Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Add one more to the HD-DVD camp

I just watched transformers the other night on my buddies Sanyo Z5 and Toshiba A20....wow

Nick, I would stick with the A2, I believe it has a few more features looking at Toshibas site, you still got a great deal and who knows if Sears will sell out or what they charge in taxes and delivery.

The A2 actually downconverts DD+ and TrueHD to 1.5 mb/s DTS through optical. The A3 does not do this, it will downconvert to 640 kb/s DD, you're better off the with A2, audio wise.

Cool. Is that only through optical, or can I use digital coax?

I wonder if that is what Toshiba did to "reduce manufacturing costs" with the A3 product line....

I am not sure nick, I know for sure it is thru optical...I don't even think the HD-A2 even has a coaxial output...

I just checked online and the HD-A2 does not have a coax output. Here is an exerpt from a CNET review...

"What's missing? Well, if you step up to the HD-XA2, you get everything on the HD-A2 plus multichannel analog outputs, a coaxial digital audio output, and an RS-232 port. Those connections can certainly be useful, but they're not huge omissions if you have an HDMI-capable receiver and don't need the RS-232 functionality. The step-up HD-A20 and HD-XA2 also offer 1080p output over the HDMI output--instead of the HD-A2's 1080i output. We'll discuss the difference in the performance section.

Savvy home-theater enthusiasts will also notice that the HD-A2 lacks the ability to output in 24 frames, which some claim can reduce judder. The ability to output in 24 frames per second is marketed as a cutting-edge feature, but so far in our tests we have not been able to see any benefit from using this feature. We will continue testing the benefits of 24-frames-per-second output, but as of now we don't consider it a significant omission."

Doh... I just assumed that they had it. I've never run across a player that didn't, but then again, it isn't like I look at players every day.

I guess I'll have to pick up my first optical cable... Glad to know now than in a week (or whenever the slow boat arrives from Texas to Iowa)when I want to fire it up and don't have audio.

Thanks!

What size should it get? I see 5mm and 8mm thickness. I would naturally think that 8mm would be better, but I need to make a somewhat sharp bend from one shelf to the next in my rack and don't know if 8mm would be too stiff??? Gotta love MonoPrice's good prices!

for the extra price for monoprice's premium, its really a no brainer If you're worried about the sharp bend, just get the 6 footer (would recommend this anyway, I have ran into too many circumstances when my 3ft optical wasn't enough).

6' will give you lots to work with.

Zombie non-bait.

Well, good news for HD-DVD...
K-Mart here in the States has dropped carrying Blu-Ray Players and only carry HD-DVD players. They will however continue to carry PS3 units.
Now of course the next big word will come from WARNER BROS. Up until now they have released titles on both Hi-Def formats but word has it they are about to pick only one. This could change the course of which format will finally win.

With PARAMOUNT sticking only with HD-DVD for 18 months and having the huge TRANSFORMERS and next SHREK 3, not to mention STAR TREK (The Original Series Remastered in Hi-Def) coming out in Nov.; and with the price drops on Toshiba players HD-DVD has a lot going for it it right now. Also, consumers are getting very upset over the new regulations set down on Blu-ray players released as of Oct. 31 which will make many new Blu film releases, and bonus features incompatible with previously released players. This all adds up to going against Blu.

This format war is very sleazy.