%&^# rental discs!
 

So, I just bought a used Toshiba HD-A1.

Plays SD dvd's flawlessly. They look great.

Re-joined Blockbuster so I could try out some HD-DVD titles. First 3 discs arrive in the mail, and...

MI:3 - Got thru about 10 chapters. First lost audio, then it froze. Chapter skip and it starts playing fine at the next chapter.

Constantine - Get thru the opening scene and it freezes. No response to remote. Have to pull the power plug. Awful movie. Glad it died so I didn't have to watch any more. But disturbed by the trend here.

Nacho Libre - Player won't even read it. Just gives "NO DISC."

I've heard about the A1 choking on rental discs but this is ridiculous. I've got 3 more titles coming next week.

1. Any suggestions on how to make rental discs play?

2. Any of the other players like the A2, etc. better on rental discs?

I had this happen a lot with brand new discs. It wouldn't always freeze, sometimes it would look like it was skipping ahead a few seconds and that start playing okay again.
I also got a few freezes that made me unplug the player but they were rare.

It could be the rental discs if they look scratched, but I'm thinking it could be a problem with your A1. When mine started doing this a couple of months ago it steadily grew worse no matter how pristine the disc was.

Yeah, I would try out some brand new discs, but in general, I agree that the A1 is somewhat picky about scratched discs.

I've only had one issue with Netflix HD-DVD discs.

Oh, the rental discs are definitely scratched all to hell, just like anything else I get from Blockbuster. But the scratched SD dvd's play fine - not a single hiccup.

I just wonder if anyone has had this problem with the A1, then upgraded to a newer player like the A2 and had the problem go away.

If this doesn't improve, I think I'll just have to wait for the 3rd gen players - they'll be cheaper, anyway.

If the problem is with my A1 (i.e. it's defective) then I'm kinda screwed since it's a used one.

Did you upgrade the firmware? Or check to see if it had been upgraded to 2.0?

Im batting .500 with HD discs from Netflix. Unless they are 90% pristine, they will F up at some point.

I did the Blockbuster 2 week trial and the HD-DVD discs I got from them (3) were all great. I didn't go with them though since they dont have HD-DVD discs in store, invalidating the whole Drop Off at the Store and get another one angle.

It's too bad so many people are having problems with the standalone players. I have the 360 add on, and haven't experienced a single glitch even on the Weinstein titles. All my HD-DVDs were bought new, but my Mission Impossible disc was badly scratched from being loose in the case but it plays perfectly.

Similiarly, my 360 add-on has handled every rental disc (Blockbuster) I've gotten. I've exclusively played rental titles on it and had zero problems.

I'd guess that the OP issue is more the player than the discs. Because, as a format, HD-DVD hasn't seemed to me to be incredibly intolerant of scratches (because some of the BB discs that arrive are scratched up, but play without any hiccups).

The info screen reads:

1.0/1.09/2.0O

So, I assume that means it's upgraded to 2.0.

I think the BB deal is still better than netflix because there are plenty of SD dvd's I want to watch and when I drop off my 3 HD-DVDs (from on-line), they are supposed to be checked in faster, so I get 3 more sent from online faster. And I get 3 SDs to watch until they arrive.

Truth is that the A1 is shit at reading discs in less than perfect condition. The A2 is much better.

What about the XA1? I really need the analog outs.

I can't say for sure, but I would be surprised if it was significantly better.

Yeah, I know, you are right and I thought about that....

...but in the end, I HATE walking into a Blockbuster and staring at that stuff on the wall. I'm in my thirties and I have not rented from Blockbuster since I was 15 and in High School. When I was doing the trial, I had to get a card and sign up in store, blah blah just so I could try out the "Bring it Back in Store and Walk Out With an Extra Rental".

It "worked" fine, I just don't want to stand there like a goofball staring at a wall. (No offense to ya'll, I just don't like the practice myself)

If they had HD-DVD in store I'd just grab one of those. The SD titles that I have in my Netflix queue are the "rare" ones that I doubt would be in a Blockbuster or easily found in a Blockbuster.

I'm confident though that one day at least some Blockbusters around me will start stocking HD-DVD's and then I will try out the service again and probably run it concurrent with Netflix for a month or two and see what I like better.

This is the correct answer.

Screw the A2's "flimsy" build quality; its functional quality is leagues above the A1's.