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HD-A1 player has glitch on every movie I watch.

1770 Views 34 Replies 24 Participants Last post by Vern Dias, May 10, 2006

seandudley

Discussion Starter · May 8, 2006

Hi,

I have now watched 3 movies on my Toshiba HD-A1 player. Apollo 13, Swordfish and Serenity. Each of these movies has had one spot where the audio went out and the video skipped (except for Apollo 13, on that on, the audio just left, but the picture was uneffected). If I rewind and play through the same section again, it doesn't do it again, so it seems to be a player problem. Is anyone else having this problem? Since this has happened one per movie, do you guys think I have a bad player? Do you think a firmware update would help? I have told the player to do a firmware update, but as soon as I click the OK button to tell it to do it, it just returns to the menu and doesn't tell me it did anything, so I don't know if that is actually working right or not.

Thanks.

Sean Dudley

Status: Not open for further replies.

1 - 20 of 35 Posts

Robert D

· #2 · May 8, 2006

Yeah it seems a few here are having similar problems. There are a few things you could try like making sure the player is well ventilated, clean the discs even if they are brand new, and try using the component video output (hdmi handshake problems).

seandudley

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 8, 2006

Hi,

OK, thanks for the tips. My player is hooked up by component already, it is well ventilated. I guess that just leaves trying to clean brand new HD-DVDs to see if that helps. They sure look perfectly clean, though.

Sean Dudley

Robert D

· #4 · May 8, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by seandudley
Hi,

OK, thanks for the tips. My player is hooked up by component already, it is well ventilated. I guess that just leaves trying to clean brand new HD-DVDs to see if that helps. They sure look perfectly clean, though.

Sean Dudley

I knew it sounds weird however someone here said he found a blob the size of a pin head or so on one disc and another one had some kind of haze or film look to it. Anyway cleaning both discs did the trick. If that don't do it then the player is borked.

David Guill

· #5 · May 8, 2006

It sounds like you may have some internal RAM (Random Access Memory) issues with the DVD player. I would return it.

Andrew P

· #6 · May 8, 2006

Sean,

I had 1 audio dropout on The Last Samurai. I also couldnt replicate the dropout when I rewinded back to the scene. Luckily though ive also watched Million Dollar Baby and Swordfish and have encountered no issues.

I would return the unit if I were you. Im still on the fence with mine and im 2/3. You are 0/3. Sounds like more players are becoming available as well so good luck.

Andy

Rich4av

· #7 · May 8, 2006

Try cleaning the DVD tray as well. I did. I got a freeze once but despite attempts to reporduce it yesterday (after 6 hours of play time), I gave up... So far, so good.

Thomas Marshall

· #8 · May 8, 2006

I'm the guy that found the crud/blob on my disk after it started freezing up. I cleaned it and it fixed the problem.

However, last night I was playing POTO and it froze and had audio drop outs repeatedly throughout the movie. It was a brand new disk that had only been played once for a few minutes prior to this viewing. It never completely froze up (no re-start needed), but the frequency of problems was about every 10 to 15 minutes throughout out the movie. I'm going to clean the disk and run it again when I get the time to see if it makes any difference.

So, I'll play the heck out of my A1 over the next week or so to see if the problems continue to occur and if they do I'll probably exchange it for a new one.

I also reported the problem to Toshiba and the service rep indicated this issue had been reported before and there technicians were working on it. She asked a lot of detailed questions about the problem and also urged me to call back if I continue to experience issues.

Well, at least Toshiba recognizes they have a problem and hopefully they will resolve it fairly soon; let's keep our fingers crossed

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Mark Zimmer

· #9 · May 8, 2006

I had a lot of problems with GoodFellas freezing and having audio dropouts. The disc looked perfectly clean, but I thought what the hell and gave it a good cleaning. It played flawlessly. So I recommend at least trying it if you are having such problems, whether or not it looks clean.

Bob Sorel

· #10 · May 8, 2006

I hate to break the bad news to you guys, but because this box is basically a PC disguised to look like a DVD player, this will probably continue to be a common problem. We in the HTPC world have dealt with these types of issues for years, but I was hoping that the lack of overhead from the Windows OS in these players would help things, but after reading this thread I now have my doubts. My feeling is that it will require at very least an update in the firmware to resolve whatever conflict that is causing the dropouts and/or freezing.

Gary Murrell

· #11 · May 8, 2006

dropouts and glitches are unacceptable for a optical format like this, that is certain

-Gary

angelo913

· #12 · May 8, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by seandudley
Hi,

OK, thanks for the tips. My player is hooked up by component already, it is well ventilated. I guess that just leaves trying to clean brand new HD-DVDs to see if that helps. They sure look perfectly clean, though.

Sean Dudley

My A1 has none of these problems and if it did it would be going back for a replacement.

...Angelo

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AlieniceT

· #13 · May 8, 2006

I took back my HD-A1 to Best Buy today for this very same behavior. The freeze ups just became unacceptable at the price of admission. Sure it's HD - but I've never paid $500 before for something that was so shaky in its' performance and kept it.

I did not have these problems back in '97 with my Sony DVP-S7000. Being an early adopter should not be this painful.

ziggy4212

· #14 · May 8, 2006

Dose this happen at the same point in the disc everytime if it is ejected and played back to that point again? if so it could be a layer change on the disc witch is commen however,all the disc i have played on this unit have worked flawlessly at any rate i would exchange the unit.

Mr. Hanky

· #15 · May 8, 2006

It seems like error correction and some redundancy should be able to offset the impacts of dirts or specs on the actual video stream, but maybe the real problem is the encryption isn't similarly covered for error correction/redundancy? So a large enough spec of dirt may blow out an encryption bit which ends up bringing the whole process to a halt, if it is too difficult to recover the bit or recover from a temporary lapse in decryption? Just thinking out loud here. Maybe a good test would be if someone came up with a totally unprotected test disc of copyright free material, but still encoded to VC-1. If it plays through consistently and effortlessly (even in the intentional presence of dirty disc conditions), perhaps we have first indication of "the culprit"?

JimMac

· #16 · May 8, 2006

Just got off the phone with Toshiba about my freeze and fast forward experiences (3), according to the rep there have only been 3 reported issues out of 10,000 players. Hmm sounds like we are getting different stories from Toshiba. Advice was to unplug player for 30 minutes, cycle the draw 4 or 5 times to re-align the laser, sounds like busy work to me but what the hey I do like the image. Then call back if the issue continues.

Please Call 1 800 319-6684 if you have issues, as I think it is more than 3

Rich4av

· #17 · May 8, 2006

The Golden Rule in Tech Support is that the end-customer will usually figure out what to do

Most of us will not take the time to call, especially if the problem is transient. I had the freeze once but cannot reproduce it (I hope it was just a dirty DVD tray because that is all I cleaned. The disks are straight from their cases - no cleaning). I own 3 so far. Only the longer POTO once froze.

I too think that, if the problem is not software/firmware or heat related, it may be due to glitches in the SO-DIMM memory...

LittleScooby

· #18 · May 9, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimMac
Just got off the phone with Toshiba about my freeze and fast forward experiences (3), according to the rep there have only been 3 reported issues out of 10,000 players. Hmm sounds like we are getting different stories from Toshiba. Advice was to unplug player for 30 minutes, cycle the draw 4 or 5 times to re-align the laser, sounds like busy work to me but what the hey I do like the image. Then call back if the issue continues.

Please Call 1 800 319-6684 if you have issues, as I think it is more than 3

Yep. MS did the same thing when people called in about Xbox360 problems.

They don't want to admit any problems as you can now see.

cwilson

· #19 · May 9, 2006

I think every person that has a problem with his player should start a new thread.

And every user that loves his unit should start a new thread.

Just not here.

AlieniceT

· #20 · May 9, 2006

The freezing behavior in my case was totally random, and could not be replicated by the intellectually challenged CSR's at BB where I purchased and returned my HD-A1. Geek Squad, indeed....

Anyway, I have become used to a certain level of consistent behavior in the AV equipment that I own, and the HD-A1 quickly became the bastard stepchild of my set-up. Considering that the Toshiba is basically a HTPC in a DVD player form factor, it should not be an insurmountable task for one of the big names out there to get it right. When they do, with 1080P output over HDMI and consistent playback performance, I'll be back. By then, maybe some of the movies out there will be worth owning, too.

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