Toshiba HD-A2 or HD-A3 wich gives the Better Picture?

[ofield1]

Hello,

I read on some forum, sorry don't remember which one. That the Toshiba
HD-A2 produces a better HD picture than the HD-A3.

I know the HD-A3 has come out with new firmware 3.0 and the HD-A2 hasn't come out with any new firmware since the last one.

Is this true, any comments would be great?

I own a Samsung 46 inch DLP HDTV.

[Krispy Kritter]

Picture quality whould be equivalent across both models. Of course it is mostly irrelevant unless you are just wanting a good upconverting DVD player.

[ofield1]

Thanks for the super quick reply,

Do you mean the HD-A2 is a better Upconverter than the A3?

[Grain]

Picture quality would be equivalent across both models.

[Krispy Kritter]

They are equal. My only point is that HD-DVD is now dead, so unless you are looking for an upconverting DVD player, you should be looking at Blu-Ray.

[samijubal]

The A2 is supposedly a far better player. There are many threads all over the internet comparing the two. The A2 has a Reon video chipset that the A3 doesn't have. Audio is supposedly better on the A2 also. Just Google Toshiba HD-A2 vs HD-A3, you'll find the threads. There was a bunch over at AVS, if you can still find them.
You can get an A2 for $80 shipped from Percys, if they still have any left. The A2 is up to 2.8 firmware.

[Grain]

The A2 doesn't have the REON chip, it's the XA2 that does. With audio the A2 converts the newer Dolby codecs (True and +) to full bitrate DTS(1.5mbps), whereas the A3 doesn't, it only outputs at 640kbps Dolby Digital.

[cracula]

you should be looking at Blu-Ray.

Why? I can watch American Gangster, Beowulf and a ton of other movies in HD. Quit tryin to convert people to use a format they don't like.

[ofield1]

Hello,

Would Everybody Make Up There Minds or Find TRUE SPEC SHEETS for both Models.
Some people say it has the chip, some say it does not.

And quit throwing Just Buy Blue Ray in there. This question Has Nothing to do with Blue Ray.

It Either has the Chip or it Doesn't ????????????????????????

[Krispy Kritter]

I could care less about Blu-Ray or whether or not you want to buy one. There are some good movies out on HD-DVD, but there are less than a dozen new movies scheduled to be released on HD-DVD. So aside from being able to watch the movies already out, your only real use for the player will be for upconversion.

Toshiba doesn't provide much if any real technical information on the players on their website. The information is in a few threads over at the AVS forums as noted above, but I don't have it bookmarked.

If you have a quality AVR and will be using HDMI connections, the audio issue is irrelevant.

[Grain]

HD-A2 pdf Spec Sheet
HD-XA2 pdf Spec Sheet
Both links are from Toshiba, you'll see the XA2 notes the REON chip, A2 not.

[samijubal]

I got the A2 today. I gotta say, I'm thoroughly unimpressed. All the people that rave about how well they upconvert must have crappy TVs with poor upconversion. My SD DVD player and my Panasonic plasma's upconversion look virtually the same as using the Toshiba's upconversion. If I look very hard, the Toshiba is slightly sharper, that's it. I have to look pretty hard to even see that. Other than that, there's no difference whatsoever. A total waste of money.

[Krispy Kritter]

No offense, but that is the very reason I discourage users from even buying upconversion players. The money is better spent on a player with quality video reproduction.

In your case however, since you apparently already have a TV that has good upconversion capabilities, I'm not surprised that you can't tell any difference. If you could tell a big difference, it would only mean that you have a crappy TV (or that your TV has crappy upconversion abilities).

[addu]

so it is the end of the story for hddvd so why talk about it.

[Krispy Kritter]

so it is the end of the story for hddvd so why talk about it.

Because this post wasn't about HD-DVD, it was about finding a good upconverting DVD player. And the Toshiba players are rated very highly as upconverting players AND they are extremely cheap right now.

[samijubal]

It's not like the player doesn't upconvert good, it just isn't any better than my TV. If people have generic TVs with poor upconversion, it would probably be good. It sure doesn't function as good as a standard DVD player. Response times are very slow compared to any SD DVD player I've used.

[ofield1]

I agree, not as good as the Oppo I use to have, But then again what is..
But it is definetly better than those $40.00 upconverters. I bought a Magnavox
once and boy did it suck.....