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Toshiba HD-A2 - good as an upconverting DVD player?

mugs

mugs

Lifer
I'm thinking about buying the HD-A2, mostly for Transformers. I probably won't buy any other HD-DVDs, at least until this HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray nonsense is settled. I will rent from Netflix, I just don't want to end up with a collection of HD-DVDs that are useless when my player eventually dies. But I'd like to know that this thing will at least be useful beyond playing HD-DVDs - does it do a good job of upconverting regular DVDs?

Also, is there a current rebate for 5 free HD-DVDs? That'd probably put me over the edge. I see Amazon.com has one listed, but it's for purchases before the end of September.
 
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I want to see some screenies comparing regular DVDs at 480i with DVDs upscaled to 1080i or maybe even 1080p!!!!
Click to expand...

Closest I could find is: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102

compares upconverted DVD to HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Click to expand...

Wow, keeps me on the quest for a nex-gen DVD player.
"Someday" I tell myself, someday.
Click to expand...

I thought you already had a Blu-ray player?
 
Originally posted by: Shawn
Yeah, it's pretty much awesome. They have a new list of 5 free HD DVDs.

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hd..._Online_Rebate_R08.pdf
Click to expand...

That list doesn't appeal to me as much as the old list. 🙁

The Italian Job and Full Metal Jacket I'd get definitely. I've never seen and never really wanted to see any of the movies in B and D, and in E the only one I've seen is Troy which I don't have much interest in seeing again. I guess I'll have to read up on these movies on IMDB and figure out which ones I want. The 5 movies were really just icing on the cake anyway.

$220 is not bad if it's a good upconverting DVD player too. I think I'll buy it.
 
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I want to see some screenies comparing regular DVDs at 480i with DVDs upscaled to 1080i or maybe even 1080p!!!!
Click to expand...

Closest I could find is: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102

compares upconverted DVD to HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Click to expand...

I've watched that DVD on several upconverting players and whoever shot that needs some serious help tweaking their settings. On my setup, King Kong upconverted looks about as good as the HD side of that screenshot.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: Shawn
Yeah, it's pretty much awesome. They have a new list of 5 free HD DVDs.

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hd..._Online_Rebate_R08.pdf
Click to expand...

That list doesn't appeal to me as much as the old list. 🙁

The Italian Job and Full Metal Jacket I'd get definitely. I've never seen and never really wanted to see any of the movies in B and D, and in E the only one I've seen is Troy which I don't have much interest in seeing again. I guess I'll have to read up on these movies on IMDB and figure out which ones I want. The 5 movies were really just icing on the cake anyway.

$220 is not bad if it's a good upconverting DVD player too. I think I'll buy it.
Click to expand...

The Frighteners is pretty good. It's with Michael J Fox. I'd probably get that from the D list. I'm not so sure about list B, but I do know that Pitch Black sucked. The Thing is supposed to be pretty good. I have it next on my Blockbuster queue.
 
What do you guys do for HD DVD rental? Blockbusters / Netflix? How good is their selection? Have you seen significant differences between the two?
 
Originally posted by: Shawn
The Frighteners is pretty good. It's with Michael J Fox. I'd probably get that from the D list. I'm not so sure about list B, but I do know that Pitch Black sucked. The Thing is supposed to be pretty good. I have it next on my Blockbuster queue.
Click to expand...
The Thing is a CLASSIC, and one of my favorite movies of all time.

EDIT:
My understanding is BB is going to offer Blue-ray movies in the future, but not HD-DVD. I think Netflix offers HD-DVD, but I don't know, not being a member.
 
Blockbuster Online carries all HD DVDs. Blockbuster also carries HD DVDs in 250 of their stores. Basically all the news meant was that they weren't going to carry HD DVDs in any additional stores, while they may carry blu-ray in some additional stores. But as of yet, my local blockbuster doesn't carry either.
 
Originally posted by: Dman877
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I want to see some screenies comparing regular DVDs at 480i with DVDs upscaled to 1080i or maybe even 1080p!!!!
Click to expand...

Closest I could find is: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102

compares upconverted DVD to HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Click to expand...

I've watched that DVD on several upconverting players and whoever shot that needs some serious help tweaking their settings. On my setup, King Kong upconverted looks about as good as the HD side of that screenshot.
Click to expand...

Bull. You can definitely tell a *massive* difference between an upconverted DVD and an HD DVD or BD. I have KK and Troy in both HD DVD and DVD. I have an Oppo upconverter, arguably the best upconverting DVD player ever. There us simply no comparison between the two, HD DVD has many times the detail, which can be seen in hair, pores, background, everywhere. DVD seems like your watching the movie while having greasy glasses on.

You simply cannot create data out of thin air and expect it to be just as good as having real data. It's like expecting a 640x480 shot image expanded out to 1280x1024 to be just as good as a real 1280x1024 image. It's impossible, interpolation/extrapolation schemes and other image enhancers cannot *replace* actual data.

Xylon is highly regarded at avs forums, his system doesn't need to be checked, your eyes do.
 
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I want to see some screenies comparing regular DVDs at 480i with DVDs upscaled to 1080i or maybe even 1080p!!!!
Click to expand...

Closest I could find is: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102

compares upconverted DVD to HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Click to expand...

Wow, keeps me on the quest for a nex-gen DVD player.
"Someday" I tell myself, someday.
Click to expand...

I thought you already had a Blu-ray player?
Click to expand...

No, I am a fake gangster from the Blu-Ray side.
 
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Dman877
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I want to see some screenies comparing regular DVDs at 480i with DVDs upscaled to 1080i or maybe even 1080p!!!!
Click to expand...

Closest I could find is: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102

compares upconverted DVD to HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Click to expand...

I've watched that DVD on several upconverting players and whoever shot that needs some serious help tweaking their settings. On my setup, King Kong upconverted looks about as good as the HD side of that screenshot.
Click to expand...

Bull. You can definitely tell a *massive* difference between an upconverted DVD and an HD DVD or BD. I have KK and Troy in both HD DVD and DVD. I have an Oppo upconverter, arguably the best upconverting DVD player ever. There us simply no comparison between the two, HD DVD has many times the detail, which can be seen in hair, pores, background, everywhere. DVD seems like your watching the movie while having greasy glasses on.

You simply cannot create data out of thin air and expect it to be just as good as having real data. It's like expecting a 640x480 shot image expanded out to 1280x1024 to be just as good as a real 1280x1024 image. It's impossible, interpolation/extrapolation schemes and other image enhancers cannot *replace* actual data.

Xylon is highly regarded at avs forums, his system doesn't need to be checked, your eyes do.
Click to expand...

Maybe he doesn't have a projector (I presume, didn't look at his specs), and instead has a ~40-50" 1080i display?
 
The A2 is supposed to be a pretty good DVD upconverter, but not top tier.

I have one and it's not bad, and it seems to be better than the Xbox 360 for DVD upconversion.
 
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
Originally posted by: LegendKiller
Originally posted by: Dman877
Originally posted by: Shawn
Originally posted by: montypythizzle
I want to see some screenies comparing regular DVDs at 480i with DVDs upscaled to 1080i or maybe even 1080p!!!!
Click to expand...

Closest I could find is: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=811102

compares upconverted DVD to HD DVD and Blu-ray.
Click to expand...

I've watched that DVD on several upconverting players and whoever shot that needs some serious help tweaking their settings. On my setup, King Kong upconverted looks about as good as the HD side of that screenshot.
Click to expand...

Bull. You can definitely tell a *massive* difference between an upconverted DVD and an HD DVD or BD. I have KK and Troy in both HD DVD and DVD. I have an Oppo upconverter, arguably the best upconverting DVD player ever. There us simply no comparison between the two, HD DVD has many times the detail, which can be seen in hair, pores, background, everywhere. DVD seems like your watching the movie while having greasy glasses on.

You simply cannot create data out of thin air and expect it to be just as good as having real data. It's like expecting a 640x480 shot image expanded out to 1280x1024 to be just as good as a real 1280x1024 image. It's impossible, interpolation/extrapolation schemes and other image enhancers cannot *replace* actual data.

Xylon is highly regarded at avs forums, his system doesn't need to be checked, your eyes do.
Click to expand...

Maybe he doesn't have a projector (I presume, didn't look at his specs), and instead has a ~40-50" 1080i display?
Click to expand...

I have a 52" 2nd gen Toshiba DLP 1080i display and the differences are striking. Heck, even my wife can see the difference. We just got Knocked Up on Friday, I put the DVD side on just to see what she would say. Her first words were.

"This looks fuzzy". Then I flipped and put it into the HD DVD player, *huge* difference.

To think that it's anywhere near the same is the height of blindness.
 
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