Hi, i've been trying to find out weather all the problems with the Toshiba A30 when used in the 1080p mode have been resolved since it was launched. I read the US Cnet review, which i understand is old now, but it's test showed that when used in the 1080p mode it failed all of the most basic tests using the Silicon optix HQV testing method, basically it was very bad when in playing in full 1080p. I won't go into all the lost resolution, jaggies, moire tech stuff, i just needed to know if the problems had, or can be fixed with firmware updates or if it can't or won't be, thanks.
My guess would be to install the latest FW for your player. Check and see what FW you have installed and if it's not the latest, go ahead and install. Latest FW version: 2.0 Fixes: 1080/24p on (HD-A30, HD-A35) - Network connectivity - HDMI/DVI Handshakes - Playback problem with some disc Below you will find the link to the update. http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/customersupport/ It's the first link located under "Recent Notices & Updates". **forgot link**
goodswipe, Toshiba USA released 3.0 firmware a few days ago. It's been out in Europe for a few weeks now. http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/tacpassets-images/notices/hddvd3firmwarev3.asp
Ahh, you are correct. I looked at another link before the one I posted. But that link takes you to the 3.0 update.
Thank you for the replies, it's much appreciated to say the least, i've tried many post and forum's to find out the answer to this question about the 1080p problem with the A30 and weather it could be resolved by a firmware update. Being new to HD, and HD dvd player's i didn't know if this was a real draw back and if it was worth keeping my EP30 if or when i upgraded to a true 1080p hdtv, i became concerned after reading the US CNET review of the A30 which is the equivalent of my EP30, but if the 1080p play back problems have been resolved then i guess it's a good HD player and worth keeping. That's all i really wanted to know, is the A30 or EP30 a good HD player and worth keeping dispite the review by CNET and the 1080p play back issues, which they said were poor, thanks again for your replies.
rogue212, If you have a EP30, you should be using the UK firmware: http://www.toshibahddvd.co.uk/supportpage_uk.html The only difference between the EP30 and the EP35 are the 5.1 analog connections. The majority of people are very happy with these models. As you can see the EP35 won quite a few awards. http://www.home-entertainment.toshi...ount=500§ion=eolprods&restricttocategory=<!--hddvd--> I have an A35 and an XA2. The only complaint I have with the A35 is it is more picky with HD discs, but I haven't update to the latest firmware. I'm waiting for others at AVS to test and then decide.
Hi, i live in the UK and updated my firmware with the 3.0 version straight away as it kept freezing or wouldn't planet earth, my first hd dvd i tried with it. This left me a little worried as i didn't know about all of the problems associatd with the Toshiba's as i have never had any problems with my xbox add on player, i just wanted a stand-alone quiet hd player that could do a reasonble job of upconverting standard dvd's as well. I then found this old CNET.COM review of the A30 which is the UK equivalent of the EP30 and was concerned about it's 1080p performance and if they had been fixed with firmware updates (read the performance part). http://reviews.cnet.com/video-playe...-a30/4505-6463_7-32563583.html?tag=prod.txt.7 I can get another EP30 for £78 which i was going to get for a back up as i have lots of HD dvd's but i'm not sure now after reading this review, but CNET.CO.UK gave the EP30 a good review so i'm even more confused, and i was going to upgrade to a 1080p set.
rogue212, Xbox add-ons can be problematic also. As for your Planet Earth, you can try a few things. Go to setup/maintenance and initialize your player. You should do this after every firmware update. Then go to setup/maintenance and delete all persistant storage. If these steps don't work, try cleaning your disc, as even the film from the cases can cause play back problems. If this fails, try to get the disc replaced. I read the advice given at AVS. This is an article regarding 1080i vs 1080p (although fairly old): http://blog.hometheatermag.com/geoffreymorrison/0807061080iv1080p/ If you are truly concerned about Silicon optic HQV testing then try and find the European equivalent of a XA2 (I managed to pick up one at $200 CAD) or buy a good display and let your display do the processing.
Hi, planet earth has been fine since the 3.0 firmware update, i guess the review had me worried, plus all of the problems i've read on forums with the HD players. The european version of the XA2, the XE1 i think, is going for £350 second hand on amason, plus the E1 over here is still going for £180 to £200 new because there collectable. I've seen the E1 on ebay go £70 and if i would have bought one earlier Play.com were selling E1's off for £49, new EP30 from £80 to a £100. I guess the last shrewd company's are taking advantage of the situation until they can't sell any more.
If your interested in what i was worried about please read the A30 review, but it is rather long and apparently the mentioned performance in the 1080p mode cannot be fixed with firmware updates but it's ok with 1080i so no worries. HD DVD performance We started off our HD DVD performance test with the HD-A30 in 1080p mode and took a look at Silicon Optix's HQV test suite on HD DVD. The first test we looked at was the video resolution loss test, and the HD-A30 failed. It did not display the full resolution of the test pattern and the image was unstable at many locations. As a point of reference, we run this same test on all HDTVs we test and almost every HDTV passes this test without any problems. We also looked at the film resolution loss test and saw the same result--loss of resolution and an unstable image. The second part of the test pattern, consisting of a panning shot of Raymond James stadium, had some moire in the grandstands, although not as much as we were expecting given the test pattern failures. The issue is clearly with the HD-A30's 1080p processing. When we flipped the HD-A30 into 1080i mode, the JVC LT-47X788 had no problem properly deinterlacing the signal. Of course, that's the other side of the argument--if your HDTV has good 1080i deinterlacing you can set the HD-A30 to 1080i mode and avoid the HD-A30's lackluster 1080p performance. But if you're going to leave the player in 1080i mode, you might as well save yourself a few bucks and get the HD-A3. We also looked at actual program material and, sure enough, the faulty 1080p processing reared its head. On Mission Impossible: III, we saw moire on Chapter 8 in the stairs in the background. It also popped up at the beginning of Chapter 11, where jaggies could easily be made out on the stripe of the limo as it approaches Tom Cruise. The HD-A30 performed better on Aeon Flux, but we could still spot evidence of faulty 1080p processing. For instance, in Chapter 9 at about 54:14, we could see jaggies on the grates in the background. When we flipped back to 1080i mode and let the TV handle the processing, the jaggies were gone. The effect wasn't present on every movie though. We watched the first half of The Bourne Identity and although we saw awful jaggies on the introductory menu options, the actual movie was relatively jaggy-free. Interestingly, the HD-A30 performs much better when the output is set to 1080p at 24 frames per second output. We had the HD-A30 set to 1080p/24 connected to the Sony KDL-46XBR4--one of the few HDTVs capable of accepting and properly displaying a 1080p/24 signal. We rewatched the stairs scene from Chapter 8 of Mission Impossible: III and the moire was gone; the limo from Chapter 11 was cleaned up as well. Unfortunately, few HDTVs can handle 1080p/24 correctly, which means most HDTV owners (even those with 1080p HDTVs) won't be able to take advantage of this excellent performance. However, for those that do own compatible HDTVs, it is one of the few cases where the HD-A30 may be worth the extra money over the HD-A3. Load times for HD DVD movies were a bit of a disappointment compared to the HD-A20. It took us one minute, 25 seconds to go from powered off to getting a picture on the screen for Mission Impossible: III, and the same movie loaded in 34 seconds with the player already on. DVD performance One of the disappointments with the Toshiba HD-A20 was its performance on standard DVD in 1080p mode. It does not appear that the HD-A30 has made any major improvements, as we observed essentially the same lackluster performance on test patterns. We started off our tests with the standard definition HQV test suite from Silicon Optix, over HDMI in 1080p mode. It passed the initial resolution test, demonstrating it can display the full resolution of DVDs, although we saw more flickering than we'd like on several parts of the image. Next up were two "jaggies" test patterns and the HD-A30 performed poorly on both of them, exhibiting jagged edges where there should be smooth lines. This was also very evident in the next test with program material of a waving flag, with jaggies showing up on nearly every ripple. On the upside, it did successfully handle HQV's difficult 2:3 pull-down processing test, kicking into film mode in about a half a second. However, like on the HD-A20, the HD-A30 performed better when we watched some actual program material. The introduction to Seabiscuit gives a lot of players problems, but the HD-A30 handled it very well, with almost none of the jaggies that often mar the picture. We also took a look at the opening sequence of Star Trek: Insurrection, and confirmed that the player does indeed have 2:3 pulldown processing, as it correctly rendered the curved edges of the bridge railing and hulls of the boats without a problem. So while the HD-A30 struggled with some of the more difficult video-based tests of the HQV test suite, it held its own on more common film-based program material.
