Tosh HD-XA2 1080p HD DVD - First End User Reports!: USERS ONLY PLEASE! - Page 4

I thought that the PS3 would only output SD DVD's at 480p anyway. I would think that is why Kong looked better to WLM94 on the XA2 vs PS3.

I will do a direct comparison with We Were Soldiers when I get Blu-ray version. I guess you were right about the 480p,sorry!! I sent in the rebate form for 3 free movies from Toshiba with HD-XA2 and 1 of the movies I chose was WE WERE SOLDIERS. The other 2 were Constantine and Seabiscuit.

Hi Alan,

It's great to hear that you've avoided the HDMI to DVI downrezzing problem.

I look forward to hearing more of your observations when you find the time.

Enjoy!

Larry

the XA2 manual says it will output HDMI and component video simultaneously (with some exceptions such as SD DVD)

startup and load times:

I did a quick test of the XA-2 versus the Sony BDP-S1: each was connected to a separate display via HDMI, each was properly setup, and each had its respective HD version of POTO (Phantom of the Opera) as the source disc

First test: loaded POTO into each: turned both players off: then turned both on and hit play at the same time:

Toshiba XA2 started playing the disc 52 seconds
Sony BDP-S1 took 1:07

second test: both players powered on: with drawer open loaded with POTO: hit play:

Toshiba XA2 started playing 28 seconds
Sony BDP-S1 started playing 30 seconds

this is a non scientific test of course: YMMV

when I say 'started playing' is when I first saw the FBI warning

Mark,
Do you still have any DVI displays laying around that you can easily hook up and check BTB and WTW?

larry

hey mark, great info...what stopwatch did you use? did you have one for each? were they synchronized with the atomic clock? j/k

I don't understand the highlighted test...you physically hit the power button followed instantly by the play button? i wouldn't have expected the players to respond to the play button push until after some initial time?

as a matter of fact I used an Atomic Time clock so it was calibrated to NBS standards

Both players took the play command so I don't think that skewed the results

that is not easy for me but let me see what I can do

Thanks Bango I have not had a Lumagen in quite awhile so I would not know about the newer firmwares.

Someone asked about the fast forward on the XA2. I tried it this morning. There seems to be a pause when you first start, then choppy, and a pause when you stop. Not very good. I don't recall trying fast forward with the A2, if I have a chance I'll try later.

When I connect the XA2 directly to a G90 (with a DVI input card from John in France) I can only output at 720P. If I connect to the Lumagen I can output at 1080i and the Lumagen will output 1080P to the G90. The G90 DVI input will accept a 1080P input (it works with the Lumagen) but for some reason the XA2 will not output the 1080P when directly connected.

If it's too much trouble, don't bother. Somebody will do it sooner or later. I'm not poised with my mouse focused over the "buy" button.

larry

where do you pick this Toshiba HD DVD DEMO disc

Mark, can you post your opinion (PQ and AQ) between the two players using POTO?

Ty

Does any of you XA2 owners have a camera.??

Please take a couple of photos of the motherboard, inside the HD-XA2, and let us see them.!!

Thx alot.

IR codes

I think the IR codes are the same as from the XA1

But I will capture the IR codes from the XA2 remote for RTI remote controls using the IR Pro: if anyone wants the codes: PM me with your email address

note these are for RTI remotes only

Would opening the cover void the warranty?

If there is no security seal and you don't chew up the screw heads... no one will know.

Except us AVS'ers.

The HD-XA2 outputs 1080p60 currently. Rumor is that a firmware upgrade may enable 1080p24 in the future.

Mark if you could do this then that would be great to finally know one or the other whether there are BTB & WTW issues with this unit and DVI.

Have you selected Mode 2 on the player's front panel? IIRC, Mode 1 is for S-Video type outputs, but Mode 2 is for HDMI and component. (I'm at work right now and can't check this.) Mode 1 is default out of the box. You will get no picture until you select Mode 2.

If I had to guess, I'd say that these different modes shut off whichever video/audio outputs and functions are not necessary, saving horsepower for the functions that are.

Just received my new xa2 yesterday. will i get better audio quality (Dolby True HD, DolbyDigital) if i input to an avr with hdmi (versus analog)? currently i have a 2 yr. old Yamaha , no hdmi, just 5.1 analog in. also, can anyone recommend a good quality avr w/hdmi input ? is there a model on the market yet which can handle the new version of hdmi (1.3) yet ? if not, would it be worth waiting for? thanks .....Tim

I can display the setup menu but not the picture menu (using the "Picture" button on the remote). Is anybody else having difficulty displaying this menu?

No need, that's the behavior on the HD-A2. Not very good. Too bad.

I have HDMI from XA2 going into the Onkyo 674. No Optical or Coaxial audio cables are being used.

I played a Dolby TrueHD movie and pressing the "display" button on the remote showed me that I was getting "Dolby TrueHD" and the Audio Output was via a "Digital Bitstream"?

I thought that the only way one could get Dolby TrueHD was with the conversion to LPCM? On the receiver screen it showed "MCH PCM" at "48kHz" but the Toshiba was presenting it as "Dolby TrueHD"

The soundtrack also made a high pitched distortion with the movie soundtrack when I set the "Digital Out SPDIF" setting to "PCM" but this distortion went away when I changed that setting back to "Bitstream"

For the "Digital Out HDMI" setting, I just kept it on "Auto" but the other 2 options are "PCM" and "Downmixed PCM".

Another thing I noticed was that I was only receiving "Front Channel Only PCM" when I changed the audio setting but I can't recall what I did to correct this. I'll go mess around again and try to duplicate that and report back.

My main question is, why is the Toshiba showing Dolby TrueHD via a Digital Bitstream when I thought that only Receivers with HDMI 1.3 could actually process a TrueHD Bitstream signal and those aren't out yet?

I can't wait to see this player at the CES show.

I already did and posted pix. There're in this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=782125

BTW-- I think the quality of feeding the 1080p signal directly via HDMI into my HP DLP is BETTER than running the 1080i signal from the XA1 through my Crystallio II video processor and then via HDMI to the HP. My daughter and I thought that the images were sharper on HD DVD's.

Damn! I take it there's no simutaneous output of s-video and HDMI signal then ?

I am liking sending 1080p into the crystalio II then using the C2 to tweak the picture. Same excellent result I get doing that with the Pioneer unit. I feel like I am at the pinnacle of picture Q lately..