I've also done a side-by-side this time with an Oppo971 on an ISF'ed 60" A2000 SXRD. The A1 does a better job of upconverting IMO. I was going to put the 971 on EBay but I just gave it away to my kid brother who just got his first HDTV. He likes it a lot. Of all the players I've tried the XA2 is by far the best because of the Reon chip. On the 360 add-on: error5 and the avsforum FAQ are correct. I've seen a friend playing a standard DVD upconverted to 1080p using VGA on a Samsung DLP.
eatsushi, you have a link on that A1 playewr i may get one also and use the Oppo 971 i have in the bedroom
Most sites have listed the A1 for as low as $320 but average prices are around $400. http://reviews.cnet.com/Toshiba_HD_A1/4014-6463_7-31736203.html?tag=sub http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q...eckout=1&sa=X&oi=froogle&ct=checkout-restrict For $499 you can get the A2 which not only gives you great HD DVD playback but also comparable or better upconversion.
I don't mean you didn't. I was just speaking globally. What y'all are talking about is dead on. Up-conversion is not a generic process. It entails finding the correct cadence, proper de-interlacing or interlacing, and up-scaling. I'm sure the HD-A1 looks better than the oppo. We where selling the HD-A1 for $299 at my store a week ago. We are all sold out now. Good posting, Ced
Ced: My apologies if I over-reacted and all your points are well taken. Anyway - $299 for the A1 is an absolute steal and a real bargain entry fee for HD. Hopefully we'll see a similar price drop in more retailers and online.
Sorry the HD-A1 was $199 not $299. The HD-A1 is the best deal in retail (after firmware upgrades). I don't know if any other Best Buy stores have them anymore but it was a good deal while it lasted. @ error5, No apologies needed. I should have made myself more clear. Ced
Its wasn't advertised. I didn't know about it till a guy returned one and we made a price tag for it. I guess BB was willing to take a loss on a couple of units so that the HD-A2 would not sell impeded. Ced
BTW, did anyone see the Feb/March issue of Sound & Vision Mag? The HD-XA1 was named their product of the year for 2006 (page 37) http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/news/newsarticle.asp?newsid=138
will a hd-dvd play properly through an up-convert player? i just bought a samsung TXS-3082w and i am using a samsung upconvert player.
I'm going to have to agree with one of the fellas a few posts above. I have a panasonic CRT/Digital TUBE style TV 30" widescreen 1080i. I have the Sony upconversion player which is supposedly a good player the reviews are great on all sites i've searched. I have it hooked up through HDMI. Only 1 dvd so far looked somewhat improved which was ricky bobby taladega nights. every single dvd i put in this thing either looks the same or worse then my previous panasonic non hd-upconversion player and that was using regular composite cables. Is there a setting or something im missing? some of the screens look pixelated, the blacks are weird looking, the picture itself just looks poor compared to a regular non conversion player. Any suggestions on maybe something thats not setup right? when i watch HD TV ... HBO-HD or SHO-HD for example.. the movies on there completely blow away anything on my dvd player. And my cousin has the ps3 and i watched a few bluRays there on his LCD tv @1080p and that can't be touched by anything i've seen on this HD upconversion stuff... so im alittle puzzled on how people are saying the HDupconversion looks very close to HD material. thanks, Rob.
are you sure your upconverting the unit to 720p or 1080i with the remote ? i can def. tell a difference with my Oppo -971 upconverter
Not sure you have it set-up right. I've got a Pana 34" CRT 1080i TV with a SONY upconverting player also hooked up via HDMI/DVI and my PQ is excellent. You can run through the various resolution settings but I find leaving it to the default "auto best resolution" looks the best. I leave the TV in "standard" mode and set the player for CINEMA 2.
Alright I'm going to change the settings and pop in something like pirates of the carribean. Thanks for the replies back, i got that silver Sony player. rated pretty good all around the net even on Cnet.
I'm having trouble accessing the AVS link. My question is, how can you use VGA output from the Xbox360? I have a Std DVD collection and recently purchased a Sammy 56" 1080p. I'd like to view HD as well as my Std collection. The 360 route sounds interesting since I can get those players for about $130 on eBay.
You'll need the 360 VGA Cable: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat94400050011&id=1126591946321 Hook it up to your Sammy and choose the 1920 x 1080 resolution on the 360's video setup menu. The avsforum link works fine for me.
