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View Full Version : First Impressions on Toshiba's HD-A1 HD-DVD Player



Ruslan74
19th April 2006, 10:02 AM
Read it all here. (http://dvd.themanroom.com/dvd-newsview.php?id=0058)

Snippet :

"If the size of the remote is an eye opener then the size of the player will blow eyes right of people’s heads. As such the same arguments made for the remote apply here as well. Affixed to the player’s top is a shelf talker explaining the benefits of the player including its ability to up-convert existing DVDs to 1080i. Best Buy would be wise to get one of these up on a shelf ASAP."

"Since the official debut of HD-DVD is Tuesday, May 18, I was unable to score one of the four actual HD-DVD launch titles to test out (see below for links to details on those titles). That test will happen within the next 48 hours. In the meantime I did pop in both “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” and Paramount’s upcoming “Aeon Flux” to see how up-converting on the HD-A1 compares to my now old Momitsu. Both units offer a much sharper up-converted 1080i image compared to a 480p resolution coming from Xbox 360 (see below for a digital snapshot of the HD-A1 playing “Revenge of the Sith”). Differences between the Momitsu and Toshiba to my naked eye on a 118” screen were minimal at best. The Toshiba on some scenes is a hair sharper and brighter over the Momitsu but only when scrutinized for imperfections. Anyone who does pick up this player and has never owned a 1080i up-converting DVD player before will be pleasantly surprised at the improvements. The bigger the display device, the more apparent the improvements will be."

I wonder when will these things be available in SA... yummy. :D

{lostmarble}
19th April 2006, 11:31 AM
Silly question, will these improvements be noticable on a normal tv screen? Or will I need to sell my soul for a Plasma or a LCD tv jobby?

Ruslan74
19th April 2006, 11:36 AM
you need a HDTV or HD Monitor with HDMI input or possible component input to use the HD DVD player.

NerdBoyZa
19th April 2006, 11:40 PM
Mecer sells an HDTV ready Plasma... :rofl:

Ruslan74
20th April 2006, 10:32 PM
be wary of HDTV Ready visual equipment though, a proper HDTV set should have a HDMI slot for a proper digital input from a HD source.

some HDTV sets dont have such an input or have it as optional and thus are labeled as HD Ready. ;)

NerdBoyZa
21st April 2006, 02:35 AM
@ USeless.

Thanks for the Heads-up. Am looking at getting a Plasma, and wondering if HDTV is that important to worry about, or is the higher res Plasma's good enough?

We have a 42" Mecer entry level Plasma (Hey, no wisecracks please....), at a place we rent out in Ballito, and sometimes the pic quality, esp in cartoon type movies (i.e. Incredibles) leaves a lot to be desired. Other movies, pic quality is really good.

Ruslan74
21st April 2006, 09:19 PM
most plasma screens that dont advertise HDTV can only do SDTV ie. Progressive Scan which is practially 720x480 for games that support it.

PS2, Gamecube have some games which support that visual treat and ALL Xbox games have that enabled by default.

Sadly HDTV only starts from 1280x720 onwards so you will need a LCD TV or HD Plasma to get the best out of it. ;)