Just ordered the RCA HDV5000 HD DVD Player and then.......

The RCA is exactly the same as the Toasiba. You can use the Toshiba firmware update but you will loose the RCA logo at boot.

You don't lose the RCA logo with the Toshiba firmware anymore.

Eric

i'm a proud owner of the RCA HDV5000. i bought it about a month ago and i havent had any problems at all. no skips or hiccups of any kind. although its not the prettiest of the hd-dvd players available, its a solid performer and it does what it should do, play hd-dvd's with awesome picture quality and stellar audio. holds great value for what your paying for.

I have the rca and a very bad experience the first go around. I did the update via the network, took like 45 min, rebooted itself, and never worked after that again. Just a WELCOME frozen display, thats it. I returned it for another and now my motto is, if its not broke - dont fix it!

ps. to make things worse, I called rca and explained. The guy says "I'll send you the dvd firmware upgrade". I told him it was not functioning at all, cant open the tray, nothing. So how do I do the upgrade? He was confused at that point. So much for cs.

You can do a search of RCA support / customer service and find that it is non-existent. I read a post about a month ago where a guy called the marketing department supervisor and explained his frustrations with Cust. Support and they replaced the unit at no cost.
Mine is working fine except the HDMI-DVI colorspace / black crush issue after firmware 2.0, so I hope my unit continues to do ok.
Good Luck

Perhaps YOURS isn't the prettiest HD DVD player around, but mine is EASILY that . I'm still running version 1.0 and my HDV5000 gives me no problems at all.

I have had the RCA for over 5 months now and it has never given me any problems. I'm also still running at 1.0 !! King Kong won't play for me but one out of 30 discs is not bad...I don't want to upgrade just for one movie.....like somebody said if it is not broke don't fix it!

If King Kong won't play, I guess that's technically "broke"

Ok not really, but I'm sure the vast majority of movies will play perfectly fine.

Talking about firmware up-dates, I just received my Toshiba hd xa1 do all of the units need upgrading? Its still in the box, if it does need it is it hard to do? Im not a computer wiz!!thanks

Hi all. I just got a RCA HDV5000 and updated it to firmware 2.0. I have two questions if someone could be so kind to answer.

1. When I go to the audio configure menu and use the test tone feature, the surround channel test tones come out the front channels, and there is no sub woofer tone. I am using spdif out, set to bitstream. My speaker settings are 5.1, all large, with the proper distance set. Movies seem to have full 5.1 with rear channel sound. My receiver is set to auto detect the stream, and plays movies in dd or dts no problem. Is this a common issue?

2. I have the movie Constatine. It locks up in the same area every time. Usually the scene when they are driving and talking to a 3rd party about hells bible, incase any one else has seen this. The disc is pristine. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!

Says a lot about being happy with what you have. Every change I have ever made to my system had some trade offs. I think you will be happy with the RCA player myself.

This is no reflection on RCA, but I wouldn't mind having two -- one to use, and one to test firmware updates on (DEFINITELY a reflection on Toshiba ).

Just played The Bourne Supremacy . Two lock ups and audio sounded underwater at times..... Typical?

I have the RCA and I think it's a better value than the A1. It's basically the same as the A1 except that the RCA also has a RS232 port, like the XA1. I've updated the firmware twice now using the internet connection and using RCA firmware. I was a little disappointed that 2.0 for the RCA was available a month or more after it was released for the Toshiba, but at least I finally got it. I have about 40 HD DVDs and I've only had a small glitch once. The Bourne Supremacy and King Kong both play without any problems.

A follow up. It turns out my audio problem was caused by a Sony receiver with first generation DD/DTS software. (STR-333ES ) I upgraded to a new 1000 and problem solved.....

Congrats on the fix -- hope you enjoy the player, I do !

TVA(forum sponsor) has a stellar deal on the Toshiba. $385 I think is an awesome deal.

I'm resurrecting this thread because I just bought both an A2 and the RCA HDV5000 and I intend to put both of them through some tests for a while before deciding which one to keep.

It's my understanding that firmware 1.0 on the RCA was/is causing 1080p discs to display an error code and they won't play at all. I had this happen last night while trying to view AEONFLUX and KING KONG. Neither would play. The only other HD DVD disc I tried was TROY and it played fine. Reading the back of the TROY disc I see that it's 1080p so I don't know why the other two wouldn't play. I only used HDMI up to that point.

I've now updated the firmware on the RCA to 2.0 and I haven't had a chance to try the two discs that wouldn't play over HDMI yet but I did successfully view some scenes from AEONFLUX over component at 1080i without a problem.

Has anyone else heard of this problem with older firmware having issues with 1080p discs?

I've also noticed that when changing inputs on my Monoprice 5 x 1 HDMI switcher, the HDMI signal from the RCA unit registers a signal to my Optoma H78 projector immediately. The A2 is another story. The A2 takes a FULL TWO MINUTES to do the HDCP handshake and this happens routinely whenever I switch away from the A2 input and then come back or when I first turn the A2 on. Same thing.

At least I eventually do get a rock solid picture so if the A2 is the one which I decide to keep I'll just live with the two minute wait because I typically turn on the HD DVD player first and then set up my pull down screen and masking etc... By the time I'm ready to watch the movie the A2 has been waiting for me.

But I've got to say that I have been pleasantly shocked by the performance of this RCA player. I thought that because of the name brand that I'd purchased a piece of junk but since it's essentially a Toshiba with some cosmetic changes, I feel more confident in it's ability to perform.

I have surprisingly noticed that the image coming from the RCA player seems to be better than the A2. I don't understand this but the blacks seem blacker, the darker scenes seem to have more color and shadow detail to them. The flesh tones are absolutely magnificent! Contrast is terrific as well. This is all straight out of the box without changing any of my settings!?!?

The A2 on the other hand is indeed capable of a fine image and I have achieved that after a LOT of calibration, but it still doesn't compare to this first generation player.

Now admittedly, I've only just begun to compare the two as I just bought the RCA unit yesterday and exchanged the A2 on Thursday for a more up to date one with the newer 1.2 firmware. But I'm starting to wonder if the RCA doesn't throw me any major curves, if it might be the one to keep? I guess only I can decide that and time will tell but I was wondering if anyone else has compared the two units and come to similar conclusions.

I like them both by the way. I just want to keep the best one. They both cost me the same amount of money so that isn't a factor.

Any sage advice?

Wayne

I bought the RCA, used the Toshiba FW (2.0) and havent had any problems. Like others have said, it is really an HD-A1 but with an RCA log instead.

There is an issue with the A1/RCA called "black crush". It happened during one of the FW updates. The blacks are a little too black, leaving some of the more subtle detail lost in dark scenes. It is unknown when/if Toshiba will offer a new patch to correct this. I dont think the A2 has this issue, but Im sure someone will correct me if it does.

If you plan on using the 5.1 analog outs to get TrueHD, keep the RCA. If you are going to use HDMI, the A2 or optical is a good player too. And load times are much quicker.

Thanks Jerry. I now have the black crush issue because I updated the firmware to 2.0.

Wayne