Well, I pulled the trigger on a Toshiba HD-A1 Player

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: yllus

Originally posted by: jmgonzalez
Sign up for the frequent flyer program on Continental.com

Acquire 100 points somehow - shop on another site linked from continental.

Pay $363 SHIPPED, plus 100 points for the HD-DVD player

I bought one at release and love it

Serenity, Aeon Flux, Chronicles of Riddick are my top 3 'jaw-dropping' movies right now

I have this plugged into a Panasonic 42" EDTV

😕

Yeah, doesn't that defeat the purpose of the HD-DVD? HD-DVD = 1080i. EDTV = 540p.

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

Just due to the older codec used? Any other reasons?

And technically shouldn't two 1080p movies look exactly the same? I mean they DO both have the same resolution.

Personally I'm in favor of HD-DVD (even though I probably won't care about HD at all for at least the next three years) simply because it's not the one supported by Sony. 😛

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

Just due to the older codec used? Any other reasons?

They are claiming there was a problem with some hardware firmware issues that caused picture blurriness. However, some videophiles are reporting that the picture still doesn't look that good after the firmware issue has been fixed.

And technically shouldn't two 1080p movies look exactly the same? I mean they DO both have the same resolution.

Yes, but they are encoded differently. VC-1 is an advanced MPEG-4 codec. MPEG-2 is how old now?

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

Just due to the older codec used? Any other reasons?

They are claiming there was a problem with some hardware firmware issues that caused picture blurriness. However, some videophiles are reporting that the picture still doesn't look that good after the firmware issue has been fixed.

And technically shouldn't two 1080p movies look exactly the same? I mean they DO both have the same resolution.

Yes, but they are encoded differently. VC-1 is an advanced MPEG-4 codec. MPEG-2 is how old now?

I guess that also depends on how well the codec/decoder is implemented?

Also I just read on NEC's site that HD-DVDs are capable of dual-sided, triple-layer discs, effectively giving you 90 GB of disc space. Sounds fine to me!

 

[Fingolfin269]

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

Just due to the older codec used? Any other reasons?

They are claiming there was a problem with some hardware firmware issues that caused picture blurriness. However, some videophiles are reporting that the picture still doesn't look that good after the firmware issue has been fixed.

And technically shouldn't two 1080p movies look exactly the same? I mean they DO both have the same resolution.

Yes, but they are encoded differently. VC-1 is an advanced MPEG-4 codec. MPEG-2 is how old now?

I guess that also depends on how well the codec/decoder is implemented?

Also I just read on NEC's site that HD-DVDs are capable of dual-sided, triple-layer discs, effectively giving you 90 GB of disc space. Sounds fine to me!

I don't know about triple-layering of the discs but I do know that one supposed advantage of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray is the ability to go dual-sided. This will allow for HD on one side and standard on the other initially.

 

[So]

Next time you want to waste $363, just send it to me.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

Just due to the older codec used? Any other reasons?

They are claiming there was a problem with some hardware firmware issues that caused picture blurriness. However, some videophiles are reporting that the picture still doesn't look that good after the firmware issue has been fixed.

And technically shouldn't two 1080p movies look exactly the same? I mean they DO both have the same resolution.

Yes, but they are encoded differently. VC-1 is an advanced MPEG-4 codec. MPEG-2 is how old now?

I guess that also depends on how well the codec/decoder is implemented?

Also I just read on NEC's site that HD-DVDs are capable of dual-sided, triple-layer discs, effectively giving you 90 GB of disc space. Sounds fine to me!

I don't know about triple-layering of the discs but I do know that one supposed advantage of HD-DVD over Blu-Ray is the ability to go dual-sided. This will allow for HD on one side and standard on the other initially.

Yeah, there are a couple of titles that do this already. They are slightly more expensive though.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: archcommus

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

Just due to the older codec used? Any other reasons?

And technically shouldn't two 1080p movies look exactly the same? I mean they DO both have the same resolution.

Personally I'm in favor of HD-DVD (even though I probably won't care about HD at all for at least the next three years) simply because it's not the one supported by Sony. 😛

The initial reviews (I don't have time to find the link) indicate that the first batch of Blu-Ray discs show cropping of the image and a darker, lower-quality picture than the same HD-DVD titles.

 

[AMDZen]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: Amol

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I don't think its here to stay. I mean look, holographic storage devices are already in the testing stages. Sure, I want my HD movies on my 360, but is 25GB too little?

Dual Layer gives you 50GB (like DL DVDs gave ~9.4GB)

Dual layer HD DVD is 30GB
Dual layer Blu-ray is 50GB

The Toshiba in the original post is an HD DVD player and he got it for a great price.

And he was also wrong on DVD's. DL DVD's were 8.5, not even double the 4.7 that was on single layer (which was actually closer to 4.5)

 

[SparkyJJO]

Well, I pulled the trigger on a Toshiba HD-A1 Player

Originally posted by: Blazin Trav
How much damage did the bullet make?

:laugh:

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
well, from what ihead, it is slow as a turtle. it takes like 1 minute to turn on. give it time. also, it only supports 1080i which kind of sucks. of course it is much cheaper then an $1k blu-ray drive. it is also very heavy. it's basically a linux computer with an HD-DVD drive.

It doesn't matter if it only supports 1080i. A 1080p can retransmit the 1080i signal back into 1080p. Anyways, there are rumors that 1080p will be supported in a firmware update along with Dolby TrueHD. That's what I like about this player, it can connect directly to the internet for firmware updates. Toshiba has fixed a lot of the bugs in comparison to the original firmware.

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

The only problem with the xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on, is that it doesn't have an HDMI connection. You won't be able to upconvert SD DVDs like you can with the Toshiba.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I don't think its here to stay. I mean look, holographic storage devices are already in the testing stages. Sure, I want my HD movies on my 360, but is 25GB too little?

What knid of comment is this? Here to stay simply means it'll stick around for a while. Of course it's here to stay. Look at how long DVD's have been around. Heck, they still make VHS tapes.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats

Originally posted by: DonVito
If there were more media out there I'd seriously consider getting one, and I will almost certainly get the HD-DVD add-on for Xbox360. All the initial reviews seem to indicate that HD-DVD is superior to Blu-Ray apples to apples. We shall see . . .

The only problem with the xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on, is that it doesn't have an HDMI connection. You won't be able to upconvert SD DVDs like you can with the Toshiba.

The 360 already upconverts via the VGA cables. This was part of the spring update.

One of the 360 devs stated that they wanted to add upconverting via component cables as part of the fall update. Since the HD-DVD add-on will be released later this year, I can see this happening.

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: So
Next time you want to waste $363, just send it to me.

The nice thing about the HD-A1 is it's considered the best upconverting DVD player on the market. So even if by some small chance HD-DVD loses this format war, I still have one of the best Upconverting DVD players money can buy 😉

 

[archcommus]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: ChAoTiCpInOy
I don't think its here to stay. I mean look, holographic storage devices are already in the testing stages. Sure, I want my HD movies on my 360, but is 25GB too little?

What knid of comment is this? Here to stay simply means it'll stick around for a while. Of course it's here to stay. Look at how long DVD's have been around. Heck, they still make VHS tapes.

Do they?

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: Queasy
[The 360 already upconverts via the VGA cables. This was part of the spring update.

One of the 360 devs stated that they wanted to add upconverting via component cables as part of the fall update. Since the HD-DVD add-on will be released later this year, I can see this happening.

Upconverting is overrated IMO anyway. You're not really seeing anything extra.

 

[ultimatebob]

I wonder if people bragged about buying BetaMax players like this about 25 years ago? 🙂