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**Official Toshiba HD-A3/30/35 Thread** - Page 122

post #3631 of 3673
5/23/09 at 6:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quentin2 View Post

Have you tried washing the disc, even a brand new one? Crazy, but that often works when the picture freezes but the LED counter keeps going.

Since this is something that's just started happening, the opposite may be more likely - a dirty laser lens/pickup in the player itself.

Any suggestions on cleaning a HD lens?
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post #3632 of 3673
5/23/09 at 10:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cdnscg View Post

My A30 purchased spring 2008 is freezing. I've tried several discs, and they play fine for awhile then the image freezes. I scan forward to the next scene, and the disc plays. I have version 4 firmware. Any one experiencing the same? Any thoughts, or suggestions appreciated.

On my HD-A3 in the "Setup", and I assume also on your HD-A30,
there are two things you can try.
Initialize-Factory set defaults
Persistent Storage-do the "Initialize" function
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post #3633 of 3673
5/25/09 at 5:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splicer010 View Post

Sorry but whatever you seem to think about lossless audio is you really should not speak for others when you have no idea what they think...Also you need to get what each player is capable of straight...The A3 WILL NOT OUTPUT LOSSLESS AUDIO...It simply cannot do that...You really need to talk to the engineers at Toshiba if you think otherwise...As I said earlier...there is a reason for the different player 'levels'...

The ONLY way that "lossless is lossless" in the context that I am discussing has to do with the A35...If the A35 decodes and outputs as 6 channel analog OR bitstreams the codec for a AVR to do the processing the difference will be minute if any...However the A3 & A30 DO NOT have the same capability as they output lossy since that is all they are capable of...In other words the audio sounds no better than SDVD DD or DTS on those players...

Now if you are talking that the audio out through optical on the A35 is the same as the A3 then you are correct...Optical CANNOT output the lossless information...But you seem to believe some insane reason that HDMI is "hype" so I am sure you are not talking about optical...

A3 will internally decode DD+ and TrueHD into PCM, which is lossless. You do not need to bitstream to get lossless.

Maybe you should try a conversation with the engineer's...
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post #3634 of 3673
5/29/09 at 2:20pm
anyone here know what Best Buys extended warranty policy is on these? My player is freezing and skipping again, firmware is not helping. Are they even trying to repair them anymore, or are they just refunding store credit?
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post #3635 of 3673
6/1/09 at 2:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr stroke View Post

anyone here know what Best Buys extended warranty policy is on these? My player is freezing and skipping again, firmware is not helping. Are they even trying to repair them anymore, or are they just refunding store credit?

MY A3 just went belly up last night. It was stuck on "Welcome" and the tray wouldn't open, figured either a PCB or the drive assembly. It had been freezing on DVDs the last month or so. It was just a few months shy of 2 yrs and I had a 2 yr ESP with Best Buy.

Went to my BB today and was told that they are unable/not supposed to repair and would either give me something comparable or a store credit for what I paid for it. They never even looked at the player to see if it works or not. They had an LG BH200 display lying around (I already have one) but it didn't work. It stayed on "Please Wait" and the tray wouldn't open.

I would have gladly taken the BH200 if it worked but instead got the store credit. I'm glad that I already have a BH200 for my exisiting HD-DVDs. Oh well, it was nice knowing you, Toshiba.

Mike T
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post #3636 of 3673
6/4/09 at 4:05pm
I logged back on to the HD-DVD forum just to see if they were still active. Glad to see they are!

I've continued to invest in the system, now owning about 135 or so discs. At 3 or 4 bucks I'm getting films that I would have passed up at original prices. Interestingly I've found some that were really pleasant surprises!

I'm still using my original A3 but I have a 2nd A3 and an A35, new, as backups. I also have blue ray with a small (but growing) collection of films - but at the prices they are asking a film would have to be very special for me to buy it.

I recently went over to a 1080 projector with a 120 inch screen and to my surprise well mastered SD DVDs look damn good. Either format HD of course looks fantastic.

Between HD-DVD and BR I still prefer the HD-DVD. The picture quality is equal but the HD-DVD interface is a bit better.

My player has been trouble free - and that with only one upgrade. (I skipped the two later ones)

Anyway, glad to know I'm not the only one!

-d
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post #3637 of 3673
6/25/09 at 10:56am
I got a strange one in the mail yesterday. I got update disk 2.0 for the HD30 from Toshiba yesterday. Aren't they already on 4.0? Why is Toshiba just sending me 2.0 now?
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post #3638 of 3673
6/25/09 at 7:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lujan View Post

I got a strange one in the mail yesterday. I got update disk 2.0 for the HD30 from Toshiba yesterday. Aren't they already on 4.0? Why is Toshiba just sending me 2.0 now?

If it was 1 April, this joke would compute....
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post #3639 of 3673
7/8/09 at 1:35pm
Has anyone tried sending their A30 directly to a Toshiba service center for repair? Mine is no longer under warranty, but keeps freezing.
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post #3640 of 3673
7/9/09 at 1:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cdnscg View Post

Has anyone tried sending their A30 directly to a Toshiba service center for repair? Mine is no longer under warranty, but keeps freezing.

If it's not under warranty, I don't see how it could be worth it to repair it. My opinion is once it breaks, throw it away.
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post #3641 of 3673
7/9/09 at 1:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Monty04 View Post

If it's not under warranty, I don't see how it could be worth it to repair it. My opinion is once it breaks, throw it away.

What will I play my HD DVD's on?
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post #3642 of 3673
7/9/09 at 2:57pm
A30s go fairly cheap on eBay so a lot of us have spares. Also I'd keep the sticking player for parts.
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post #3643 of 3673
7/9/09 at 3:29pm
Is it worth considering going from the A3 to the A30 in terms of both SD and HD DVD picture quality?
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post #3644 of 3673
7/10/09 at 2:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by abintra View Post

Is it worth considering going from the A3 to the A30 in terms of both SD and HD DVD picture quality?

The forum consensus is yes.

Brettwf
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post #3645 of 3673
7/15/09 at 7:47pm
Is my HDA3 dead?

I don't have near as much time as I'd like to enjoy my HD DVD movies, but my HD A3 hasn't been helping. I upgraded to 4.0 because 3.0 was buggy for me. So I sit down to watch Hot Fuzz and about 20 minutes into it, the picture and audio freezes up. Playback stops completely. I the player still functions, I can stop, fast forward, rewind, but still no playback. I eject the disc and attempt to restart it, and my player tells me that it either can't read the disk, or its not in DVD format.

So I tried most of the rest of my movies, combos, whatever. It will play a SD DVD, but not more than 20 minutes of a HD DVD.

Thinking it could be firmware, I rolled it back to 1.3 (a good fw for me). Still same result.

Should I take it out back, harvest the heavy metals and sell to a recycling center? Or is there some kind of magic that can be done to it?

Thanks folks!
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post #3646 of 3673
7/15/09 at 8:05pm
Have you tried to clear the persistent storage??? That might help brother...
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post #3647 of 3673
7/23/09 at 9:11am
I did, but still won't play HD DVDs. But will play regular DVDs just fine. Go figure.. any ideas?
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post #3648 of 3673
7/23/09 at 10:24am
Pick up a non working (or working) A3 on ebay for cheap and R/R the drive...Past that I don't have any ideas short of contacting Toshiba and see what they say...
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post #3649 of 3673
7/23/09 at 10:41am
This may not be the right place to post this it seems to be the only HD-DVD thread around.
I'm certain Toshiba never lost the format war because of PQ, I just bought a Pioneer 51FD Blu Ray player, have played a couple of BR disks and some SD disks and my wife watched them and asked why did I waste my money on another player. The upscaling on my D1 is so close to the PQ of the Blu Ray disks that you only notice a difference during some special effect scenes. Maybe when I load the firmware update and check the adjustments on my TV I may notice the difference. If I hadn't got the Pioneer at Best Buy on their clearance price of $149.99 less a $10 rewards coupon and not the list price I would take it back but as it is the only game it town for HD media I will keep it.
In fact the PQ from my Denon 1600 is real close to the BR upscale.
Wouldn't dare post this on the Blu Ray forum as I would probably be flamed, and boiled in oil if some of them knew where to find me.
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post #3650 of 3673
7/23/09 at 10:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragonfly View Post

This may not be the right place to post this it seems to be the only HD-DVD thread around.
I'm certain Toshiba never lost the format war because of PQ, I just bought a Pioneer 51FD Blu Ray player, have played a couple of BR disks and some SD disks and my wife watched them and asked why did I waste my money on another player. The upscaling on my D1 is so close to the PQ of the Blu Ray disks that you only notice a difference during some special effect scenes. Maybe when I load the firmware update and check the adjustments on my TV I may notice the difference. If I hadn't got the Pioneer at Best Buy on their clearance price of $149.99 less a $10 rewards coupon and not the list price I would take it back but as it is the only game it town for HD media I will keep it.
In fact the PQ from my Denon 1600 is real close to the BR upscale.
Wouldn't dare post this on the Blu Ray forum as I would probably be flamed, and boiled in oil if some of them knew where to find me.

There's a good chance that your display (calibration, screen size, sitting distance) will explain why you don't see a difference between SD DVD and Blu-ray. The reality is that HD-DVD and Blu-ray are very mucn alike in picture quality, and that converted DVDs can't provide the same detail.

I have both HD-DVD and Blu-ray, and would liked to have HD-DVD survive for other reasons than PQ.
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post #3651 of 3673
8/8/09 at 5:59pm
Hi all, I just finished watching Underworld Rise of Lycans on my HD DVD player and towards the final fight scene I see lots of purple coloring where white should be...is this normal? Is it a SD disk and playing at 1080p24.
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post #3652 of 3673
8/27/09 at 7:33pm
I just picked up a new 1080p LCD TV (LG 55HL90) and decided to fire up my Tosh A30 to see how it looks.
I updated the firmware to 4.0 and changed all the settings to 1080p/24.
The TV seemed to accept the settings and I put in a few HD DVDs to check.
My TV is reporting only 1080p/60p for some reason.
I use a Sony 1080p HDMI receiver and have a PS3 on the other input.
The PS3 Blu-Ray shows 1080p/24p without an issue.
Anything else I should check?
I tried reverting my firmware back to 1.3 but had the same issue.
Would the hDMI cable make a difference?
Thanks.
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post #3653 of 3673
8/27/09 at 7:43pm
Try switching the AVR input with the PS3...
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post #3654 of 3673
8/28/09 at 6:04am
Thanks, I will try that.
I doubt it will work since I hooked the player directly to the TV and couldn't get it to work.
But I haven't used the same cable I use with the PS3.

It is driving me crazy because I swore I had it working the day before.
Also, while changing some settings, my TV reported 24p but when I went back to the movie, it went back to 60p.

When setting up the PS3 to 24p, you can tell the TV is doing something, with the HD-A30 the screen doesn't even blink, like it is ignoring my request.
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post #3655 of 3673
8/31/09 at 7:24pm
I figured out the problem.
I saw on the thread, "Who needs forced 24hz" that the Tosh HD DVD players don't talk nice with my Sony STRDG1000 receiver.
When I hook it directly to my TV, I get 24hz.
So my choice is 1080p/60 with hi def audio or 1080p/24 with optical audio.

Oh well, at least I know what the issue is.
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post #3656 of 3673
9/3/09 at 5:25am
Well, I still use my HDa30 (HDa3 in storage) ...both updated and play perfectly. I am almost 2 years into blu as well and loving it however...I have to admit...The Tosh a30 is still the best upconverting std dvd player I have, better than my old Samsung bd-p1200 with hqv and better than my newer blu Sony s550 and way better than the Panny s97.

The Tosh so far has played seemlessly all of the troubled std dvd's from Netflix that crap out on all my other players...I am so glad I have kept this playa in the rack...I have not purchased any hdDVD's in months but I have no remorse in buying the 2 units for a total hardware investment of about 150 tops...including service plan for each one. I do have around 40 hd dvd's. I am glad I had a chance to catch some of the HDdvd wave, unlike back in the day when I could not afford LaserDisk and I also resisted the hidefVHS as neat as it seemed at the time.

I should take a look at used HDdvd's and see whats popping!
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post #3657 of 3673
9/4/09 at 6:30am
Check out DVD Empire for some so so deals.
I can bring myself to buying another HD DVD.
I have seen a trend with studios offering more content on the Blu-Ray version when they are eventually released (Army of Darkness, Werewolf in London, Shaun of the Dead, etc.)

I have plenty of HD DVDs that I have yet to watch and with my new 1080p/24 TV, I love rediscovering HD DVD.
The PQ of Zodiac blows me away.
I probably have 10 unopened HD DVDs laying around through various sales and rebates.
The poor A30 is getting more work in the last week then it did all last year!
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post #3658 of 3673
9/7/09 at 6:33pm
I have an HD-A3 that I thought was a great buy given that my DPL TV was only a 720p, figuring I could upgrade later when the technology caught up and the process dropped. Yea right.

Ok, so I bought about 2 dozen HD DVDs, including the Planet Earth series that was almost $100. That alone kept me from dumping the A3 and replacing my Purple with Blue. Then WB came out with their deal to replace HD disks with BD disks at unbelievably low prices (I replaced 13 of my disks, including the Planet Earth box set for about $80 including shipping).


Now that most of my purple disks have been replaced, does anyone think there is a market for my used A3? Moderators...I'm not selling...just curious if anything thinks I could. For what I could get for it, I,m hoping I could replace most of my remaining movies.

Thoughts?
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post #3659 of 3673
9/8/09 at 11:12am
$30-$40 bucks shipped tops...And its RED not "purple"...
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post #3660 of 3673
12/1/10 at 6:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capn Trips View Post

Decoded HD lossless audio CAN ALSO be passed via MPCM on the HDMI cable, which the A3 most certainly CAN (and DOES) do.

But is the A3 limited to outputting 5.1 MPCM like my A2, or will it successfully convert DD+ EX soundtracks to 6.1 or 7.1 MPCM?

I'm thinking one would need a player that bitstreams (A35 or AX2) to get the "extra surround" channels.
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