Toshiba HD-D2 standalone HD DVD player acquired

[Wesociety]

While shopping at Costco today, I picked up a Toshiba HD-D2 standalone HD DVD player. With the instant rebate promotion (-$100), the DVD upscaling feature and the 5 free HD DVD's promo, I thought it was too good of a deal to pass up.

I paid $249.99 + tax.

I still consider myself "format neutral" and I actually own a Blu-ray Disc movie title already (funny eh? one Blu-ray Disc and no player and one HD DVD player and no discs!).

I'm sure I will scoop up either a Blu-ray standalone player or a PS3 in time, as the prices drop.

Anyone else pick up a Toshiba HD DVD player during this $100 instant rebate promo?

[Grain]

How do you like it? I was an early adopter of HD, which brought on the problem of having an analog only HDTV. I don't suppose you've tried the component video?
I'm like you, I'll likely end up with a player from each format (or a dual format job), so far I've bot one HD-DVD movie, and nothing to watch it with!

[dolphinius_rex]

Let us know how long it takes you to get those 5 free HD DVDs there Wes

As for myself, no I did not buy into the Toshiba $100 off promo. Even at $250 w/5 free movies I'm not interested. Given Toshiba's recent price slashing, it'll probably be $199 or $149 by the Christmas season anyways. With that kind of pricing I'd probably be able to pick up a used one for <$99, which is where I might consider buying one. Still, I've got to get my PS3 before I'll even consider buying into HD DVD. Otherwise I'd end up like you Wes, with an HD DVD player and nothing but Blu-Ray movies (and no Blu-Ray player!).

[Wesociety]

I have not had a chance to hook it up and test it yet.

Even though I don't own any HD DVD's (yet), I am a member of Blockbuster online and Netflix, so I will be renting HD DVD's through these services now.

[Grain]

Picked one up myself over the weekend. Unfortunately in Canada it's only 3 free discs, not 5, but they were in the box, so no waiting. One really nice (to me anyway) unadvertised feature is the players ability to upscale DVD's over component (non-CSS only) as well as the advertised HDMI.

Typical that Blockbuster throws their weight into the game ONE day after I buy! Got a month to bring it back, but I doubt I will. Will get a BluRay player also eventually, be it a PS3 &/or a standalone when they get more reasonable.

[vinnie97]

Let us know how long it takes you to get those 5 free HD DVDs there Wes

As for myself, no I did not buy into the Toshiba $100 off promo. Even at $250 w/5 free movies I'm not interested. Given Toshiba's recent price slashing, it'll probably be $199 or $149 by the Christmas season anyways. With that kind of pricing I'd probably be able to pick up a used one for <$99, which is where I might consider buying one. Still, I've got to get my PS3 before I'll even consider buying into HD DVD. Otherwise I'd end up like you Wes, with an HD DVD player and nothing but Blu-Ray movies (and no Blu-Ray player!).

So what's a PS3 worth to you? $200?

[dolphinius_rex]

Let us know how long it takes you to get those 5 free HD DVDs there Wes

As for myself, no I did not buy into the Toshiba $100 off promo. Even at $250 w/5 free movies I'm not interested. Given Toshiba's recent price slashing, it'll probably be $199 or $149 by the Christmas season anyways. With that kind of pricing I'd probably be able to pick up a used one for <$99, which is where I might consider buying one. Still, I've got to get my PS3 before I'll even consider buying into HD DVD. Otherwise I'd end up like you Wes, with an HD DVD player and nothing but Blu-Ray movies (and no Blu-Ray player!).

So what's a PS3 worth to you? $200?

About $500 USD or so. The thing is I don't consider HD DVD a viable format, so how could I consider it of any significant value? The PS3 has multiple uses even if Blu-Ray ultimately fails to gain mass consumer interest.

[vinnie97]

oh like a crippled piece of Linux hardware? :p

Or a "gaming system" with hardly any credited to its name?

With the way the hardware is priced out of the market, the competition is trumping it left and right. <80K sold in June anyone?

[dolphinius_rex]

oh like a crippled piece of Linux hardware? :p

Or a "gaming system" with hardly any credited to its name?

With the way the hardware is priced out of the market, the competition is trumping it left and right. <80K sold in June anyone?

Why so bitter?

The console has everything I'm looking for in it already. Final Fantasy games. Yes, I will buy the PS3 *JUST* for Final Fantasy games. The Blu-Ray player, and the folding@home, and other games, are all gravy for me.

But don't let the PS3's poor sales get you down. I'm sure they'll improve once a few of the PS3s system selling titles are released, along with a price drop.

[Wesociety]

I haven't posted in this thread since I hooked my player up and had a chance to play with it...

The player has awesome visuals as expected and I'm very happy with it. My only minor complaint is that it takes longer to load and boot up compared to a standard DVD player. But once it's going, it works just fine.

I just received my "Children of Men" on HD DVD disc from Amazon, so I'll be watching it soon.

Grain: Glad to hear you've joined the High Def player club.

[Grain]

Grain: Glad to hear you've joined the High Def player club.

I picked up The Complete Matrix Trilogy, beautiful! Didn't go for the Ultimate set, I'm not keen on flippers, and all the extras I either already have or am not interested in.

[Wesociety]

Sweet! I already have the Matrix films on DVD, so I'm not going to rebuy them (yet).

I still have yet to watch Children of Men, my bro is coming over tomorrow to watch it with me.

[Grain]

I really enjoyed Children of Men on DVD, let me know how the HD looks.

[Wesociety]

I really enjoyed Children of Men on DVD, let me know how the HD looks.

HighDefDigest rated it 4/5 for video and audio quality, so I'm expecting it to be very good.
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/childrenofmen.html

[Grain]

It should be good then, I've been trying to refer to hidefdigest before purchasing HD-DVD's. I ordered Monty Pythons Meaning of Life before they got a chance to review it, which they now have. It didn't get a very good review, doesn't sound like there's a big improvement over the 2 DVD set that was released a year or two ago (which I also have). As a Monty fan I'll still be glad to have it in my collection .

[vinnie97]

oh like a crippled piece of Linux hardware? :p

Or a "gaming system" with hardly any credited to its name?

With the way the hardware is priced out of the market, the competition is trumping it left and right. <80K sold in June anyone?

Why so bitter?

The console has everything I'm looking for in it already. Final Fantasy games. Yes, I will buy the PS3 *JUST* for Final Fantasy games. The Blu-Ray player, and the folding@home, and other games, are all gravy for me.

But don't let the PS3's poor sales get you down. I'm sure they'll improve once a few of the PS3s system selling titles are released, along with a price drop.

Sorry, you could say I have a hard-on when it cums to Sony hate. Their # of bunk products (overheating head units, exploding batteries, cloud-ridden LCDTVs that they pretend don't exist, etc.) over the last decade is one of the reasons for my disdain.

And $600 + $60 *just* for Final Fantasy? You're the type that Sony dreams about. Me, I have a history with a slew of other, less known RPGs (Grandia, Magic Knight Rayearth, Lunar, Shining Series, Skies of Arcadia) and I don't get so dogmatically attached to a single, IMO, overrated series. That won't be due til 2008 anyway and the only system sellers coming for the PS3 anytime soon (this year) are MSG4 (a stretch at this point, as each successive release has been shown to sell more poorly than the former...and this may slip to 2008) and possibly Littlebigplanet (but this is more appealing to casuals and let's face it, $600 is not a casual price).

I hope Sony burns for thinking they could pass off a $600 console and win this generation basically. They basically couldn't be more haughty about the entire venture. There could be no sweeter personal victory for me if they end up dead last this gen after the dastardly tricks they played on Sega (thus hammering the final nails on their hardware division).

To hell with Sony.

[dolphinius_rex]

Don't worry, I have no intention of paying $600 for the PS3

$550 CAD tops. Whether that's through the EB Games trade in promo, or through Craigslist, or waiting for the price drop coming out before Christmas.

And yeah, Sony sucks for a number of reasons and their arrogance is legendary. But I know better then most just how deep their technology is entrenched into most media types, so I don't even try to boycott them. If I have a use for the product I'll buy it. I'll never buy their LCD TVs, or regular hardware from them though, unless it's a remarkably good deal (like my cell phone, which got rebated down to almost free after the free 4GB MS got factored in).

[Wesociety]

Personally, I don't really have any "hate" towards Sony. They've got some great DVDR and CDR media.

That said, I definitely dislike their extra-aggressive DRM strategies (ARccOS, the root kit fiasco, BD+, etc), which many times has caused problems for consumers.

Even with all that, I'll probably scoop up a Blu-ray player once they get down to a price that I believe is affordable. But for now I'll be enjoying my HD DVD player indefinitely.

By the way, I just watched 3 episodes of Planet Earth on HD DVD last night.
Completely AMAZING and breath-taking. I can see why this is the number one selling title for both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

[dolphinius_rex]

By the way, I just watched 3 episodes of Planet Earth on HD DVD last night.
Completely AMAZING and breath-taking. I can see why this is the number one selling title for both HD DVD and Blu-ray.

Best selling title for both formats? Nope, not even close

As of June 7thit was estimated as having generated the most money of any single title (combining both Blu-Ray and HD DVD sales), but certainly not the best selling title.

The Departed, Casino Royale, Batman Begins, and probably Ghost Rider as well, have all outsold Planet Earth in sales numbers.

But yeah, it certainly can't be denied that it is considered a strong seller in the HiDef market, and many consider it one of the must haves of High Definition.

[Wesociety]

Best selling title for both formats? Nope, not even close

I suppose I misstated slightly...
I made my comment in reference to eproductwars, which currently shows Planet Earth as the #1 ranked title for both Blu-ray and HD DVD (eproductwars uses Amazon.com sales data).

[dolphinius_rex]

Best selling title for both formats? Nope, not even close

I suppose I misstated slightly...
I made my comment in reference to eproductwars, which currently shows Planet Earth as the #1 ranked title for both Blu-ray and HD DVD (eproductwars uses Amazon.com sales data).

Ahh, yeah I was wondering if you might have been quoting based off of that. Unfortunately, we don't know how Amazon rates their products at all. If there is any kind of a price bias then it might be artificially on top because it costs 3x as much as a regular title. That's why I mostly look at the nielsen videoscan numbers now, since they are strictly sales based.

[Grain]

So what are your early impressions of the HD-A2 Wesociety? I am awaiting a new firmware from Toshiba, the mailed cd, as I can't attempt a 32mb download w/ dial-up. So far it seems quite good, but there are some issues.
-With HD-DVD's, I do get the odd pausing/skipping, even on my discs which are in perfect shape. Toshiba claims the new firmware should fix that. It plays SD DVD's perfectly, with no skipping etc.
-I don't like that the zoom feature is software related, not hardware. So far Warner seems to be the only studio that put's it on their discs. Another problem I have with zoom is if the picture is paused and you hit zoom, it starts playing. Rewinding or FF causes the zoom to toggle back to regular size.
-I wish the A2 had analog audio out like the A1 had, my AV receiver doesn't have hdmi in. Nor am I about to replace it, it's a Yamaha RX-Z1, their flagship receiver of about 4 years ago. The A2 converts all new audio formats to DTS before sending it out the toslink out, which isn't a bad alternative, as regular DTS has the capability of 1.5mb bitrate, the best that Dolby Digital + does, but is considerably lower than Dolby True's bitrate. I don't know however if it converts to DTS's fullbitrate, or half-bitrate audio mode(not talking about DTS's new HD audio).

[Wesociety]

So far I love the player.

I have had a couple of freeze up issues, but I still need to update my firmware. I've also read that the new fw will fix that problem.

I'm currently using an old 2 channel speaker system, so the lack of multi-channel audio outputs doesn't affect me at all at present. But I would really like to upgrade my audio in the future.