Toshiba HD-XA1, HD-A1 - firmware/performance upgrades

Richard
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Post by Richard »

Welcome to the HD DVD crowd! You won't be disappointed! :D
HDMI to DVI video levels are PC and still needs to be fixed.
That means you have to turn up the brightness so your blacks aren't buried. A calibration DVD, even SD, will get this set right.

That also means when you return to other sources that are correct you need to change it back.

Component is correct but you won't be able to upscale SD DVD.
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Dave3putt
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Post by Dave3putt »

I am using HDMI for video and 5.1 analog for audio.....and I am not disappointed. It is flat the best PQ I have seen on my set. Kind of wonderous how good a HDTV can do when you feed it the real deal. And I only have 720P. :)

As you mentioned before around here, the audio setup is more of a challenge than the video.
Dave
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Post by Dave3putt »

My Toshiba is now stuck on "welcome" and will go no further. It has the new firmware. Tried unplugging it for two days, pounding on it, etc. No help. Will now have to decide whether to exchange it or just get a refund. I really wanted this machine to work because of the PQ and 5.1 analog audio. Don't know if this model(or any)can fill the bill. Don't care if it's slow to start up, but it has to at least start up; and once the show is on there should be no(as in zero) problems playing any disc it's supposed to play. Any players out there like that? :?:
Dave
Richard
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Post by Richard »

Are you on component or HDMI video out? If HDMI switch it to component.
Will now have to decide whether to exchange it or just get a refund. I really wanted this machine to work
Exchange or repair it!
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Dave3putt
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Post by Dave3putt »

I was using HDMI and tried the component, but no good. Sent it in to get fixed. I liked the machine and if it comes back really fixed, I will be happy.
Dave
Richard
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Post by Richard »

While watching Enter The Dragon I noticed unexplainable scaling errors in the image. These were aliasing artifacts but from 2-3 pixels wide using the BenQ W10000 1080P projector in 1:1 pixel mapping mode. It wasn't terrible per say but they would pop up through out the movie and niether of us wanted to take the time see if it could be better. The next day I investigated this and found out two things...

This disc was mastered native 720P.

The Toshiba does a terrible job of scaling 720P to 1080I.

By setting the player to 720P I had an image without those artifacts with 1X1 pixel mapping and using the projector aspect ratio filled out the screen for a far superior image.

Unfortunately this player does not support an auto native output so the only way you will know this is if you see a problem and run tests. Widescreen Review missed this one as well in their review more than likely due to running the player through a scaler which is greatly reducing this error.
Last edited by Richard on Sun Nov 25, 2007 2:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Richard
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Post by Richard »

For the new DVE HD-DVD release you have to upgrade the firmware to the most recent available. Unfortunately I am getting a cannot connect to server error... ARGH... hopefully this is a momentary lapse due to site maintenance... :?
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stevekaden
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Post by stevekaden »

It may not be a server issue. Lots of people seem to never be able to connect. I have watched a lot of discussion on this on another forum. Many never connect successfully and go the disc or download to disc route. The ISO file eventually gets out and Toshiba is about 3 weeks behind the online distribution with their CD's. I've been lucky myself and always connect easily (I had and still support an XA1, and have a 2 now).
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Post by Richard »

I'll keep that in mind for it has worked in the past... :?
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Dave3putt
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Post by Dave3putt »

...........or you could do like I do, and never download until 3 AM :D :D :D

Actually, i got firmware 2.2 a couple of weeks ago. Seems to work fine.
Dave
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