In the notes section I wrote:

Please send me BB and SB as my two free movies. Also, please add the cost of the warranty to my order.

I received an e-mail from VE stating:

Thank you for your order. We'll add the cost of the warranty to the CC info you provided.

Easy!!

Cool, thanks Josh. I just emailed them to have them add the cost.

No problem! That's how we in the HD-DVD community do things. -snip-

You're a serious....SERIOUS...dork.

Has anyone been having playback glitches with their A1 lately? I have a Feb. build with 2.0 firmware. Seems lately that every title I play, a couple of times during the movie, it'll drop the audio and scan forward a few seconds and then it goes back to normal. all of my discs are in pristine shape, so it's nothing on the disc. Maybe the player is dirty. What's the best method for cleaning? Maybe it's the 2.0 firmware. I don't recall getting this type of playback issues before 2.0, which I've had since it was released. I hope 2.1 will take care of it. If these glitches keep up, I may just get the A2 from Robert for $450.

This is a bit more info for the A2, from AVS:

"The A2 has a faster processor for more responsive operation. DVD and HD-DVD load times are 20-25 seconds faster on the HD-A2 and HD-AX2. The A2 also has improved error correction on its HD-DVD ROM drive, which improves the reliability of disk reads, especially for imperfect disks (fingerprints, dust, scratches, etc).

Toshiba is working on native DTS-HD support for the A2, which may or may not be offered for the A1. DTS-HD decoding requires significantly more processing power than Dolby TrueHD, and it is entirely possible the A1 hardware just isn't sufficient. "

Without the analog outs, DTS-HD does nothing for me.

I just had this happen on Batman Begins. Only happened once during the movie and did not happen when I watched Fast Times and Grand Prix later. I was using the TrueHD track, but when I watched Troy with TrueHD there was no glitch. Very weird, but I've watched a dozen movies with the 2.0 firmware and only had that happen once.

How do you get the extra $50 off? Do you need to give him your avsforum user account name?

There is a special link posted somewhere in the AVS thread talking about the G2 players.

Actually...that link is in my "bargains" thread.

Thanks. Ordered the A2 today. I guess I will put my A1 up at eBay once I get the new one in.

Looking forward to a faster startup time and more tolerance for scratched disks!!!

Steak, how do you run audio on your A1?

HDMI into my Denon 4306 receiver.

Okay, coolness.

I sprang for the extended warranty on this one since it was priced wrong at the time when I bought my player at the Best Buy that broke street date and it lasted 4 years.

If I do start to notice audio drop outs happening or problems with scratched discs I will definitely return mine and get a G2 model. I'm hoping that doesn't happen though as I really like the A1.

Another thread suggested component may be less problematic. I have always used HDMI with the A1, but I've decided to switch and use component with it and let the Sammy use the HDMI for a bit.