xa1--a crapshoot playing hd dvd

Hopefully there will be a firmware update that fixes this problem. If they were able to solve the problems with the HD-A2 then Toshiba should offer us a fix for the A2 and XA2.

I have had my share of audio and video problems with my XA2 (about one in six discs lately) but my HD-A2 has been flawless on every discs so far. One thing I have noticed with the XA1 is if I'm going to have a playback glich it's usually with a combo disc, weird.

With my A2, I've twice had problems where it froze BEFORE IT EVEN BOOTED UP AFTER PUSHING IN THE POWER BUTTON.

I have the exact same experience as the op. Very frustrating. I wonder if a firmware update will help or if the loader is defective.

Just hold down the power button for a few seconds. This does the same thing as pulling the AC cord from the wall.

-Byrd

Does this issue only crop on on rentals?

If your having alot of issues with it, call TOSH. and tell them, and get it fixed.
The sooner the better.

I would be sending that puppy in for repair if this is a constant issue for you. My A1 has never froze with just a ton of use. I do purchase all my media though.

My ole XA1 is nearing its first birthday (Feb. 2006 build date, purchased in early May). The only playback problems I've ever experienced is when the disc had problems. Constantine, a purchase, kept freezing a the same point. I finally inspected the disc (as a purchase, I assumed the disc would be OK). Well, there was some adhesive gunk (hopefully) on the disc. Cleaned it and it played perfectly. A few Netflix rentals needed cleaning to play perfectly. I Netflixed Lake House & it played perfectly.

Are you inspecting HD DVD discs carefully before playing? HD DVD discs have much more data more closely encoded than standard DVD; the discs need to be prefectly clean. Does your player have the latest 2.0 firmware?

HD DVD on the XA1 is anything but a crapshoot for me.

I'm done waiting for a firmware update. I was watching Fearless with my father and brother 2 nights ago when the player decided to start playing at a faster speed. Lets admit it people, the bugs in this palyer make it a POS. I'd love for it to be fixed with a firmware update but I am done waiting. My A1 will be exchanged using my Best Buy replacement plan and hopefully they will replace it with a A2.
Personally, I like the PQ better on HD DVD than Blu Ray (I own both) but the player bugs on the A1 are far worse than the Sammy Blu Ray player.
-Evangelo2

I've never had a freeze yet on my a1, but i find skips are very prone to scratched discs (HD). In terms of dirt/fingerprints, they can be cleaned, but if i see scratches on the disc before i put it in, i only hope for the best. I can imagine netflix discs being scratched to hell.

I routinely play netflix HD-DVDs in my XA1 and have only had issues with "dirty" disks. Even if it looks clean its probably dirty, new disks can be dirty. Since I started to routinely wash the disks with dish soap and water or lense cleaner prior to play I have had no problem even with a minor scratch. NetFlix's Lake house played nicely for me. If your player has difficulty playing cleaned disks, then its defective.

One theory is that the XA1 processor is barely powerful enough and when additional error correction processing is required it quickly get overwhelmed, and play skips or munged, if bad enough the player crashes and locks up. Some have reduced processor load a bit by setting the audio to bit stream, and initializing maintenance, but I don't recall where I read those suggestions, perhaps the XA1 user thread.

the only times my XA1 has frozen was because I was mashing buttons trying to eject a disc, open the tray before it was booted up, or screwing around on the remote trying to do something. I don't get any lockups watching movies without touching something. (netflix included)

I have XA1 and experience the same frequent drop out or freeze up problems. The player has the updated firmware. It is very frustrating to have it freeze than re-boot and find place in movie. I do not use rental HD DVDs and I don't think cleaning is an issue. It is difficult to get to see entire movie wothout either of these glitches. Drop-outs are followed by lip sync problem which also means re-start to correct.

I just rented MI:3 last week and I have had few freezes before. It froze once the first time. The second time I played the HD DVD, it froze multiple times. This is not good. Prior to this, I always purchased my HD DVDs and had almost no issues.

i usually don't propose things which i can't back up with facts. But i would like to say that I BELIEVE it is BEST to use the machine for the sole purpose of HDDVD. I just don't think it is a good idea to use different types of discs in that first generation drive. If anything, I would put the blame on the drive itself and not the entire machine. If I had to rank:

1) disc problem (scratch/dirt/defect)
2) drive
3) sub-par error correction
4) entire system