HD-DVD choice

Even the 1080p players HD & BR are first processed as 1080i and then reprocessed to 1080p.

So even though the player you want outputs at 1080i, your display will rescale it the same as the other player would anyway

1080i is perfectly fine as it does not degrade the quality/resolution of the origional 1080p image.

As for which to buy - that's up to you.

The upscaling of Standard DVD that the XA2 is fantastic due to the Reon chip. The XA1 doesn't have the Reon. I had the XA1 since it first came out and upgraded to the XA2 when it came out and I'm glad I did. Also, I have the Sony KDS-50XBR display that only accepts 1080i. I have the XA2 connected to the display using HDMI and a optical cable connected to my Marantz receiver. I feel that the XA2's upscaling is much better on a 1080i display than the XA1 was. Also, the XA2 is smaller than the XA1 and the XA2 doesn't have some of the buggy problems that the XA1 had. Not very often with the XA1, I'd have a skip that would have the audio out of sync with the video. I don't have that problem with the XA2. This is all just my opinion. But I'm very glad I have the XA2.

I would buy the Hd-A1. it is internally almost identical to the xa-1 and you should save a few hundred bucks. the output is identical, and from what i understand what you will see on the screen is 1080p no matter what. if you decide later you must have 1080p, you won't take as big a hit unloading the HD-A1 as you will the XA-1. both are known to do an excellent job upconverting standard def over HDMI as well. my 2 cents.

All true: I love mine.

Yep, it is much better.

Why not get the HD-A2? It will be faster and more stable than the first generation players. Sure you lose the analog audio outs, but depending on your receiver that may or may not matter. I'm returning an HD-A1 and am waiting for my HD-XA2 to arrive by Fedex. I simply wanted the best SD DVD player that would also do HD "on the side."

You do know that all of the Toshiba players do a pretty good job of down-converting the HD audio to high bit rate DTS for coax/optical digital out. That is pleny good for amny people. I personally found that with my receiver the 5.1 analog outs were the way to get the best sound for either SD or HD DVD.

It does not have to! It can use the multichannel linear PCM audio sent over HDMI 1.0, 1.1, 1.2a just fine. The player decodes to linear PCM, mixes, and then sends out via HDMI. No need for a HDMI 1.3 AVR with DD+ or TrueHD decoders.

That sounds like a good suggestion. I've used an XA1 and an A2 with my HLS-5087 connected via HDMI and was equally happy with the picture from both. If you sit reasonably close to the tv (in my case, I'm only about 6 1/2 feet away), it's not difficult to see a difference between HD DVD & upscaled standard DVD.

Depending upon your audio system, another potentially significant improvement over a standard dvd is much better sound quality.

The XA2 looks like it's a great player, but I'd have to think the A2 is a better 'bang for the buck' fit for the 5087. Plus, if you wish, you could eventually apply the savings to a good ISF calibration which bumps the picture quality another level as well.

I have the same TV as you. I definately like my HD-XA2 better than my HD-A1. If you don't want to pay $799 just wait as these things will drop in price over the next six months.

I saw the XA1's selling for half of their original retail price within six months.

That is abslutely not true. HD-XA2 outputs 1080p directly. Also Sony, Pioneer and PS3 output 1080p directly. Panasonic Blu-ray is the only one that processes 1080i first, but this will probably be changed with firmware upgrade.

If you mean HD DVD vs upconverted SD DVD check out the photo in post 30 of this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=797482


If you meant upconverting using a HD DVD player vs an upconverting player, never mind.

I have a Samsung HLS-6187 and the Yamaha RX-V1700

Get the A2. You will not regret it. Your reciever will pass the A2 decoded trueHD track throught the HDMI. Very good upconverting player too!

I still can't believe how many people don't know jack about output of HD-DVD and BluRay players. Unless you are one of the <0.01% of the population that owns a television/projector capable of receiving a 1080p/24 or 1080p/48 input, the above mentioned players will output 1080p/60. To get 1080p/60 they MUST convert the 1080p/24 that is on the disc - and to do that you must use 2:3 pull down - which generates a 1080i/60 signal.

At that point you can either send the 1080i/60 signal to your tv and let it convert the signal to 1080p/60 or you can let the BluRay/HD-DVD player do the upconversion.

I don't mind that people are wrong, but when they write in terms of being so right it makes me mad.