Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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106 of 124 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great DVD player for standard def. DVDs and HD-DVDs, February 4, 2007
This is the best upconverting DVD player out there. I've compared it directly to the Oppo 981HD and SD DVDs played on the XA2 look even better. In fact, ones that are mastered well look almost HD quality. Of course HD-DVDs will always look better and have more visual 'pop' but this player does a great job on SD ones too. In fact, sometimes I forget that I'm even viewing a SD DVD.
Compared to other HD-DVD and Blu-ray players, this one beats them all. HD-DVDs look and sound amazingly stunning and the picture quality exceeds Blu-ray players costing twice as much.
Another benefit of the HD-XA2 is that is has 5.1 direct audio outputs. If you don't have a receiver that can do HDMI, this is the only way you will be able to get the HD audio (either Dolby Digital Plus or TrueHD). Hooking any HD-DVD player via the optical audio only downconverts the audio to either DTS or Dolby Digital. But using the 5.1 direct audio (6 RCA cables) means that the player decodes the DD+ or TrueHD audio track and directly outputs it lossless, to your receiver. That way you can take advantage of the better audio on HD-DVDs. Hooking it up via HDMI will accomplish this as well but only now are HDMI capable receivers starting to hit the market and most people with existing receivers probably don't have HDMI. I'm very happy with my current receiver and don't see myself replacing it with an HDMI capable one any time soon, yet with the 5.1 direct inputs, I can still enjoy the HD audio.
The HD-XA2 is very well built, the case has a nice metal construction and the transport seems very robust. My only complaint with the unit (and why I'm not giving it 5 stars) is that the fan on it is slightly too loud. If it was just a little quieter I think it would be ideal but as is, during very quiet scenes in movies, I can hear it running. That said, I would not let this dissuade you from gaining purchase of this DVD player. And if you have a large collection of SD DVDs, you will not be dissapointed playing them on this player.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best HD or Blu-Ray has to offer yet! - Read for solutions to some of the issues people have had., November 15, 2007
First let me say that I have or have had an A1, A2, XA2, 360 HD Drive, and PS3. This is by far the best HD-DVD player out, as well as the best SD player. The Reon's NR is awesome on SD discs, and the edge enhancement agorithm is so refined I have yet to find a reason not to leave it on level ALL the time, even on HD material. I have had experience repairing one of these and can shed some light on a couple of issues.
1 - Does your XA2 power down randomly when playing HD discs? If so it is caused by a bug that only affects some players. If the unit is turned on while its' input is selected (on the receiver or TV) a bug occurs during handshake that causes the shutdown at random. I speculate it is to do with setting the overheat threshold uncommonly low. The unit will only have this problem with HD media, when set to 1080p. Set it to 1080i and it's fine. Play SD discs at 1080p and it's fine.
-The workaround is to select any input other than the XA2's when turning the player on (or leave the TV/receiver off). Turn on the player and wait for it to boot up completely. Once it is finished you may select the player's input and it will play HD discs at 1080p for days on end...no shutdown.
2 - Does your player seem to have a high pitched whine? This is in fact not caused by the fan in the XA2 which is awfully quiet compared to most active CE cooling devices (about 1/5th that of the PS3 during HD playback). It is caused by the transformer on the power supply unit ringing. The only way to fix it is to exchange the unit, or send it to Toshiba for a PSU replacement. For the tech savvy, this unit uses the same PSU as the A2 (which can be gotten on the cheap right now). The service manuals can be found on AVS, and it is a simple job of loosening a few screws and a couple of connectors. If you can change a CPU in a PC you can do this. Otherwise, it should be covered under Toshiba's warranty.
3 - Does your player play SD discs fine, but read "no disc" when you insert HD media? This is caused by a blue laser diode failure in the drive itself. Face it Blue Lasers are still new, and unfortunately the yields are still pretty poor. Some faulty parts slip through after seemingly making the grade at the factory. Again, this requires a repair by Toshiba to replace the drive, but if you're brave and have access to an A2 the drive is the same. The swap is even easier than the PSU. 5 screws and a ribbon cable. If you have a screwdriver handy this should take about 10 minutes. Of course, it is covered by Toshiba under warranty, but why not fix your XA2 yourself and part with the A2 for a while instead (which is much lighter, and thus cheaper to ship as well).
4 - Does your unit hang on the welcome screen? Welp, it could be one of two things. A bad/overheating motherboard or an undervolting PSU. The PSU fix can be done easily if you have access to an A2...then you'll know. If it turns out to be a bad mainboard Toshiba is your only hope. Their procedure is to just send a new player if the mainboard is bad. They only repair the unit if it's a bad PSU or Drive. Either way turn around is about a week.
5 - Did you get stuck with a remote whose backlight doesn't work? It's no joke. the XA2 remote is VERY difficult to read in the dark, but once the backlight lights up it is a sight to behold. It goes from barely usable to "best of the bunch". the lights are extremely bright and very legible. What you may not know though is that you have to press and hold the backlight button for 5 seconds to turn on the feature. There are thousands of people who think they got stuck with a broken remote. trust me, once it lights up you'll love it.
The latest firmware as of this post is 2.7, and that fixes 24p output as well as adding HBR bitstream output. With this update this player is once again the king of all HD players. It sports the best PQ for both HD and SD discs, and offers all of the new features (even those of the A35 which is the inferior player). The bad news is, as of this update these are becoming scarce, and since Toshiba is building these for Onkyo now (list for $899) they have discontinued the XA2. the Onkyo is the exact same player in a new box for more $$$. get an XA2 while you can. Enjoy! I hope I've helped some people get by the initial bad impressions they may have had. No electronics model is without a few lemons. The XA2 has a few, but the above should help some of you avoid a return or exchange. If you did get a lemon, and there is no more stock, consider fixing it yourself by getting an A2 to sacrifice, then send the A2 for repair...or just let Toshiba fix it. once you have a working unit you'll agree...it was worth it. This is any HD TV's best friend!
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28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a superb player, February 19, 2007
"Blew me away" is a phrase seen too often in HDTV and A/V equipment reviews, but that is the reaction I had to the Toshiba HD-XA2. And I am talking about DVD upconversion. I have about 1200 DVD's in my collection, and was concerned about obsolescence again. I rememeber giving away or selling my VHS collection, and was not looking forward to repeating the experience with DVD's. With the new Toshiba player, my fears were put to rest. I have a 1080p HDTV (Samsung HL-S5688W) and I set the player's output to 1080p using HDMI. One of my reference discs is the "Vertical Limit" superbit edition. There is a scene where I look at the detail in a glove worn by one of the climbers. I was always amazed to see the threads in the "Marmot" logo. With the new Toshiba player, I can see another level of detail beyond that. DVD's 480p resolution had produced more detail than I thought possible. I put in my "Charade" DVD, which was filmed in 1962. Again, I was amazed at what I had never before seen, like the fine print in Charles Lampert's fake passports. I never saw macroblocking or false contouring, or any other digital artifacts.
I agonized for months over whether a 56 inch widescreen would be too large at my viewing distance of 7-8 feet while watching standard DVD's. With this new player, I am glad I went ahead with the 56 inch instead of 46 or 50. Actually, I now think that hi-def DVD's NEED at least 50 inches of widescreen 1080p to fully appreciate the fine detail, at least at my viewing distance. I checked out a dozen or so DVD's of movies from 1939 to 2006, and they were all improved by this player's upconversion capability. With some of my old favorites, it was like watching the movie again for the first time.
I checked out four HD DVD's to assess quality with 1080p source material;
"King Kong", "Superman Returns", "Apollo 13" and "Seabiscuit". To me, the jump from DVD to HD DVD was not as great as the jump from VHS to DVD. However, certain scenes were stunning. The experience was like watching a super-sharp Superbit DVD, but with moments of jaw dropping clarity. The Saturn V lift-off in Apollo 13 was riveting. And there was detail in the scenes on Skull Island in King Kong which were incredibly clear. The clarity was so striking that there was an unintended effect. Some of the CGI sequences had a more fake appearance than in the DVD version. The divisions between the actors and the bluescreen were almost too sharp. Color fidelity was excellent in HD DVD's, a definite improvement over standard DVD.
The player is a substantial piece, and seems sturdy and well constructed.
My build date is January 2007 and I am running the latest firmware. Load times were not bad, 31 seconds from disc insertion with HD DVD's and 16 seconds with standard DVD's. Others had mentioned juddering, a jerkiness evidenced in panning sequences. Perhaps it has been corrected in firmware, but I did not notice this in the titles I checked out. The remote is actually made of metal, and has a nice heft and finish. The buttons are laid out logically, and I like it that the "play" button has a nice sharp bump so that the layout can be sensed in the dark easily. Like finding middle C on the piano, the rest can be figured out from there by feel.
My intention was to sit out the Blu-ray/HD DVD format war. However, the reviews on this player's upconversion circuitry convinced me to take the plunge. I have seen high end Denon DVD players which cannot equal the output of this Toshiba HD DVD unit, and at the same price. So, I figure I cannot lose, no matter which format wins. I still get a great upconverting DVD player, and the HD DVD discs I buy will still play at 1080p even if Blu-ray "wins". Yes, $800 is a big chunk of change, but considering that I have extended the life of my $$$ DVD collection, it was worth it for me. Plus, the jump to 1080p hi-def discs is substantial. BTW, my buying experience through Amazon and Electronics Expo could not have been better.
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