I got a weird error code as well on Blades of Glory and it may have been this number. When I restarted the player it did not repeat. I have the latest firmware on my A2 and A3.

Here's easy step-by-step instructions on how to update a Toshiba HD-DVD player.

http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?p=426270

Lance, I saw someone mention that code on one of the forums, but when he updated the firmware, that resolved the error code.

Well, played Bourne Ultimatum and near the end the damn thing froze on me even though the counter kept going. So, I stopped it and saw that there was a small piece of dirt, got that off with no trouble yet once I started it again, it froze at the same spot. Soooo, I took it out AGAIN and tried to remove any residuals like fingerprints or w/e. Popped it in again and froze... again. Tried it one more time and noticed there was a smudge on the outer rim of the disc. Cleaned it and put it back in and then it worked fine. It's just frustrating since it was near the end and this only seems to happen on combo discs (have yet to have a problem with regular HD-DVDs).

BTW, this same kind of thing happened on Ocean's Thirteen (and around the same point, 110 minutes in or thereabouts) but on that disc there were no smudges or dirt...

I havent had any problems with my units without it being a firmware update issue.

Once resolved no problems - Then again I can also be gentle and delicate enough not to grab onto the disc like a two year old with Lou Gerig's disease.

As far as Toshiba (and I'm sure most other manufacturer's) you can call them up and get on their firmware update list. They'll then send you a disc every time there's an update in case you have problems doing it online or forget to check for new versions. They've already sent me a couple discs by mail for this.

I don't know if this happens with regular HD-DVDs (or SD-DVDs for that matter) but I noticed when I pull a combo disc out of the machine and look at the surface of the HD side it has a weird texture (I don't know what the term is) but when I look at them now (after they've been sitting for a couple of days now) they look normal. Is this supposed to happen? I assume it's the heat inside the machine but I wondered if that might be part of the reason?

My combo Mr. Bean's Holiday has been giving us trouble for the last half hour. It continues to freeze all over the place. I've even had to shut down the machine 4 times and recycle power since it would freeze at places and not allow you to do anything. I am running it with the new 1.3 update. I'm taking this movie back tomorrow and switching it out for another copy just in case. This combo madness worries me since it seems like these discs can go awry at any time. I would feel embarrased if I were to have a friend over to watch a movie and it were to do this. They would probably ask, "How much did you pay for this?" Most people I know think it is silly how much I invest in this format and this would be the icing on their opinion cake. I just want to be able to watch the damn movie and not feel like I'm at a theater full of jackasses running the place.

I would say no from my experience, though I'll probably get screwed because I'm writing this. I rented Stardust HD from Blockbuster online and it came today in bad shape, I even requested a new disc. I decided to watch it and it played just fine. It has some bad scratches and is very dirty (how, since it should never have been rented, I dk). But everything else I've played has been just fine.

I have to admit I'm getting tired of the assorted error messages interrupting movies on my six-week-old Toshiba A3. I've watched about two dozen (mix of owned and rented discs) and about half have frozen up or prompted error messages. Most of the time, they play fine after rebooting, but it's a bother.

I've had brand-new discs freeze up or prompt errors, and on the other hand, I've had badly scratched discs from Netflix play fine, without a hiccup.

Also got my first look at a bad HD-DVD combo disk. Got a copy of "Miami Vice" from Netflix and the layers were coming apart in places. Putting just a little pressure on the disc (like you would getting one out of a case), you could hear the adhesive breaking down. The HD side wouldn't play (got a "no disc" error), but the SD side played fine.

My machine is the Toshiba A3, as well, and from following comments at the AVS Forum, there are many of us with this same problem of freezing (which Toshiba is blaming on the disks). Like the previous poster, mine seem to play fine *after* that initial freeze, but it sure does break up the flow of the movie. It seems that the third generation machines are way more affected with this problem. It has gotten to be more anxiety ridden than not to watch an HD movie because my eye keeps flicking to the counter, knowing that as we get closer to the 1-hour mark the movie will likely freeze.

Okay...here's a weird thing. The machine sits alone on a shelf; there is plenty of room on the sides for venting, but it is an enclosed shelf. I pulled it out so it's in the open air. This morning, I put in Blade Runner, followed by The Thing, followed by King Kong, and it played all three completely without freezing. Is it coincidence? Or are we maybe dealing with some kind of overheating issue?

Are The Thing and King Kong combo discs? I only ask because I have yet to have a problem playing regular HD-DVDs on my A3, it's the combo discs that give me trouble.

Neither is a combo.

Speaking of finicky... watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and no freezing. Not complaining, of course.

I kind of wonder if some of you just have flaky gen3 machines and Toshiba doesn't want to admit it. I had trouble with Heroes disc 3 freezing up my A2 because it was smudged this weekend, but it worked fine after cleaning the disc.

I've never had a single freeze up or problem on a clean / unscratched disc.

Last night I had my first disc completely freeze up and stop playing on me and, wouldn't you know it, it was a combo disc. I was about halfway through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when it completely froze up, tried to play through and eventually just went black. Then I removed it, cleaned it up and tried it again. Still nothing. I didn't feel like fucking with it more so I just watched the SD side. This almost makes me want to just buy SD discs again over HD. In the 8 years I've had DVD, and the 2000+ DVDs I own, only about 3 or 4 have been defective. This is the FIRST combo disc I tried and it was defective, just like Iv'e always heard about combo discs. Why can't they release a combo AND a non-combo edition of films so that people can choose which they want. Now I'm worried about my combos of Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean's 13. I'm going to exchange HP5 today, but this isn't something I am used to dealing with and it's pissing me off. Thoughts?

Well, after another brand new disc froze up on me on the A-3 last night, I decided to call Amazon for a replacement. Hopefully, I'll join the bunch of you who have had no problems whatsoever.

I didn't know that the Harry Potters on HD-Dvd were combos.

Just this last one... Just like Bourne Ultimatum is a combo while Identity and Supremacy are regular HD-DVDs.

Elizabeth, would you let us know how getting a new player works out for you? I'm still experimenting with the idea that for NON-combo disks, this player seems to work better when it has open ventilation. Yet, that said, if there is the slightest scratch--even on a brand new disk--it will still freeze up, whereas other players seem to have a better chance of playing the disk. If you have better luck with a new player, I think I'd be more inclined to try to switch out my player with Toshiba, also.

Sure, Peg, will let you know how it goes!

My player has always had open ventilation (sitting on a cart with no back). The free "300" played flawlessly, but it has been problems ever since. I've actually not even tried a combo disc yet!

Has anyone had any trouble with their T3: Rise of the Machines disc on a 360 HD player?

I bought this used the other day and it is in perfect shape, not a scratch. I place it into my 360 add-on and it will not play anything. The screen goes black like it is loading and then it just goes back to the Xbox dashboard. I tried it on my A2 and it played perfectly.

The firmware has to be up to date on the Xbox as it automatically does an update if necessary since I am always signed on to Xbox Live. I know it can't be the disc since it plays fine on my A2 but unfortunately my A2 is upstairs and the 360 is the machine this particular disc will be watched on.

Any suggestions? I deleted the memory on the HD player to see if there was a corrupt file (this happened before causing my Transformers disc to not play) but it is still doing it. I unplugged the internet connection but it is still doing the same thing.

unplug the HD add-on from the power source and disconnect from the XB360
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Then throw it out the window.


It should work fine after this upgrade.

Gee, thanks for the helpful advice.

I have the A2 and never had a single problem with a HD movie (played about 28 of them).

But just tonight, I put in Samurai Spy from Criterion and it gave an error saying it wasn't a video disc. It works fine in all my other DVD players, so I don't know what the deal is.