[Greg Matty]

I don't know if this is a problem so to speak or if it is possibly an issue with my new receiver or the HDMI connection between the two but I thought I would check and see if anyone has noticed this while playing audio CD's on their A2.


The first part of the oddity is that when the audio CD is playing back, the timer on the front of the A2 doesn't track seconds accurately. It wil count 1,2,3,4,5 and then it will pause on 5 for a second and a half then jump quickly through 6 and then count okay for 7,8,9, then pause again and jump ahead again. It isn't literally on this particular timing schedule, but if you burn a CD and play it back you'll see what I mean.


The real potential concern is that I have gotten audio drop outs two days in a row now. Yesterday it was on track 3 of a CD. I got to the 1:18 mark and the audio dropped out for a half second. I skipped backward and it happened again at the exact same time. I turned the receiver's volume down while I repeated it a 3rd time and the problem went away. Curious to see if it was volume induced I turned it up higher than it was originally. The problem was still gone.


Since this was all done on a brand new Onkyo 804 I chalked it up to break-in. I doubt there is such a thing but I'll believe if it the problem never comes back. Today on the same CD but track #6 I had the same thing happen at the 29 second mark. I got it to repeat a couple of times and again changed the volume. Again the problem disappeared. So I turned the volume up and it re-appeared. So now I eject the CD and place it in my Sony carousel DVD player. I played both songs and never got the error at any volume. Also, I have played this disc before on the Sony and never had it skip/dropout. So I popped it back into the A2 and the problem refused to repeat. I decided one more back and forth switch and I would call it a night. The A2 wouldn't turn off. I had to hold the power button for 10 seconds as per the manual to get the machine to turn off. After ejecting the CD and playing it in the Sony again the problem still did not surface on that machine. I put the disc back in the A2 and the problem failed to repeat.


This is an iTunes burned CD played back optically on the Sony and HDMI on the A2. I may try the optical connection on the A2 tomorrow but if I can't get a repeat, that doesn't mean HDMI is at fault as this issue appears at random.


Has anyone else had this issue on the A2? I have yet to find a way to get it to repeat consistently so I can't say if it is more likely to happen when the machine is first turned on or after it has been running for an hour. I have never had a DVD playback issue and since I don't really intend to use this player for CD's, it is almost a moot point. But if this is a problem and other people experience it, I'll bring it to Toshiba's attention. Could it be the counter is indicative of the CD not reading properly and when it isn't buffered right I get the drop out? If that is the case I would think it should happen more frequently. I have not gotten this to occur on any other CD's and this one is still in near flawless shape. I think it is odd it happens in one spot one day and another spot the next. Also, it is definitley not a skip as when the half second of silence ends and the song plays again, it doesn't start from where it left off. That half second played back as if muted. Oh and lastly, I don't hear my 804 clicking like it is changing inputs or anything.


Sorry for such a long post but I want to be as clear as possible.


Greg

 

[jayselle]

Hook up the HDMI directly to your TV. Make sure it's the player having issues and not the receiver.


The A2 seems to be showing more and more problems now that it's been on the market for a couple months. I hope a firmware update is soon.

 

[starblzer]

Greg,

I don't know if this is related or not, but I find the error correction of my XA2 to be rather poor when playing cd's. If the CD is scratched, it will completely lock up the player and I have to hold the power button to reboot. I have also had problems with some dual layer DVD's that I have burned not playing. I have not had audio drop outs though but I have only had the player a week or so, so I don't have a lot of CD playing time on it. Also, I am using the analog audio out for CD play back as I feel the DAC in the Toshiba are superior to the DAC's used in my Denon AVR-1905


Steve

 

[Greg Matty]



Quote:
Originally Posted by starblzer /forum/post/0


Greg,

I don't know if this is related or not, but I find the error correction of my XA2 to be rather poor when playing cd's. If the CD is scratched, it will completely lock up the player and I have to hold the power button to reboot. I have also had problems with some dual layer DVD's that I have burned not playing. I have not had audio drop outs though but I have only had the player a week or so, so I don't have a lot of CD playing time on it. Also, I am using the analog audio out for CD play back as I feel the DAC in the Toshiba are superior to the DAC's used in my Denon AVR-1905


Steve

Thanks for the replies.


I am burning fresh CD's even as we speak and I'll hook my A2 up via optical to the 804 so HDMI is out of the equation. I'll also try store bought CD's and see if I can get it to repeat with any sort of regularity.


Greg

 

[Greg Matty]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jayselle /forum/post/0


Hook up the HDMI directly to your TV. Make sure it's the player having issues and not the receiver.


The A2 seems to be showing more and more problems now that it's been on the market for a couple months. I hope a firmware update is soon.

My TV is a Sanyo Z4 with no speakers so I don't think I can test it that way. If it still skips optically I guess that doesn't eliminate the receiver as the issue does it? I could hook up my HK AVR240 but that means disconnecting all my speakers, again. I really don't want to do that. I'll try the optical connection and if it goes away, I'll at least know it is HDMI related. Not that that really helps much.


Greg

 

[Greg Matty]

I just tried a freshly burned CD and it skipped at 1:25 on track 3. Oddly enough the first time I had this problem was on track 3 at 1:25, or real close to it. This is the same CD with the exception that track #3 has changed. Still the player is probably reading the same part of the disc so maybe it hiccups at this physical location? I had a Nissan loaner car that always skipped at about the same spot on the fourth song of any CD I burned. I am sure it makes no sense but I don't know what else it can be.


Now if my Sony DVD player can play back all these songs over optical without issue, that eliminates the receiver right?


Greg


Edit: I have spent the last hour or so going back and forth between my A2 and SD-DVD player and only the A2 is dropping out. I guess this unit doesn't like audio CD's?

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

Does it skip on non-burned Redbook CD's?

 

[Greg Matty]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JOHNnDENVER /forum/post/0


Does it skip on non-burned Redbook CD's?

I am not sure what a Redbook CD is??? I just played about ten of my old store bought CD's from the most recently purchased to the first one I ever bought, and they all had dropouts. Pretty regularly in fact. I placed all the same discs in my Sony Carousel SD-DVD player and they played back without issue.


I am sick of this beta testing so will now break for lunch and come back and watch Waterworld in HD-DVD. If I can watch HD-DVD's and regular DVD's without this issue, I won't worry too much.


Greg

 

[PLC1843]

I was having the same issues with some cd's, which are non burned disc. It's kind of annoying as I was going to use this as a cd player. Hopefully Toshiba will release a fix for this.

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

I stil play a decent amount of CD's in the A1....


I only say redbook CD, becuase now we have SACD as well. Rebook CD is a normal store purchased CD.

 

[PLC1843]

Yeah, mine skipped a few times with redbook CD's. I thought it was something wrong with my Cd's but they all looked fine to me. I do hope that Toshiba will address this, even though it's not as important as what the player is really for but since I am limited on space for a CD player it was a good solution to use this player as a CD player as well as a DVD/HD-DVD player.


I will try to hook up the player with regular audio cables to see if that would remedy this problem though...hopefully that will work, I'll have to try it tonight.

 

[Greg Matty]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PLC1843 /forum/post/0


Yeah, mine skipped a few times with redbook CD's. I thought it was something wrong with my Cd's but they all looked fine to me. I do hope that Toshiba will address this, even though it's not as important as what the player is really for but since I am limited on space for a CD player it was a good solution to use this player as a CD player as well as a DVD/HD-DVD player.


I will try to hook up the player with regular audio cables to see if that would remedy this problem though...hopefully that will work, I'll have to try it tonight.

Thanks for the feedback. I am glad we are all in the same boat in the sense that no one of us has to bother with exchanging the unit for a new one. Hopefully Toshiba will address this in the near future.


Greg

 

[mchuckp]

Same for me. Had an XA1 play flawlessly for CD's. Picked up an A2 a few weeks ago and I get quite a few audio skips playing CD's. I've gotten skips with 1.0, 1.3, and 1.5 firmwares.


Guess I'm gonna call Toshiba. I use my A2 as a CD player quite a bit.


Plays HD-DVDs and DVDs flawlessly so far.

 

[dobieck1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Matty /forum/post/0


Thanks for the feedback. I am glad we are all in the same boat in the sense that no one of us has to bother with exchanging the unit for a new one. Hopefully Toshiba will address this in the near future.


Greg

I've asked about this several times here and didn't get too much of a response. I figured I was the only one. I get audio dropouts on almost all my cds. HDMI or optical out, doesn't matter. DVDs are fine, no problems.


I also just bought a new Onkyo 604 and that it may be the problem. But I hooked up my old player to it and the CD's played fine. Its gotta be the player as far as I can tell.


I do however have HDMI>DVI setup as my TV doesn't have HDMI. But I turned off the TV power and it still happens, albeit a little less it seems.


I hope this is addressed sometime as I use this player as my CD player as well. All my other DVD players have been "claimed" by other family members now for their rooms.

 

[mchuckp]

Since there is so little activity on this thread, I'm guessing it isn't a very wide spread problem or most people just don't use it as a CD player.


I'm going to call them Monday. I'd rather have it fixed than ignore it. The HD-A2 is too good of a CD player not to take advantage of it.


After I call them on Monday, I will post and let you all know what they say. I will assume they will want me to get it serviced.

 

[jpeter1093]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mchuckp /forum/post/0


Since there is so little activity on this thread, I'm guessing it isn't a very wide spread problem or most people just don't use it as a CD player.


I'm going to call them Monday. I'd rather have it fixed than ignore it. The HD-A2 is too good of a CD player not to take advantage of it.


After I call them on Monday, I will post and let you all know what they say. I will assume they will want me to get it serviced.

I had the A2, got the intermittent skips. Upgraded to the XA2, same thing; although a bit less frequent (IMO) with the 1.5 firmware.

 

[nyg]

I have the HD-A2 and also had skipping with CD playback. Thankfully I didn't buy this for CD playback so I'm not overly concerned. The HD DVD playback has been flawless thus far and as long as that continues I'll be thrilled with my purchase.


PS: Mine is also running through an HDMI receiver.

 

[stevo1214]

I use my A2 as CD player but I use the 2ch analog out to my integrated amp with no problems at all. I have quite a bit of CD-R as well as original ones. So I don't know if this is a problem with HDMI/optical output or not? I don't have any surround sound receiver to test the HDMI/optical output at the moment.

 

[mchuckp]

I got tech support this morning about the CD audio drop out problem. I'm going to send it in for service. I want a fully functional player and I can live without my player for a short time to make sure it lives up to everything it is designed to do.


For anyone considering sending it in this is what I was told:


Once received (your cost), 1 day to assign to tech, 3 days to troubleshoot & repair, sent back at their cost Fed Ex 2-day. This all assumes you are under full warranty. If they cannot fix it, they will replace it.


You don't have to return any cords or remote. This is good, so I don't have to dig out my power cord behind the entertainment center.


I will report back when I get it back from them and test it out.

 

[JOHNnDENVER]

My A1 is still flawless on CD play. But out of convinience I don't use it very often. 300 disc Juke has been nearly full and cataloged for a long time now. Tthe rampant use of compression or what ever it is in the CD / music industry has nearly halted my music purchases, I for one think MP3 sounds bad.