[Electone]

I found a mint, used HD-A1 that I'm going to pick up this weekend for $75. I asked the current owner what firmware was installed and he had no clue. My guess is that it has probably never been updated. I really want the unit for its analog outputs as my receiver is not HDMI compatible and I really want to hear Dolby TrueHD for the first time!


Is there a firmware version that I should leave alone or one that I should immediately upgrade?


How different is the operation of this player compared to my A3?

 

[jayrader]

Damn, I literally threw mine in the garbage because I couldn't give the thing away.

 

[BillyBeatnik]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Electone /forum/post/15494422


I found a mint, used HD-A1 that I'm going to pick up this weekend for $75. I asked the current owner what firmware was installed and he had no clue. My guess is that it has probably never been updated. I really want the unit for its analog outputs as my receiver is not HDMI compatible and I really want to hear Dolby TrueHD for the first time!


Is there a firmware version that I should leave alone or one that I should immediately upgrade?


How different is the operation of this player compared to my A3?

Make sure you get the remote. The A1 will not output video via component and HDMI simultaneously. You have to use the V. Output button on the remote to switch between the two. Component is the default output. Other than that, your A3 remote will work fine. In fact, you may prefer the A3 remote to the A1 remote anyway.


If you have a Harmony remote, it will switch the video output.


I have my A2 on firmware 2.4. I have not upgraded to 4.0.

 

[Electone]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jayrader /forum/post/15497828


Damn, I literally threw mine in the garbage because I couldn't give the thing away.

That's a shame. The HD-A1 is supposed to be one hell of a good CD player as well.

 

[Vader424242]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Electone /forum/post/15498327


That's a shame. The HD-A1 is supposed to be one hell of a good CD player as well.

It is. Aside from the fact that it bears an unfortunate resemblance to an early 80's top-loading VCR, it is a fine player. I put mine in storage as both a backup to my HD805 (may I never need it as such), and as a piece of history...

 

[sonydude1966]

My XA1 (basically an A1) is in my closet as a backup as well. It's very cool looking and works just fine as an HD DVD/DVD player. I would never consider throwing it out as long as it's working.

 

[Tracy RainH2o]

The major difference will be the start up and load time. The A3 is much faster than the A1. The remote is nice. I like the heavier metal remote and it's backlit.

 

[rr6966]

Still have mine in storage. It is an excellent CD player. I never had a single issue with mine, but the unit is a bit big and ugly by today's standards, heck it was when it first came out!

 

[amb7247]

all I use mine for is a cd player via optical since why use HDMI on my receiver when I leave an open one for something else. I have way more BD movies than I do HD-DVD. If I get my hands on an A2 I'll take this down.

 

[erick granato]

I still have my A1. Using firmware 2.0 with hardly any problems. I don't use it much anymore as I have a ps3 and a bd-55 blue ray players. I have about a dozen hddvd titles and every once in a while I get the urge to watch one and am still suprised by the picture and sound quality produced. And I also agree that it is actually a pretty good sounding stand alone cd player, in fact I heard that Toshiba did their homework and sourced very good quality components for the audio section of the A1/XA1. By all accounts, it can be considered an almost audiophile cd player.

 

[Electone]

I picked up the unit last night. It is in mint condition, with firmware 2.0 installed. A few initial observations: it is pretty unattractive looking, but the build quality is top notch. I don't think it starts up much slower than my A3. I immediately upgraded the firmware to 4.0.


I will use the unit with a Yamaha RX-V2400 receiver via the analog outputs (for DTHD) and toslink (for legacy DD & DTS). I ran through the speaker setup on the A1 and set all my speakers "small" and the sub setting to "use" and crossover to 100hz. I left all the speaker balance settings at "0" for now. My subwoofer has much more output through the toslink setting. I've read various threads about this issue.


Any ideas?


thx

 

[BillyBeatnik]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Electone /forum/post/15523242


I picked up the unit last night. It is in mint condition, with firmware 2.0 installed. A few initial observations: it is pretty unattractive looking, but the build quality is top notch. I don't think it starts up much slower than my A3. I immediately upgraded the firmware to 4.0.


I will use the unit with a Yamaha RX-V2400 receiver via the analog outputs (for DTHD) and toslink (for legacy DD & DTS). I ran through the speaker setup on the A1 and set all my speakers "small" and the sub setting to "use" and crossover to 100hz. I left all the speaker balance settings at "0" for now. My subwoofer has much more output through the toslink setting. I've read various threads about this issue.


Any ideas?


thx

If your receiver will not let you adjust the subwoofer setting on analog, you may have to go lower all settings on the A1 except the sub. Start by lowering by 5 decibels, and if that is not enough, lower it some more.

 

[slider33]



Quote:
Originally Posted by sonydude1966 /forum/post/15501283


My XA1 (basically an A1) is in my closet as a backup as well. It's very cool looking and works just fine as an HD DVD/DVD player. I would never consider throwing it out as long as it's working.

Same here. Mine has been great, had it 2.5 years now.

 

[JOHNnDENVER]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jayrader /forum/post/15497828


Damn, I literally threw mine in the garbage because I couldn't give the thing away.

Threw away an A1??? Hard to believe, it is one of the most respected CD transports ever. I see them selling well on used A/V sales websites.

 

[Xylon]

I still have mine.

 

[TuenMuner]

I still have mine, even though I've replaced it with BDP-51FD recently.

 

[alfbinet]



Quote:
Originally Posted by JOHNnDENVER /forum/post/15536903


Threw away an A1??? Hard to believe, it is one of the most respected CD transports ever. I see them selling well on used A/V sales websites.

At joerods suggestion I listed my A1 on Amazon.com and fetched $177.00. I still have my XA2 though and that is not going anywhere.

 

[alfbinet]



Quote:
Originally Posted by TuenMuner /forum/post/15538170


I still have mine, even though I've replaced it with

Quote:
BDP-51FD

recently.

Nice machine. I love mine-works great with my Kuro 6010.