Darkside,

That's what I want to hear. My Malata will play them and the Panasonic stand-alone recorder will not. I've been thinking of getting a new player that upconverts and this might be the way to go...depending. One of my issues was definitely whether or not it could play dual-layer blanks.

Darkside,

Thanks for the sd comparisons, what model is your denon?

2910

So i'm comparing a $700 DVD player to a $500 player that is mostly designed for a different format. Looking at it as a realist the Toshiba's DVD playback is pretty good for the price and considering it is not its main objective. Also people have taken the Toshiba apart and its build quality seems in line with the kind of build quality reviews the 2910 has received. I couldn't believe the thing had 1GB of Ram and a 2.4GHz processor. There definitely looks like $500 worth of parts in it alone (well maybe $300 at the prices Toshiba pays).

If they can fix the black level over HDMI I would definitely rate the Toshiba much higher for DVD playback as it does look pretty darn good once properly calibrated through the component. The Denon does a better job eliminating artifacts and has a slightly better overall picture (to my eyes) but again if I was upgrading from my older Sony players straight to the Toshiba I would have no issues using it as my only player at least with the DVD over component for now.

Over on the AVS one person stated they had no problems play DL disks at all. I will know for sure when I buy mine on Monday at Best Buy. For some reason they were closed today. I will post after I try a DL disk.

Might have been that Easter thing that's been going around.

what does SD stand for.Standard Disc?

Standard Definition.

So, are people using Component or HDMI? I only have COmponent on my TV, so I would have to use that along with Optical out...is there a COAX out also?

There is a COAX out for audio as well as optical. It works well through component, but you can't upscale most DVDs that way.

dude your head looks extra long......


j/k

so tempted but will not until i find out which format wins the war...

Thanks....I'll probably hold off until I get a new TV then. I want a new toy, but I can wait...my current DVD's look nice still.

I can't believe you people are reviewing these based on comparisons to SD resolution. It damn well better look better than SD!! HD resolution is the one thing nobody was worried about when these formats were created, I can't believe everyone is so swayed by resolution that is available from my $27 antenna. I'm much more interested in the other capabilities, the fine details of video (esp conversion) and audio. So far, I've seen nothing to tempt me in the slightest other than its build, which seems better than I expected for the price. Anybody know when the $800 Tosh is due?

Interesting that they have all this stuff inside (1GB RAM?) and still can't make their machine respond to the remote faster.

Has anyone reported if the HD players have any pauses during layer changes (on regular or HD dvds)?

Since there aren't any HD-DVD computer drives available yet, it's not possible to do a regular screen grab. Someone could take a digital photo of their TV, but that's not going to show you much.

HD-DVD discs have seamless layer changes. That much has been confirmed. Don't know yet about standard DVD playback.

The same argument applies to Blu-Ray.

The HD-A1 and HD-XA1 are being released simultaneously. They're making their way to retailers now.

I don't know, in my opinion the worst HD dvd should still look better than the best SD dvd......if thats not the case than everyone buying them at full price are suckers.

umm...duh. That goes without saying.

At worst, HD-DVD should look twice as good as regular DVD. At best, it will look 5.

And let's not forget about the sound factor. I'm very happy that so many people are commenting on how much better they sound. I've been saying that all along. I miss the days of laserdisc MOST because of the sound advantage. Dvd could never touch laserdisc in that respect.

Totally agree. Hopefully by the end of the year I can upgrade my receiver to take advantage of the new technology fully , but at the very least it will downconvert the uncompressed streams to the current standard full DTS bit rate which should sound much better than what we get on most DVDs.

BTW, I have yet to notice a layer change on regular DVDs but need to test this more carefully.

It was noted over at AVS that HMDI to your receive would fully support the bandwidth of the new audio formats, then the analog 5.1 ports (that you are not using for DVD-A and then the optical/coax feed, which would only give you 'normal' dvd audio because o fthe bandwidth limitations of the cabling/format.

Yeah, except no receivers (today) can handle the new audio formats.

Layer changes are noticable. Its about half a second on normal DVDs and probably a full second on the one DVD+R DL I tried. DVDs with really bad layer changes like the Abyss are just as bad on the Toshiba, but to be fair even my Denon can't make it through the layer change on Abyss with freezing for half a second.

or your really small.... . You must of been as happy as a dvdtalker...at a dvd shopping spree. Anyway im going to wait a few months and let people test it out and post reviews.

I just confirmed myself it has NO PROBLEMS with DL disks. This is if anyone was still wondering.