Blu-ray, in General

Message

nick · #101 Post by **nick** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:58 am

davidhare wrote:Annoyingly nobody has asked the Tosh guy if the Euro model will play PAL and NTSC (or neither or both or either) SD discs.

That was my first thought when I finished reading as well.

edit 1 just saw this up at dvdtimes

from dvdtimes wrote:Toshiba have announced their first HD DVD Players for European markets with the HD-E1 due mid-November and the higher-end HD-XE1 to follow at the beginning of December. Priced at â‚¬599 (approx Â£405) and â‚¬899 (approx Â£605) the features are highlighted belowâ€¦

The differences between the players are few but significant, with the HD-XE1 boasting HDMI 1.3 and full 1080P output alongside 5.1 analog outputs ensuring you can enjoy the new audio formats on your existing 5.1 input capable amplifiers. It also features a digital coaxial output alongside a digital optical out.

The HD-E1 by comparison offers HDMI 1.2 and up to 1080i output but sadly lacks the 5.1 analog out, and loses the coaxial digital output but retains the optical out. This means the best you can hope for from the new audio formats on your existing amplifiers is the on-the-fly conversion to Dolby Digital/DTS by the player transmitted through the optical out.

Beyond that both players offer full HD DVD functionality, with all video and audio codecs supported and all enhanced navigation features catered for. Both players also support upscaling standard definition DVDs (both PAL and NTSC video standards are covered) to 720P and 1080i (HD-E1) and 1080P (HD-XE1), while you will also find an Ethernet port to enable easy firmware updates.

Looks like the European model will support 1080p and upscale NTSC and PAL. Looks like you can go ahead and order one davidhare.

porquenegar · #102 Post by **porquenegar** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 3:45 am

Got my player up and running and am loving it. I haven't had a single problem with it and that is even with the old version of the firmware (v1.4) that was supposedly a bit buggy. The only complaint I have is that the load time is too slow. Firmware v2.0 supposedly addresses this in addition to allowing you to playback Dolby TruHD. I mailed my firmware update card this morning and hopefully, I'll get the updated software disc sent to me soon.

Gregor Samsa · #103 Post by **Gregor Samsa** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:55 am

SncDthMnky wrote:yay! A bunch of garbage movies and the fantastic extended cut of kingom of heaven without bonus features!

Ah, but you're forgetting the most important development of all--A Speed game that boasts six, count em', six play modes!

The Invunche · #104 Post by **The Invunche** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 6:05 am

porquenegar wrote:I mailed my firmware update card this morning and hopefully, I'll get the updated software disc sent to me soon.

Why don't you connect it to your Internet connection and update through that?

porquenegar · #105 Post by **porquenegar** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 9:25 pm

I live in San Diego, CA. This link is encouraging regarding international releases.

I bought the Toshiba HD-A1 for $420 shipped at Amazon by applying for their credit card and taking advantage of the $30 off your first purchase deal. I was already in the market for an upconverting player and was looking pretty seriously at the Oppo. I had been worried that I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the new sound formats without having to upgrade my receiver. When I learned that the player is now able to decode the lossless Dolby format, I just went for it and decided to spend a the extra cash for the Toshiba. I figured the worst case is that I'll have a good upconverting DVD player.

As part of the Amazon deal, I also now get 10% off all HD DVD purchases for the remainder of the year. The majority of the movies are listed as $19.99 so I'm getting them for $17.96 each.

The only movies I've seen so far are Sleepy Hollow, Enter the Dragon and Bourne Supremacy. I'll be queing Good Night and Good Luck this evening. I have the Searchers and Full Metal Jacket on order and should be getting those next week sometime. I have also pre-ordered Aventures of Robin Hood and Grand Prix.

The Invunche wrote:Why don't you connect it to your Internet connection and update through that?

It seems too complicated to be honest. I've been reading thread after thread of people having trouble with it. I might give it a shot if it takes too long for the update disc to get here.

The Invunche · #106 Post by **The Invunche** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 11:39 pm

The guys at digital bits said it was simple.

porquenegar · #107 Post by **porquenegar** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 3:42 am

It was very easy and the update took about 25 minutes to install. I have a simple DSL connection so all that worrying about proxy servers and firewalls that were giving other people problems didn't apply to me. v2.0 is now installed.

The Invunche · #108 Post by **The Invunche** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 5:35 am

porquenegar wrote:I have a simple DSL connection so all that worrying about proxy servers and firewalls that were giving other people problems didn't apply to me.

The morons that can't even do the simplest tasks are also the ones who'll make the most noise about it online. Never listen to them.

Cinesimilitude · #109 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 10:12 am

From DVDActive.com:

Universal Home Video has announced the first November wave of HD DVD releases. Arriving from the 14th November will be King Kong ($39.98) starring Naomi Watts and Jack Black, The Hulk ($29.98) with Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly, and Waterworld ($29.98) starring Kevin Costner. Each will carry a high definition anamorphic widescreen transfer, along with English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround tracks. Extras should be identical to the discs already on the market. The runtime for King Kong confirms that it will be the theatrical cut of the film, and not the new extended edition. Stay tuned for art.

I'll be waiting to buy the extended HD of King Kong, but I'll rent the theatrical cut to see how damn good the T-Rex fight looks.

porquenegar · #110 Post by **porquenegar** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:20 pm

I'll be ready for a new player when the war is over in 3+ years anyway and I'll be happily enjoying HD DVDs until then. Like I posted previously, the worst case is that I end up with a good upscaling DVD player for just over $400 if HD DVD dies. I'd probably feel differently if I shelled out close to a $1000 for a Blu-Ray player.

The Invunche · #111 Post by **The Invunche** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:28 pm

According to digital bits their old Pioneer DVD player scales better than the Toshiba HD DVD player.

barrym71 · #112 Post by **barrym71** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 6:03 pm

That's odd. Almost every report I've read has sung the praises of the Toshiba player as a top-rate upscaling player.

porquenegar · #113 Post by **porquenegar** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 8:04 pm

The Invunche wrote:According to digital bits their old Pioneer DVD player scales better than the Toshiba HD DVD player.

I'm sure there may be better scaling players out there but they don't play HD DVDs! I'm very happy with the upscaling the Toshiba provides.

The Invunche · #114 Post by **The Invunche** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 11:28 pm

But then you have to add a bunch of HD DVD movies that will become unplayable if the player dies to your worst case scenario.

porquenegar · #115 Post by **porquenegar** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:12 am

The Invunche wrote:But then you have to add a bunch of HD DVD movies that will become unplayable if the player dies to your worst case scenario.

Well, I still play my LD player a few times a week, so i'm not sure I really care. You're determined to wreck my buzz, aren't you?

The Invunche · #116 Post by **The Invunche** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:17 am

You don't care and that's fine, but personally I refuse to invest money in a system that might suffer from a quick death.

I like that verb.

davidhare wrote:Of course reading the people at avsforum is like entering a wrestling den (and not in an interesting way.) All noise, tits and testosterone.

I ventured into a Blu-ray forum the other day and it was interesting to say the least. The Blu-ray fans are in such denial about the implications of the low quality of the first releases that they have resorted to calling them "previews" instead of releases.

porquenegar · #117 Post by **porquenegar** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:53 pm

Price drop on the Toshiba HD-A1 at Amazon. It is now $404 shipped in the US. If you apply for their Visa card, you get an $30 off your first purchase dropping the price to $374 not counting any A9 discounts. As an additional incentive, your HD DVD orders are 10% for a year and they pretty much have the lowest everyday prices. I'm going to mail them and see if they'll give me a credit since I've only had my player a week.

davidhare wrote:I am fascinated to hear reports back when the discs start getting interesting. Have you bought the Searchers yet?

It is supposed to arrive on Tuesday. I'll let you know what I think when I get it. Every review I've read claims it is stunning. I'm looking forward to Aventures of Robin Hood, my first ever triple dip (LD, DVD, HD DVD). It will make a nice demo of the limitations of the various formats.

I decided to cancel my Full Metal Jacket order after reading multiple reviews about how bad it looked.

Gigi M. · #118 Post by **Gigi M.** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:20 pm

New tripple layer discs announced for HD-DVD

Tokyo--Memory-Tech Corporation and Toshiba Corporation today announced the latest advance in DVD disc technology: a jointly developed, single-sided, three-layer ROM disc supporting high capacity storage and playback of both DVD and HD DVD formats.

The newly announced disc is the latest addition to the DVD TWIN format, discs that support both DVD and HD DVD content and that are fully compatible with both formats. The new disc boosts capacity and expands versatility with a three-layer structure offering support for two HD DVD layers and one DVD layer or two DVD layers and one HD DVD layer. Memory-Tech and Toshiba will propose the new disc to the HD DVD Forum, the industry body that defines DVD standards.

In a two-layer HD DVD configuration, the new TWIN disc has a 30GB HD DVD capacity, plus 4.7GB of standard DVD capacity. Configured to maximize standard DVD content, the disc can support 8.5GB on two layers, plus 15GB of HD DVD content on the third layer. DVD content can be played back on a standard DVD player, while HD DVD players can play back both formats.

Cinesimilitude · #119 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:45 pm

very exciting, Hopefully a triple layer HD disc is on the way, 45GB would give HD DVD just enough to compete with dual ayer blu-ray for video presentation. And even though I hate dual side discs, a dual sided dual hd layered disc would be awesome.

The Invunche · #120 Post by **The Invunche** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 4:06 pm

HD triple layer is not part of the HD DVD specs. Meaning current players will probably not be able to play it.

Cinesimilitude · #121 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 12:11 am

thats the beauty of the firmware upgrade's, they should be able to adapt to the technology.

The Invunche · #122 Post by **The Invunche** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:01 am

You can't be sure of that. There are hardware limitations here. If the drive can't read three HD layers a firmware upgrade wont help.

Cinesimilitude · #123 Post by **Cinesimilitude** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:10 am

Worst case scenario, warner has to split a movie over two dual HD DVDs. big whoop, it's still my choice.

The Invunche · #124 Post by **The Invunche** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:37 am

No.

Worst case scenario: you wont be able to play the newest discs without getting a new player.

porquenegar · #125 Post by **porquenegar** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 2:04 am

davidhare wrote:I am fascinated to hear reports back when the discs start getting interesting. Have you bought the Serachers yet?

As for upsacling - there are more opinions on this thanm there are on what is an auteur. The best standard def upscaling players up til now have been the Oppo, then Denon 1920 and 2090, the Pioneer and the Panny 97 (and the Momitsu, when it worked.)

Every review Ive read of the new Toshiba describes the upscaling as just as good as those players. Of course reading the people at avsforum is like entering a wrestling den (and not in an interesting way.) All noise, tits and testosterone.

I had a chance to watch the Searchers last night and I am very impressed by how good it looked. The transfer and presentation are at the very least equal to the other HD DVDs I have viewed. In fact, it is one of the better ones I've seen. The movie goes from extremely bright outdoor to darkish interior scenes and it was all displayed very nicely. The colors are very vivid and the level of detail extremely good.

I've also been playing around with SD DVDs and am very impressed with the upscaling capabilities of the player. I recently watched Match Point, Domino and Dancer and the Dark and they all looked very good. I have also started watching Days of Heaven which doesn't look as nice but I think that is because of the softness of the dvd transfer. I need to thrown in some academy ratio B&W movies to see how they fare.

It appears that the 2nd generation Toshiba player will be announced tomorrow but I'm very happy with this player.