Did you set it up with HDMI?

From darkside's post, component-out sounds like it gives better PQ than HDMI.

yeah i did use hdmi

I don't think the HD-DVD players have the ability to read VC-1 off of a DVD-5 (or 9). So, no, I don't think that is possible, unfortunately.

At one point, Blu-Ray players were supposed to read VC-1 and MPEG-4 off of a SD-DVD, but I don't know if that is still the planned case.

Well, at least for DVD. I don't have any HD DVDs to check so this issue may be purely a DVD one.

I believe KING KONG will be the deal breaker for many HDA1 & HDXA1 owners..if this movie has the stunning visuals that almost everybody has said it has..then everybody shoud be extremley happy with there purchase.Remember the Picture quality will vary from film to film,always keep that in mind.

Content shot on HD video has a different look than content shot on film. They cannot be directly compared.

And that is why, I think, he made the comment about you not knowing what you're talking about.

Although I'd love for movies to look like the documentaries i see on the discovery channel, there's a reason why they look the way they do. They look like film and it's something I've definitely grown to love while watching HD. It's something you immediately notice with HD and I can't say that it was as obvious with other forms of media.

dude, actually I was pleasantly surprised with Serenity....of course I had no expecatations but it's a nice popcorny action flick...just my .02

I'm not surprised that there are glitches, but one has to wonder if this is a "sky is falling" scenario where a few small problems are being amplified out of proportion.

As far as "reviews" go, who are most ofus here going to go with? Darkside, who calibrated his display and bought the format to have HD films, or Andy, the guy who's having problems getting an optical cable to work, can't understand that film and video are two different things, and biught the player with the intention to flip it on ebay? Yes I did read the thread, and to me, that is how you came across. It sounds like you dropped the cash and now are experiencing some buyer's regret. To some (me included) $500 is a big wad to blow. I'd rather hear opinions from someone who couldn't care about the cash he's blown.

I'm with MBS here. For movies, one format will be the same as the other. It will be hard to hold out until BR hits, but how can anyone make a fair comparison until then?

I've been reading around at other forums and people seem to be really impressed the most by Phantom of the Opera. My wife loves that movie so it will probably be the first HD DVD title I buy on Tuesday. Also, I'm not reading about anyone that is watching actual HD DVDs having any complaints at all about black level through the HDMI so again it may just be an issue with DVD. If that is the case I will have no complaints. Either way this is something Toshiba could easily fix with a firmware update. I have emailed them about it and will call and bug them tomorrow.

My TV has multiple video settings so I set up one of them last night with Video Essentials for the Toshiba through component and watched a few DVDs. Once properly calibrated the Toshiba is pretty good at 480p. It doesn't clean up artifacts or deinterlace as well as the Denon, but once I calibrated the colors the picture was very acceptable and something most people would be happy watching. One DVD, Tripping the Rift Season one, is not copy protected so the player even upscaled it to 1080i through the component out. However, this player is only average at upscaling DVDs and this is where you can really spot the most picture artifacts.

If other users out there are right in their reviews this player does an excellent job at what it was mainly designed for, HD DVD. The fact they didn't go all out on the other formats it supports is not surprising and actually to be expected for a low end player and that is what the HD-A1 is.

BTW, I had zero freezing and no mechanical issues at all on any DVDs I watched with it yesterday. The machine could be faster booting up and loading discs, but honestly that is not an issue since those stupid FBI warnings delay the movie watching process more than anything.

I was playing around with this unit at Best Buy yesterday and I can not possibly state enough that the remote is totally unacceptable. The buttons are tiny and unresponsive, there are about 4000 of them, and the layout is just arcane. I'm sure many of the early adopters have universal remotes, so I just hope that Harmony and the like get the codes up and working ASAP, as many users will get very frustrated.

*edited for ridiculous typo*

Actually the problem with the remote for me is too much empty space that could have held more useful buttons not to mention a couple of buttons with no use at all. Its a beautiful looking remote, but they give up function for style. I programmed it into my Onkyo universal learning remote and put it away.

How many people actually use the original remote anymore anyway?

the remote looks great. but i think most users will end up using a universal remote

Well...I was going to grab one today, but spent about $1000 on my new white water kayak and assorted gear instead.



Maybe next week.....

What if you're a SciFi fan who hated both Serenity and Firefly?

U-571 will be coming from Universal on May 23rd and is also available on D-VHS. I'm sure AVS'ers will compare both ad nauseam. We'll shortly know what HD-dvd is capable of.

U-571 D-vhs Review

Eek. But that means sitting through the whole movie

I bought the Toshiba last night along with "Samurai." I have an ISF'd Sony KP-57WS520 (CRT RPTV). Prior to this, I have been using a Sony 9100ES upscaling DVD player. I've used a variety of other DVD players at one time or another, including the Denon 3910.

On any rate, the Toshiba and "Samurai" totally surpass anything I've seen on my display before. In fact, I had a SD copy of "Samurai" and did A/B comparisons. Well, there really isn't any comparison.

The added detail, sharpness, and resolution....and more color as a result....was just breathtaking. However, the preview was even more so. The preview on the disc shows clips from Matrix, Batman Begins, Charlie and the Choc. Factory, Harry Potter 4, and Dukes of Hazzard. These even looked better.

Transfers are going to vary just as they did for SD. I doubt "Samurai" is a reference quality HD disc. But, it still looked fantastic and much, much better than SD.

However, something more surprised me. The Toshibs'a upscaling ability for SD is excellent. Better than the higher end DVD players I've tried out. I mean this player for SD alone at $500 is a great value....even if I didn't use HD. But, when you factor that in too, it's a great deal.

For the most part, I will probably only rent HD-DVD. I don't want to invest in many titles when the winner of the format war is uncertain. However, this will be my only HD until there is a clear-cut winner....at which point, I'll consider a higher-end player (at a lower cost by that time) with either HD-DVD or Blu-ray.

Again, would love for anyone with a dual-layer +r to try it.

I tried burning a few basketball games on DVD+R DL so I could use a higher recording bit rate, but I had really poor playback results with the dual layered discs (sound cutting and video skipping) on my Sony players and quit using them.

I went and dug them out and the Toshiba played them fine. I skipped around to different parts of the game and didn't notice any issues on a quick look. I will try and sit through and watch one or two to look for issues tomorrow. Hopefully I can see how the player handles the layer change.

BTW, I ordered both Phantom of the Opera and Chronos ($19.57 and $14.25 from Deep Discount with 5% off from a Great Fun 30 day free trial) so those will be my first two HD DVD purchases. The rest of the current lineup I will get from Netflix. I don't want to double dip on Million Dollar Baby and Serenity and Last Samurai are not films I want to own. I will probably lean on Netflix a lot since finding discs under $20 will be tough for quite some time.

Darkside,

what did you record those on? pc? or stand alone?

Originally recorded on a stand alone Recorder at 2 hour quality split on two discs. Then I rip them to my PC and edit out the commercials and combine the two halves and burn it onto one dual layer disc. I was using the 3 hour quality so I could fit an entire game on one standard 4.7GB disc, but obviously the quality is much better if I can bump the bit rate and record onto dual layer.

I will note the discs play back perfectly on my laptop and it was only my Sony players that had issues with the dual layer discs. Maybe the newer drive in the Toshiba will play them fine. I'll definitely sit and watch one or two games tomorrow all the way through and try and catch any problems especially at the layer change. The Toshiba had no issues at all booting the discs and scaning all around them though.

I tossed in a few random MST3K (recorded off TV, encoded for DVD by fans) DVD+Rs and DVD-Rs and the Toshiba had no issues booting them up and playing them. So it seems to do well with recorded media even though the manual seems to claim -R compatibility and not +R.

can we get a serenity screen grab and a comparative sd serenity screen grab by chance?? =)