Toshiba HD-A2 vs.Toshiba HD-XA2

I have no actual experience with that receiver but since it would seem to employ the same / similar chip used in the XA2 that might render the whole superior upscaling point of the XA2 moot. Your receiver would also would be seem to up to the task of decoding most the necessary formats you'll be likely to throw at it through HDMI.

So it comes down to this...

* How much do care about the difference between 1080i/p ?
* Do you favor bitstream / PCM more one than the other ?

If you don't want 1080p support, stick with A2.
If you are fine with PCM, stick with the A2.


Likely not.

The only players that bitstream HD audio are the A35 and the XA2 (v2.7). The A2 decodes in the player.

I agree with the poster above. I will add that the XA2 will give you 2 things the A2 won't (besides 1080p/24):

1) Reon upscaling of SD DVD without having to reset the resolution of the player (without resetting the player to 480i/p before playing an SD DVD, the Reon will not be used to upscale because the A2 will already be upscaling to 1080i)

2) The A2 (like all players) will not decode DTS-HD/MA. However, the XA2 will pass it as bitstream for the Onkyo to decode. This doesn't matter that much unless you buy imports, where DTS-HD is used much more often.

I have an A2, but I'm thinking of upgrading. The only point I made about the upscaling is the Reon in the Onkyo won't be any help to the already upscaled picture coming from the A2 when it is set at 1080i (which is where you'd want it set for HD DVD). So, every time you want to play an SD DVD, you would have to get into the setup menu on the A2 and switch the resolution to 480 in order to take advantage of the Reon upscaling in the Onkyo.

You will see NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever when watching FILMS(no matter how new or fancy your 1080p display), whether the player outputs at 1080i or 1080p. This is purely a marketing ploy originally started by Samsung with its 1st gen BD player, and now shamelessly being promoted by Toshiba as well in an effort to extract an extra $100-plus from consumers. Here's the straight skinny:

From EVAN POWELL, technical expert at Projector Central:
"The truth is this: The Toshiba HD-DVD player outputs 1080i, and the Samsung Blu-ray player outputs both 1080i and 1080p. What they fail to mention is that it makes absolutely no difference which transmission format you usefeeding 1080i or 1080p into your projector or HDTV will give you the exact same picture. Why? Both disc formats encode film material in progressive scan 1080p at 24 frames per second. It does not matter whether you output this data in 1080i or 1080p since all 1080 lines of information on the disc are fed into your video display either way. The only difference is the order in which they are transmitted. If they are fed in progressive order (1080p), the video display will process them in that order. If they are fed in interlaced format (1080i), the video display simply reassembles them into their original progressive scan order. Either way all 1080 lines per frame that are on the disc make it into the projector or TV. The fact is, if you happen to have the Samsung Blu-ray player and a video display that takes both 1080i and 1080p, you can switch the player back and forth between 1080i and 1080p output and see absolutely no difference in the picture. So this notion that the Blu-ray player is worth more money due to 1080p output is nonsense."

This same information was reiterated in the 8/2007 issue of Home Theater Magazine. (Now it is important to note that for VIDEO[60fps] there may well indeed be a difference, but for most people watching perhaps 99% films, this is a non-issue).

Save the difference in cost, keep your HD-A2, and use the extra cash for other purchases. In any case, with the exceptional quality of the Toshiba HD-DVD players, I confidently predict we can all together SAY BYE-BYE TO BLU-RAY !

Or just use component for SD, which doesn't allow output of SD discs at any resolution other than 480p.

I still think teh XA2 is a steal at the prices it's selling for now. It's one heck of a player, and the picture adjustments are great if you're sharing multiple device on a single HDMI input on your set. Adjust the TV for one source, and use the Reon's adjustments to set up the other source to look proper on that same input.

I was considering swapping my HD-A2 for the HD-XA2, but this post has convinced me otherwise. Thanks for the information.

I was also trying to convince myself to buy another hd dvd player. I was looking to add hd a35 because I have Onkyo 705to decode all the advanced audio codecs. I think I will save my money for something else, I am very happy with my a2 eventhough I bought with regular price last year (Mar 1) for 499.00 I dont regret it. I did not have any single issue or problem with it. (crossing my fingers).

Blu-ray was my introduction into HDM, so I actually have more invested in BD than HD DVD.

I ended up getting a refurbed A2 and it works fine. There was a strange and annoying sort of buzzing noise coming from the player when I inserted an audio CD of Sade's Lovers Rock, so I ejected the disc. I tried out a standard DVD and an HD DVD title and it played fine. I then inserted a Kanye West CD and it played fine. Then I tried Sade again, and low and behold, no more buzzing. Regardless, the whole situation prompted me to scour ebay and craigslist for a good bargain back up player. My search led me to a guy on craigslist selling his HD-XA2 for a fair price. After some email negotiation I thought that we had struck a deal, but he has yet to respond to my last 3 emails. The seller mentioned that he also had an A2 listed for sale, and depending on which sold first, he'd keep that player. This piqued my curiosity and prompted me to ask if he had noticed any real world significant improvement the XA2 had over the A2. That's when he stopped exchanging emails with me. Anyway, I decided to come here and get the answer for myself. If anything I'll probably end up picking up another good used A2 as a back up player.

Oh, and if the seller I'm referring to is a member of this forum and is reading this post (I think you'd recognize yourself) the least you could've done was tell me that the player was no longer available rather than leave me hanging. That's just bad business.

ACK!!!

No!!!

I completely agree with your assessment that 1080i and 1080p are almost all of the time going to be the same (unless the TV does 1080p24, or has an awful deinterlacer). However, upscaling DVD is a completely separate issue. The XA2 has the renowned reon chip which WILL upscale significantly better than an A2/A3. The bitstream capabilities will also benefit him with improved AQ. I don't know that I would recommend an upgrade but there are certainly upgrades there.

So is it really worth the price difference?

?? Only you can answer this question.

I have a 65" 1080i RPCRT and ever since I bought my A1 back in May 2006 the up-converting looked excellent.

When the XA2 was released many people stating how great the DVD up-convert looked with 1080p screens. At the time I didn't think it would better than my A1 to a 1080i screen.

I was in the market for another HD DVD player since I have over 100 HDMs. So I went ahead and bought the "flag-ship" XA2, connected it up and it produced a "higher" resolution picture (or I could see detail that stood out more vivid) when I tweaked the XA2 picture controls on both DVD and HD DVD. Remember I have a RPCRT, CRTs don't have that high contrast look like LCDs. Even HD DVDs I can see detail that was barely seen on the A1 but is easily seen with the XA2 picture controls. Plus DVDs look even better on my screen with the XA2. Therefore I bought another XA2 after seen this.

So the question is will you see a difference, that's a anyone's guess. I took a chance and it was well worth it!

...Angelo

The XA2 (note: I'm using the Onkyo rebadge) is considerably better on SD sources, but for HD DVD 1080i/p video playback, they look the same on my Samsung DLP. The XA2 is built like a tank compared to the A2 but ironically has (in my case) buggier operation than my A2, which works flawlessly.

I have both the A2 and XA2. For HD, they're both fine.
But the additional features of the XA2 make it a much better player overall.
I've been so pleased with the XA2, I just got another one from VE.
I have a Sony 46XBR4, which does 24fps, and a Yamaha RX-V3800 which decodes all the hi-def audio codecs, so I can take full advantage of the XA2's features.