Yes it does a fine job at up-conversion. As I mentioned in the review I wont be reinstalling my Denon DVD-1910 back into my system, the HD-A1 looks just as good if not slightly better.

That does help. Do you know if the player does upconversion of normal DVD's? I'm trying to decide if I should wait on the sidelines during the format war and get a newer DVD player that will upconvert or if I should bite the bullet on this HD DVD player.

Definitely helps. Thanks!

energy_guru,

The page you linked has no date associated to it, so I’m hesitant to even address some of the points the author makes, but two In particular are wroth noting.

The author states:

“First off, there is no 1080p HDTV transmission format.”

This is indeed true, but HD-DVD and Blu-ray aren’t a transmission formats. Their disc based playback formats. So any assertion that HD DVD is somehow bound by the same constraints as transmission based protocols is flawed in my opinion.

I’m not claiming the author states they are, but the distinction needs to be made. Don’t confuse cable/sat/off-air transmission limitations with those of Blu-ray or HD-DVD.

He also states:

“Still think you’ve just gotta have that new 1080p RPTV? Wait until you see what standard definition analog TV and digital cable look like on it”

I’d argue the above quote could just as easily apply to 1080i and 720p based displays. SD analog TV looks like crap on my projector now, would it look even worse if I went to a 1080p display? Maybe, but is that really the point?

I liken this to mentality to leaving windows dirty in fear of what the outside world might look like, the outside world in this analogy being cable/sat and off-air HD.

The idea of being complacent with less resolution because of what we’re limited to from cable/sat and off-air HD transmissions doesn’t fly with me.

Hope that helps.

Sure, the idea of "wobulation", the process of most 1080p sets currently, takes some steam out of the idea of full high def resolution. But there are a few displays on the rise (and some capable now, like LCOS or DILA) that will do true 1080p.

I've put my Toshiba through the paces on a 720p Dwin plasma and wasn't terribly impressed. I'll take it to the show tomorrow and put it through a 1080p HP RPTV (wobulated) and then also tomorrow night on a 720p, three-chip Vidikron DILA projector. We'll see if it improves, but my first impressions were............"eh".

shaka

PS - Are you an installer? CEDIA guy?

I'm starting to wonder if its even worth getting an HD-DVD player a few months from now. According to this article most 1080p's don't even make it worthwhile. But I'm hoping someone with more knowledge can clue me into if this article is right.

http://www.hdtvexpert.com/pages_b/reality.html

Hey Shaka,

I was always under the impression there would only be three titles day of launch, the main reason being that each studio was just going to release a few titles to begin with and then progressively release more and more as time went on. As it turns out Warner Bros was just first out of the gate and their titles are our choices on launch day.

I would have been happier with all of Universals releases being out first but oh well. Even though it hasn’t been officially announced as a forthcoming title, King Kong in HD day of launch would have been a killer-app. No brainier in my opinion, they really goofed on that one.

I think some of the confusion might center around Million Dollar Baby, which was supposed to be one of the first three titles, but it was recalled relatively late in process. It’s also possible that Amazon and other retailers added to the confusion by lumping all the pre-releases together, without properly delineating the different release dates.

As to the resolution question: again it was always my understanding that Toshiba’s first-gen players would max out at 1080i, the majority of HDTV’s aren’t 1080p capable but that will change as time goes on.

I suppose Toshiba assumes that as 1080p displays become more commonplace the HD-A1 will find its way into secondary viewing areas and a newer model will take its place in the main room.

I can’t say as I’m ecstatic with that prospect, but many of the sets that are “1080p capable” don’t actually accept 1080p, they just de-interlace 1080i internally, giving you the same end result.

By the way, I checked out your website very impressive, I’m glad we’re not in the same market :)

Two things.......I got mine with the three titiles too.

1. Where are the other titles. I thought we were getting 5??!!!

2. The box says 1080i and 720p but the DVDs say 1080p. Was I mistaken to think we'd be pumping 1080p across the board (into my 1080 RPTV)?

Enjoy. Looking forward to setting mine up.

shakaZOLO

PS - Relative to our last discussion HD-DVD has taken the first shot. Very interested to see what effect this has.

We’re not quite that cushy round these parts, I hope to have a 1080p display one day though. My equipment list can found on the about page, links at the top right side of main page.

Will you be testing this using a 1080P display? Can't wait to read your review!