Which to keep? Toshiba HD-A2 or HD-A3?

[aphex]

So with the fiasco of last week, I ended up with both a Toshiba A2 and A3 for $99 each. I opened the A2 and have been using it for a week, the A3 just arrived today.

There is only two things about the A2 that annoy me, that stupid big red circle indicator on the unit (looks different on the A3) and the time it takes to first boot (nearly 1-2 minutes - dunno if the A3 is any better)

Which one should I keep?

The A2 has practically no resale value over what I paid so I would just return it.
The A3 sells for around $160 (+/- $10) on eBay. $60 profit, but I would also lose out on the two movies (half.com $35 or so total) so I would only net $25 or so over the A2 if I bought those movies.

 

[SlickSnake]

In the same boat with you, but I spent $199.99 on the A3 and got 10 movies on the deal. I only get 5 movies on the A2C deal, from Smallmart, and a free HDMI cable. I would lean towards the A3 myself, just because of the extra movies involved.

 

[aphex]

OOps, i fergot about the ones in store I picked up as well... But if i sold the A3, I would just keep those two i picked up for free, so I won't take those into account.

 

[Shawn]

How do you have the audio hooked up? If it's over optical the A2 converts everything to 1.5mbps DTS while the A3 only does 640kbps Dolby Digital. If you have it hooked up via HDMI then it doesn't matter.

 

[aphex]

I am currently hooked up via Optical. So the A3 can't do DTS over optical? Does it have a coax?

EDIT: Looks like no Coax either. Hmmm, I have a Harmon Kardon AVR240 with Athena Micra 6 speakers... Think it would make a noticeable difference?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Its not that it can't do DTS through optical (well, I guess maybe it can't since I don't know if they have the lossy audio tracks on the discs as well), it has to do with the newer HD audio feeds. So, the A2 will take the lossless audio tracks and convert them to 1.5mbps DTS signal, while the A3 will do the same but into a 640kbps DD signal. Due to DTS being a higher bitrate, it should retain more of the quality. I don't know that you could tell the difference, but that's what is going on.

 

[Shawn]

Yeah, the high def audio converted to DTS sounds pretty amazing. I bought an HDMI reciently just so I could take full advantage of the high def audio, but to be honest I can't really tell the difference. I would keep the A2.

 

[aphex]

Quick Q though - How do I know if the A2 and my Reciever are actually sending the proper signal? I mean, what if my reciever can't support the higher audio quality the A2 Optical sends?

I have a HK AVR240 if that helps

 

[Eug]

Any receiver that supports DTS should support full 1.5 Mbps DTS.

While some argue that DD has a stronger encoding algorithm than DTS, DD is limited by the max bitrate of 640. DTS is claimed to be better sounding simply because what it is missing in efficiency is more than compensated by the much, much higher bitrate.

Personally, I'm happy enough with either.

Now I know Microsoft is biased, but FWIW one of their insiders claims that if you had a choice (like with Pioneer receivers), the best to worst in their minds is:

1) WMA Pro 1.5 Mbps
2) DTS 1.5 Mbps
3) DD 640 Kbps

This choice of options (including WMA) is only available on the Xbox 360. MS's claim is that WMA Pro is much more efficent that DTS (which is probably true), yet it maintains the same 1.5 Mbps bitrate, so it gets the best of both worlds.

 

[aphex]

So in my case, i should stick with the A2 then for the better quality optical audio... No prob, I can always pick up 300 HD-DVD used on half for $15

 

[aphex]

Well now i'm confused! I just came across this over at the A3 thread over at AVS

Assuming your receiver will decode DD and DTS then yes. Set your SPDIF output to bitstream. TrueHD and Dolby digita plus tracks will be sent to your receiver as DD 5.1 at ~640kbs and DTS, DTS-HD (core only) tracks will be sent at a maximum up to 1.5mbs.

So it can do DTS/DTS-HD at 1.5mbs via optical but not downconverted TrueHD or Dolby Digital?

 

[Eug]

What that means is that if you have a native DTS track off DVD, it will get sent as DTS on the A3. For DTS-HD on HD DVD, the A3 will extract the core, which is a standard DTS track, and will feed that over optical too.

However, the VAST majority of tracks on HD DVD are either DD+ or Dolby TrueHD. Those will be converted to DD for optical.

 

[aphex]

gotcha, thanks for the help... I'll keep the A2 then, as it seems there aren't many positives for the A3 over the A2.

 

[Eug]

The A3 is slightly smaller, if that matters to you.

BTW, for the record, I have the A2. I want something smaller, but the A3 isn't quite small enough for my setup. I want something only about 10 inches deep.

 

[aphex]

slighly smaller? how much so?

 

[aphex]

ahh, bout 1/2" less in depth... ehh, yea, not a big diff but that sucker sure is huge

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: Eug
What that means is that if you have a native DTS track off DVD, it will get sent as DTS on the A3. For DTS-HD on HD DVD, the A3 will extract the core, which is a standard DTS track, and will feed that over optical too.

However, the VAST majority of tracks on HD DVD are either DD+ or Dolby TrueHD. Those will be converted to DD for optical.

What happens to those same signals over HDMI?

I just bought an Onkyo TX-SR705 and I have an HD-A3 on backorder from the BB deal. Will I get DTS-HD over HDMI?

 

[aphex]

from what i read over at AVS - only the Optical is crippled per say, you will get everything via HDMI

 

[Eug]

Yeah. Optical can actually transfer will over 1.5 Mbps, but the initial SPDIF over optical spec says 1.5 Mbps. So, the players are limited to that.

 

[MrChad]

Do these players convert the high bandwidth audio codecs to PCM over HDMI?

 

[TheAdvocate]

This wont matter to 95% of you - but one reason I picked the A2 over the A3 is that the A3's front buttons are exposed. Beyond the aesthetics, I have a toddler, and he'll push any friggin button he sees. I love the fold-down front button cover on the A2.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: TheAdvocate
This wont matter to 95% of you - but one reason I picked the A2 over the A3 is that the A3's front buttons are exposed. Beyond the aesthetics, I have a toddler, and he'll push any friggin button he sees. I love the fold-down front button cover on the A2.

lol, i didnt even know that cover was there

 

[Eug]

This post claims the A3 is SLOWER than the A2

I have a Toshiba HD-A2, A3, and A30 in front of me. I thought I'd share my comparison finding. This mattered to me, perhaps it will to others:

With a disc in each player and power turned off, each takes the following boot times:

--until disc is read and "hd-dvd logo" appears on screen:
A2 (firmware 2.5): 32 sec.
A3 & A30 (firmware 1.0): 50 sec.
A3 & A30 (firmware 1.1): 33 sec.

--Additional time until first screen of disc is played:
A2 (firmware 2.5): 16 sec.
A3 & A30 (firmware 1.0): 25 sec.
A3 & A30 (firmware 1.1): 30 sec.

These numbers are very consisted and can be repeated with numerous discs.
Basically, the A2 is considerably faster than the 3rd gen. Also, the new firmware sped up the boot times considerably.

----------
NEXT: DISC READ PROBLEMS

I have 5 Netflix discs with minor scratches. 3 of the discs get stuck (stop & gives read error 408bc504) on the A-3/A-30 at the exact same spots each time. --However, the A2 plays through all discs without any problem whatsoever. --This can be repeated 4-5 times back and forth with exactly same consistent results between the 2 players---
Conclusion: the A2 with 2.5 firmware has been tweaked to such a point that it reads through problem discs extremely well - quite impressive actually.

Wow. Judging by previous reports, I knew the A3 was not faster, but didn't realize it was that much slower in certain aspects.

 

[zinfamous]

so it looks like AVS lifted the posting ban today?

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Do these players convert the high bandwidth audio codecs to PCM over HDMI?

Yes! That's how I am getting high def audio.