$100 off all HD DVD Players!

[superklye]

From a Toshiba Press Release (12:02 PM)
WAYNE, NJ – May 16, 2007 – Just in time for Father’s Day, Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. (“Toshiba”) announces two new HD DVD promotions to help make shopping for dad easy.

NEW – Instant Rebates:

From May 20 through June 9, movie enthusiasts that purchase an HD-A2 HD DVD player will receive a $100 in-store instant rebate.
From June 10 through June 16, consumers that purchase any Toshiba HD DVD player will receive a $100 in-store instant rebate. For individuals seeking the complete home theater package, an HD DVD player can be purchased with any Toshiba 42" (measured diagonally) or larger HDTV for a $200 in-store instant rebate.

Five Free HD DVDs: Toshiba continues to offer its well accepted five free HD DVD movie mail-in offer promotion. Running through July 31, 2007, consumers who purchase any Toshiba HD DVD player can get five HD DVD titles for free. Consumers can choose the five free HD DVD movies from a selection of 15. This offer is available in conjunction with the previously listed promotions and rebates – full offer details are available at www.toshibahddvd.com.


I saw this thread over at AVS: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=848281

Apparently this will be offered in stores AND on Amazon! That means $212 for the A2! But it looks like the A20 and XA2 are no longer on Amazon. No product page whatsoever when I search. wtf?

EDIT: What the hell...I clicked on a direct link to the XA2 page from another thread and it came up, but searching for XA2 came up with nothing. Weird. Anyway...that'll be down to $476 or lower. :D

[superklye]

The HD-A2 was down to $237 shipped from Amazon yesterday. :eek:

When I checked around 11pm last night, it was back up to $271. :( Still a steal, though.

Now, if only the XA2 would get down into the $400 range...

[Redshirt #24]

Probably won't do that for a while yet...not until after the third-gen players come out, I imagine. If it gets close to $500 again, though, I'm probably going to skip something else and snag it...

[Ruined]

The A2 and XA2 are both tasty deals.

The only downside to the XA2 is that it only decodes DTS-HD Core (cannot do lossless Master Audio decoding now nor will it ever be able to), though it can pass DTS-HDMA over HDMI bitstream to an external decoder. Then again, it looks like lossless DTS-HDMA is a beast to decode as even the powerful BCM7440 chipset does not appear to have the required power to decode it, so maybe it is a task best left to receivers. Or better yet, lets see studios just ditch DTS-HDMA for TrueHD instead :)

[superklye]

The A2 and XA2 are both tasty deals.

The only downside to the XA2 is that it only decodes DTS-HD Core (cannot do lossless Master Audio decoding now nor will it ever be able to), though it can pass DTS-HDMA over HDMI bitstream to an external decoder. Then again, it looks like lossless DTS-HDMA is a beast to decode as even the powerful BCM7440 chipset does not appear to have the required power to decode it, so maybe it is a task best left to receivers. Or better yet, lets see studios just ditch DTS-HDMA for TrueHD instead :)
I can't think of a single HD DVD release that has DTS-MA on it. Everyone I've seen is either DD5.1, DTS, DD+ and/or True HD.

[evilchris]

tEH cELL can do it.

[Ruined]

I can't think of a single HD DVD release that has DTS-MA on it. Everyone I've seen is either DD5.1, DTS, DD+ and/or True HD.

That is true of US releases, but many of the Studio Canal European releases like the upcoming release of Terminator 2 Extended Edition HD DVD in the UK use DTS-HDMA. And yes, those releases will play without any problem in a US player since they are 1080p24 and not regionally coded.

i.e.
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=62639

tEH cELL can do it.

I know you are being sarcastic but it is likely that the PS3 does have the horsepower to do DTS-HDMA decoding - the question is whether Sony has the talent to expose that power for this purpose. The XBOX 360 likely would be able to do it as well, and even the Toshiba HD-A1/XA1 would probably be able to do it since all of these players feature very powerful general purpose CPUs that can be programmed for different functions.

However, more standalones with more specialized hardware like the gen2 Toshiba HD-A2/A20/XA2 HD DVD and pretty much all of the Blu-Ray players are likely SOL because they simply don't have the general purpose power to decode it. For instance, the BCM7440 chipset which is becoming a very popular one for HD players on either side lacks the power to do DTS-HDMA and its not exactly a weak chipset.

The real problem is that DTS-HDMA is poorly implemented IMO. 2 seperate soundtracks, Lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 + Lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 take up significantly less space than a single DTS-HDMA soundtrack... DTS-HDMA basically has a lossy "core" (which is 1.5mbps alone!) and then a lossless packet to go along with it; the processor must not just add the lossless packet to the lossy core because if it only did that the artifacts and overlap from the lossy core would remain in the signal. No, instead the lossless packet essentially contains differential information that the processor must use to essentially "patch" the lossy core, changing it into the lossless file. IMO thats a lot of wasted space and processor time when a competitor can offer seperate lossy and lossless soundtracks when combined take up signficantly less space and processor time while being less "messy" to decode to boot.

[GamerGuyX]

I can't think of a single HD DVD release that has DTS-MA on it. Everyone I've seen is either DD5.1, DTS, DD+ and/or True HD.

What was that?

http://xploitedcinema.com/catalog/hd-dvds-c-35.html?osCsid=d6d91be8fa74361c6522c4d18e8835b1

[superklye]

I wasn't saying they don't exist, just that I couldn't think of any that had DTS-MA. Dolby True HD seems to be the lossless sound of choice for HD DVD.

[Redshirt #24]

For the Texas crowd: if you're looking for an HD DVD player and happen to live near a Conn's, they're having a sale this week...the HD-A2 is $199. Might be a sign of things to come, but still...damn.

EDIT: damn again, but in a bad way--it was a typo. (Which only got corrected this morning, considering the sale started yesterday...)

[superklye]

If they were selling them for $200 here, I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

I can't wait for the second round of this promotion so it applies to the XA2. If that thing gets below $400...I may just have to snag one.

[mullet]

Whats the best HD-DVD player out now?

[superklye]

Toshiba HD-XA2 without a doubt.

[mullet]

Toshiba HD-XA2 without a doubt.

Thanks dude, looking up prices.

[evilchris]

Whats the best HD-DVD player out now?
teh cell

[Rakeesh]

Personally I am not buying any of the next gen DVD formats until there is a hybrid Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive that comes out for PC at under $200.

[evilchris]

Personally I am not buying any of the next gen DVD formats until there is a hybrid Blu-Ray/HD-DVD drive that comes out for PC at under $200.

Wow, you're really missing out.

[Rakeesh]

Nah, I have many other means of watching high def content. It's kind of silly to spend $300+ for a player that only plays half of your potential favorite movies, and have to buy a second player for $500+ to play the other half. Not to mention the extra space two players will take up. Gay IMO.

[CainSyris]

Whats the best HD-DVD player out now?


Interesting question.

The A1 and XA1 were identical in picture and operation with a different exterior. The A1/XA1 differ from the A2 in that the A2 is of arguably lesser quality and not-so-arguably is much quicker and less prone to audio/video sync problems prevalent in the A1/XA1. The A1/XA1/A2 differ from the A20 and the XA2 because the A20 and XA2 are capable of upscaling the natural 1080i signal that the Toshiba players want to output to 1080p. The XA2 uses a ReonVX to upscale DVDs.

So which is the best HD DVD player? Quality-wise, they are all close to the same. Speedwise and reliability-wise, you should stick with the second generation. For 1080p to be done in the player, you should stick with the A20 and XA2, BUT 1080i upscaled in your player to 1080p (if done correctly) is no different since the Toshiba players are incapable of just outputting the 1080p directly without first converting it to 1080i and then back again. Compare this to the PS3 that just outputs 1080p without that extra step. In theory, it should not reduce quality if re-converted to 1080p appropriately.

So the answer to your question is... they're all great HD DVD players, but if your display has an inferior upconversion from 1080i to 1080p to the Toshiba players, then you need an A2 or XA2.

Between the latter two, there should be no difference as HD DVD players. The XA2 edges its cheaper brother out when dealing with DVD upscaling. But that does not make it a better *HD DVD* player, just a better DVD player.

[evilchris]

"Compare this to the PS3"

God damn PS3 fanboys are so easy to spot.

[mullet]

Interesting question.

The A1 and XA1 were identical in picture and operation with a different exterior. The A1/XA1 differ from the A2 in that the A2 is of arguably lesser quality and not-so-arguably is much quicker and less prone to audio/video sync problems prevalent in the A1/XA1. The A1/XA1/A2 differ from the A20 and the XA2 because the A20 and XA2 are capable of upscaling the natural 1080i signal that the Toshiba players want to output to 1080p. The XA2 uses a ReonVX to upscale DVDs.

So which is the best HD DVD player? Quality-wise, they are all close to the same. Speedwise and reliability-wise, you should stick with the second generation. For 1080p to be done in the player, you should stick with the A20 and XA2, BUT 1080i upscaled in your player to 1080p (if done correctly) is no different since the Toshiba players are incapable of just outputting the 1080p directly without first converting it to 1080i and then back again. Compare this to the PS3 that just outputs 1080p without that extra step. In theory, it should not reduce quality if re-converted to 1080p appropriately.

So the answer to your question is... they're all great HD DVD players, but if your display has an inferior upconversion from 1080i to 1080p to the Toshiba players, then you need an A2 or XA2.

Between the latter two, there should be no difference as HD DVD players. The XA2 edges its cheaper brother out when dealing with DVD upscaling. But that does not make it a better *HD DVD* player, just a better DVD player.

Thanks for the info man, I have a older TV 65" with DVI and it will only do 1080i so thanks for the info. I really want a HD DVD rom, I would like to build my own box but I guess I will have to wait more. I have seen some external USB ones but blahhh.