Another HD-A1 Review

[teamerickson]

There appears to be a firmware update making its way to people. One person is claiming to have it and a full realease is expected 6/5. The fixes include HDMI issues, load up and play time, and playback issues. Firmware Version 1.2/1.09/2.0P appears to be the current version. The newer HD A1s have this. Hope it's not just a rumor.

 

[Hoopnoop]

There appears to be a firmware update making its way to people. One person is claiming to have it and a full realease is expected 6/5. The fixes include HDMI issues, load up and play time, and playback issues. Firmware Version 1.2/1.09/2.0P appears to be the current version. The newer HD A1s have this. Hope it's not just a rumor.

If this occurs, can you let us rookies know how to do the firmware update? I've actually never done one!

 

[Ilya]

If this occurs, can you let us rookies know how to do the firmware update? I've actually never done one!

Toshiba offers two ways for firmware upgrade:

1. You can connect your player to the Internet (as instructed in the manual) and check for upgrades on-line. There is an options for that in the Settings menu.

2. You can request a firmware upgrade CD from Toshiba.

 

[jgantert]

Toshiba offers two ways for firmware upgrade:

1. You can connect your player to the Internet (as instructed in the manual) and check for upgrades on-line. There is an options for that in the Settings menu.

2. You can request a firmware upgrade CD from Toshiba.

You can't just download it and burn it on a CD and have the player recognize the CD and do an auto upgrade like any other modern player?

-John

 

[teamerickson]

You can't just download it and burn it on a CD and have the player recognize the CD and do an auto upgrade like any other modern player?

-John

The person who claims to have the firmware disc (CD-r) says his computer doesn't regonize the file or contents. He's working on it. But it is not available just to download from Toshiba to your computer.

 

[mike123abc]

If you hook your HD-DVD player up to the internet, you probably will have to go into the setup down to internet and then set DHCP and DNS to automatic. Otherwise it has some internet addresses in there by default which are pretty much guaranteed not to work. Then you can try the update. Still no update as of now, it goes out and looks (takes about 3 seconds) before telling me that I have the current software (1.0, 1.09, 2.0O).

Maybe Monday they will release it.. Hope it fixes a lot of the issues.

 

[vurbano]

I'm glad to hear this! Let us know what you think!

Setup: not bad. No luck with HDMI/DVI cable eventhough I have DVI with HDCP. It works on my HR10-250 but its a no go on the HD-A1. So Im using component on my HD RPTV.

Sound: via multichannel 5.1 is outstanding.

Function so far: no lock ups. fast forward and reverse and pause work fine.

Remote: Wow they screwed this thing up. the good news is it works. the bad news is some of it is polished metal with black lettering that workes great, the rest faint white lettering on black that you need a lamp to see. . Why didnt they do the whole thing in polished metal with black lettering???????

PQ so far: depends on the movie.

Doom: good, no bandwidth related problems, but its to damn dark to show the quality of HD. Too "golden" of a look to it to me.

Serenity: good, again no technical problems. But what a boring movie, what exactly is it about? And too dark as well. Why do these directors ruin the movies with heavy darkness and gold tones.

Van Helsing: GREAT. Thank god finally some light and great color tones. Incredible Picture quality, there are scenes that are just amazing. Maybe I just love 1.85:1 that fills the screen?

Ill try networking connectivity and Apollo 13 tomorrow.

 

[dfergie]

Apollo 13 should rock... with the sound and all I double dipped on the SD version and have the DTS and Dolby...

 

[vurbano]

The VE deal was outstanding:

499.00 no tax no shipping charge
2 free movies I selected DOOM and Serenity. At least a 50 dollar value
1 toshiba free dvd gift certificate 25.00
total cost of player = 499-75 bucks = 424 dollars

 

[BlackHitachi]

This is great to hear! No blocking huh?! Even Van Helsing! Cool let us know about Apollo..:up

 

[Hoopnoop]

A good movie to try even if you're not a big fan is Phantom of the Opera. The picture and sound quality are just amazing (although I did have to crank up my receiver volume a lot).

 

[Ilya]

vurbano, keep in mind that HDMI is turned off by default. You need to turn it on with the V.OUTPUT button.

 

[vurbano]

vurbano, keep in mind that HDMI is turned off by default. You need to turn it on with the V.OUTPUT button.

Oh it was on, on mine when I fired it up. It recognized what was plugged into it. Was hard getting rid of it. Infact I must have new firmware. DHCP was off but it picked up all the network settings that my LP2 had when I swiped the ethernet cable from my LP2. This unit seems much smarter than previous batches.

I thought Apollo13 was very good. Solid HD all the way through. Full metal Jacket was a bit of a dissapointment. Its all in the transfer obviously. The 1st half of FMJ looks like an old average/poor transfer, with some much better PQ in the middle????? WTF?

Watching "Unforgiven" later tonight. Please everyone start rating these movies. Do we all need to go to Amazon or something to rate them?

I recommend blockbuster online for rental, reactivated with them on Thursday, filled up my que with 16 movies and recieved movie #1 on friday, movies 2 and 3 on saturday. they are really coming through!!!