Problems with the Toshiba HD-XA2KN

[Richard W. Haines]

As I stated in recent posts, I recently acquired the Toshiba HD-XA2 KN high definition player and the
Optoma HD70 projector. Already I'm having problems with the projector and got absolutely no service
help from Circuit City and am waiting to hear from the company itself in terms of fixing some dead pixels.

Now the Toshiba is giving me some problems. I only have two HD discs, "Mutiny on the Bounty"
and "The Wild Bunch". I watched both at 1080i and they looked very good. However, as I was
still figuring out the player I decided I wanted to change the setting to 1080p. "Mutiny" will play
at this output but not "Wild Bunch". The screen says 'no signal' which I try to play it at that setting
even though the box indicates it was mastered in that format. It will only play at 1080i or I get
the 'no signal' message on screen.

The other problem seems to be playing some upscaled standard DVDs. I watched "Support Your
Local Sheriff" and the film went in and out of synch throughout the screening. I double checked
the disc in my Samsung and it plays fine. Now I don't have digital optical sound but rather two
amplifiers to playback through the 5.1 analog sound. (The extra amp is for the center channel
which I like to keep separate from the others). No synch problem with the HD discs but some
with standard upscaled. I suppose I could just use the Samsung HD841 for standard discs which
upscales them fine too but this player cost a lot of money and I'd like it to work with the Toshiba.
I noticed some others complained about analog synch sound problems in reviews. I don't have
Broadband Internet to upload modifications and am waiting for the CD-ROMS which will do the
same but at least one consumer said it didn't help. Anyone have similar problems and know the
remedy other than switching to optical sound and purchasing new amplifiers?

[bobgpsr]

Since that is a 1280x720 native projector, you get no benefit (in fact worse) from 1080p. 1080i or 720p are your best bets. Also, in the interest of debugging that it is a HDMI handshake problem, you could try using the component video connection.

HDMI handshake issues are supposed to be better with the latest 2.5 firmware for the XA2. Even newer XA2 firmware is due out in a couple of weeks. Would it be possible for you to find a PC connected to broadband to download a ISO binary CD-R image with new Toshiba firmware?

[Richard W. Haines]

Thanks for the info. I ordered the disc and will install when they send it. Most likely I'll just use
the Toshiba for HD DVD movies and the Samsung HD841 for upscaled Standard DVD presentations.
That means switching cables but it will be quite a while before I have an extensive HD DVD library
whereas I have over two hundred standard DVDs. I'll gradually upgrade movies as they become available...if they become available and providing the upgraded transfer is actually better. For example,
whereas "Mutiny on the Bounty" is clearly superior in HD, I've read some pretty bad reviews for the
HD of "Christmas Vacation".

Let's hope cinematographers shart shooting with a lot of light and generate fully exposed negatives
as they did prior to the sixties since that seventies 'look' for features (little lighting, high speed stock,
low f.stops as in films like "Farewell my Lovely" and "The Godfather") does not transfer easily to HD.