FutureShop Canada was clearing them out at $549 CDN (Cheapest anywhere) and I couldn't resist any longer.

So, a couple obligatory n00b questions.

Naturally, the first course of action will be upgrading to firmware 2.0

1) I know it's best to hook this up through the analog outputs for sound. Can I use standard RCAs (like you'd get with a std DVD player) or should I buy new cables. If so, any recommendations?

2) My set isn't a true 1080p set (in that the resolution is 1366x768, making 720p a "native" support input). Should I set the player to output 720p, or should I let it output 1080i and let the TV downconvert?

Any other caveats/suggestions for a n00b?

c'mon 5:00pm! I want to hook this sucker up!

Use standard cables. Doesn't matter.

use 1080i.

And......welcome to the party, pal.

Thanks for the fast reply!!

The other question I have is what titles produce the best "WOW" factor when watching them? I'm going to pick up a few titles for "show-off" purposes.

Don't ask me. It seems like every title that gets a huge "wow" from other people, I don't own.

Having seen Tokyo Drift at the HD DVD meet, I would say that blew me away.

There are some other titles as well coming up that will do the same.

Here's a few....

Serenity (Opening is a real fucking wow factor)
Tokyo Drift
Batman Begins (Kickass Tumbler Factor)
Training Day
Aeon Flux (Eye Candy Factor)
Constantine

Thanks.

Amazon is listing Aeon Flux as not yet released???

Corpse Bride and Batman Begins are supposed to be very good, as are Seabiscuit, The Phantom of the Opera, Training Day, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Aeon Flux, The Polar Express, and The Chronicles of Riddick. The Searchers or The Adventures of Robin Hood would be great for showing off a classic film as well.

If the people you're showing off to are black bar haters, you might want to start with something that fills the HD screen like Corpse Bride or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That way, they can be impressed right off the bat, then when you show them 2.35:1 (which is what the majority of great quality titles are in) they may not focus on the bars so much.

Make sure you do follow up with something 2.35:1 so they don't get the mistaken impression that everything will be 1.85:1 with HD. Robin Hood would be good for explaining side bars for 1.33:1 material.

You should probably try both 720P and 1080i. It depends on how good your TV is at scaling compared to the HD DVD player. I know with my Panny plasma I am better off sending it a 720p signal.

Shit... I forgot about Corpse Bride.

That has the Holy Shit Wow Factor.

Thanks for the tip.

As irony would have it, I'm hooking this up to my 40" Sony Bravia LCD TV.

Like DFNYC said, standard RCA cables will work; you need three pairs, of course. If you would like to buy some new ones I suggest these:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...ormat=2&style=
$US2.38 per pair. The website says that the do ship to Canada.

I assume that you will be using HDMI to connect to your HD display (the A1 comes with a six foot HDMI cable). If so, when you first hook up your A1 you will need to tell it to output over HDMI because default is component when you first turn it on. To do this use the V.Output button on the remote until "HDMI" appears on the A1 display. And do select 1080i with the "Resolution" button, as DFNYC says above. After that, you should be good to go.

One more issue: you may find that the cursor arrows on the remote are tempermental, especially when trying to get the cursor to move to the right. It helps to push the right side of the button/wheel a bit longer than usual (half second or so) for the signal to register. Once you get the hang of it, it is easy, but it can be a bit frustrating at first.

Have fun with your new HD DVD player!

Also, when you try the 720p vs 1080i setting on the HD-A1, make sure you're using 2.0 firmware.

Prior to 2.0, the 720p scaling was not implemented correctly. Supposedly with 2.0 this has been fixed.

They're not the greatest movies, but all 3 Fast and the Furious HD's display a great picture and their audio is top notch. FF3 has the cool HD content as well. Training Day and Batman Begins are auto purchases as well.

Also, try out some of your dvds so you can see how kickass the A1 does at upconverting.

I agree with this. I have a Sharp LCD and it looks better when the output of the source (I have an HD cable box through HDMI and a 360 through component) is set to 720 since it is the native resolution of the TV. It's not a huge difference but enough to make it noticable.

Standard RCA.
1080i.
Batman Begins. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Corpse Bride.

Thank me later.

Watched all 3 this weekend - I agree.

In somewhat-yet-totally-not related irony, I noticed the XBox 360 demo kiosk uses a Samsung LCD.

Which may not be so ironic come 2007.

Samsung was selected by Microsoft before the launch of the 360 to be the panel provider:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...3491163&EDATE=

This was, of course, prior to Microsoft announcing their support for HD DVD:

http://www.betanews.com/article/Micr...DVD/1127787846

The only really ironic thing about it, is that Samsung and Sony share an LCD plant, which means that the Xbox 360s are playing on somewhat of a Sony display.

Batman Begins (audio is some of the best around)
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (strictly for visual and interactivity features)
Chronicles of Riddick (amazing video and audio)

Don't forget "Seabiscuit" - fabulous picture - awesome, in fact - and a hugely satisfying soundtrack to go with it.

So, how is your HD-DVD Player looking with your HD-TV?

Was it a good buy?
Can you tell a big difference?

Yeah!

Do tell!

I just watched The Corpse Bride tonight.


I have 2 words:

HOLY SHIT.

I thought the difference would be noticable, but this is INCREDIBLE. The detail on the streets, on objects, on the characters themselves is... jawdropping. A number of scenes felt downright 3D.

I even noticed a big detail increase in the FBI Warning screen and WB logo.

I found myself not paying attention to the movie because the detail is so distracting!

For the record, I'm using HDMI to my Bravia LCD, running the player at 1080i. Using 5.1 analog audio to my Pioneer VSX-1014 receiver.

Afterward, we watched a couple episodes of Arrested Development on SD-DVD. The upconversion looked nice, but after watching the Corpse Bride, I was noticing that the SD-DVD looked NOTICABLY poor.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the disc or player, in fact it looked better due to the upconversion, but it doesn't hold a candle to the HD media.

So, it's a double edged sword. The HD looks WAY better than I thought, but now that I've seen it, I notice how much poorer SD-DVD is.. which never used to bother me (as I hadn't seen anything better).

It's going to be tough to resist upgrading a lot of my titles to HD.

You can thank me now.

As for The Corpse Bride, I swear it looks like you can reach into the TV and touch the lacquer on the models in that movie.