will not restore the lost detail. You can turn it up at the monitor a couple of notches to restore brightness without losing detail.

Set brightness to 0 or no more than +1.

Edge Enhancement if turned on affects BOTH HD and SD playback.
The +2 setting makes an amazing difference on SD playback bringing out more sharpness and detail but on certain discs seems to add some graininess. Movies that have an extra clean transfer can look remarkable at the +2 setting, otherwise +1 is a good compromise, providing more detail but without adding grain.
On HD playback it also gives the picture more detail but also adds some grain. I've begun using the +1 setting as a default where some extra sharpness and detail are added but without adding graininess.

Noise Reduction (If turned on ONLY works on SD playback):
1) Mosquito NR - Use it. It removes the pinpoint fuzziness in SD picture giving a real smoothness to the picture.
2) Block NR - Smooths out the blocky looking artifacts from compression BUT can create an odd looking shifting artifact (hard to describe) on smaller objects in the picture. Once noticed, I found it to be quite annoying so I leave this one off.
3) Random NR) Clears up random noise they say. I leave it on and don't notice a difference one way or another.

Since there are 3 settings you can customize you can set them differently for different circumstances and easily cycle through them to pick the best one for the current situation. This player is really amazing.

The above suggestions are based on the necessity of having your monitor setup correctly; contrast, color, brightness, sharpness, etc. If your monitor is not setup right then adjustments on your player are pretty much meaningless.
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Btw..you don't have to pause...you can change the settings on the fly and see the effects in realtime. I use these settings for problem dvd's (bad transfer)

EE- 2
Mosquito NR- on
Block NR- off (I don't like the effect)
Random NR- on

Everything else at default....makes a marginally bad dvd watchable on a HDTV

My tray is not opening without me helping it out. I think it's getting old. However it plays discs perfectly still.

Is anybody else having this problem?

~d

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A couple of weeks ago I had a problem disc ( disc 3 from Everwood- final season ) and got MSG 6. I just got the tray open and removed the disc,turned the XA2 off. Now I get no picture ,no nothing from the HDMI. I have switched cables - still didn't work.

I reset the XA2 by unplugging it for 30 seconds,also by pushing display then 701-display and finally by holding the power button for 30 seconds and still no output from the HDMI.

I get a picture by hooking up the component video cables ( so the XA2 isn't dead).

Any suggestions ?

Perhaps it reset itself to use component instead of HDMI? Did you go through the setup to see if output options changed?

can i open up the xa2 and connect the hddvd drive to rip movies to my htpc? Does it have sata connection?