So what do you think of your $98 HD DVD player?
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I watched Transformers over the weekend and didn't have any problems. I also watched 300 and Bourne Supremacy and they played fine on my A3. 
Here is the form:
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd/data/pdf/Toshiba_Online_Rebate_R08.pdf
Here is the form:
http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/hddvd/data/pdf/Toshiba_Online_Rebate_R08.pdf
The $98 deal also pushed me right off the fence. I needed a new DVD player anyway and was looking at an Oppo until the $98 dealie.
The player is great so far. PQ is fantastic for SD-DVD's. Best I've ever seen a regular DVD look. I have also found it interesting that SD discs without RCE *will* display at 1080i over component as most of my daughters discs are.
I've only watched 5 minutes of one HD-DVD so far, Happy Feet which came in via netflix (T-formers is on a wait). Watching that this weekend. PQ and SQ were amazing. Just as good as video OTA.
Only drawback i've noticed is the layer change when watching SD-DVD. Causes my pre/pro to loose audio sync so I get a sound hiccup. That was a new one on me since I've never seen that with my other DVD players before...but then again it could also be that I've always used coax over Toshlink before.
The player is great so far. PQ is fantastic for SD-DVD's. Best I've ever seen a regular DVD look. I have also found it interesting that SD discs without RCE *will* display at 1080i over component as most of my daughters discs are.
I've only watched 5 minutes of one HD-DVD so far, Happy Feet which came in via netflix (T-formers is on a wait). Watching that this weekend. PQ and SQ were amazing. Just as good as video OTA.
Only drawback i've noticed is the layer change when watching SD-DVD. Causes my pre/pro to loose audio sync so I get a sound hiccup. That was a new one on me since I've never seen that with my other DVD players before...but then again it could also be that I've always used coax over Toshlink before.
Is there a different setting for upconversion? I have the HD DVD player set at 1080i, and I know that is what is being sent out to my TV for HD DVDs, but I don't know if I confirmed that for an SD DVD..I'll see.
Just to make this clear: The picture is certainly more sharp. It is just that in some areas I can see where what I would think is the upconverting software changing it's mind a bit and things that should be "solid" are not. It looks great... better than my SD DVD player..but it is just an odd thing I've noticed. It is hard to describe.
Ive had 3 upconverting players(sony/ps3/a2) and all of them look better outputting 1080i to my 720p tv over outputting 720p.
Do you have the ability to connect the player via ethernet? Super quick and easy firmware updates using that method. Highly recommended.
If your HD-DVD's look "just as good as OTA," you might want to check your settings... OTA is good for broadcast signals, but it can't hold a candle to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray....
It's probably because I have an older Mitsu HDTV from 2000 that only has 6" or 7" CRT's in it and they are aging *badly*. New TV is next on the list but I'm not quite ready to pull the trigger there.
That makes more sense - I was underwhelmed with Blu-Ray before I got my new TV as well....
I liked it so much, I bought 3 of them!
I don't think HD DVD will falter. If anything, selling 90,000 units over the weekend will go a long way towards guaranteeing its future. If its true that there will be other similar sales during the Christmas season, BD is going to have to do something major to stay competitive.
I love the A2; its a solid device, great picture, and the sound is, well, awesome.
After having finally watched the first half of Transformers last night, I can now say that I am completely happy with my decision to dive in with the A2. It's hard to say the PQ is as good as 1080p Blu-Ray from my PS3, but I also can't say it's not, because I don't have a movie I can play on both to compare to.
What I can say is that I couldn't tell a difference to the naked eye, which is to say that I could find NOTHING wrong with the PQ being delivered by the A2, something I've only ever said before about Blu-Ray movies.... so I can say that I am equally happy with both formats and would have no problems buying a movie in either one, although I will still lean toward Blu-Ray if a movie is out in both formats, unless there is a difference between the two offerings that I cared about, or (depending on the movie) if there was a combo version for HD-DVD.
What I can say is that I couldn't tell a difference to the naked eye, which is to say that I could find NOTHING wrong with the PQ being delivered by the A2, something I've only ever said before about Blu-Ray movies.... so I can say that I am equally happy with both formats and would have no problems buying a movie in either one, although I will still lean toward Blu-Ray if a movie is out in both formats, unless there is a difference between the two offerings that I cared about, or (depending on the movie) if there was a combo version for HD-DVD.
ONUOsfan can you describe you picture settings for me on you Samsung DLP because I have Samsung Blu Ray and the pq is great but i see some grain on the picture, thanks for the reply
This is from memory - I'll try to look later, when I'm home, and let you know for sure - but the first thing is to turn off DNIE and Movie mode. I watch everything in Standard. I'm not sure if I've tried movie mode without DNIE, but the combination of the two definitely made things darker and introduced some grain. DNIE is only useful if you're watching a native SD picture. It does nothing (from what I can tell) for HD sources, other than make everything darker, almost like it's trying to artificially enhance the colors and the black levels, and it just makes it worse.
Honestly, I don't think I've tweaked anything else - just set those two options and went from there... but again, I'll check later and come back if I find anything different.
Also, I'm using a PS3 as my BD player, so there may be some differences with your Samsung player that are causing the problem - I'm not familiar with them...
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