Re: Toshiba HD-A35 $169 on Amazon

Falcon, the A2 does such a mediocre job at deinterlacing standard DVD, I have mine output 1080i instead of 720p because even my Mits projector in the bedroom does a better job. Even the HD DVDs look better in this mode, so I leave it there. So I have no idea where these great upconversion claims come from. I do know that the XA2 does beat the PS3 by a little though (with standard DVDs). That Silicon Optix Reon chip is to blame

I tried the A35 out over the weekend. I was kinda dissappointed in the performance. I found that the A3 does a better job in 720p mode. 1080i is ok. Now with the A35, the 720p did not seem natural at all. I found some jagged edges on both HD and SD disks. The 1080i processing seems a bit cleaner. 1080/24 seemed natural and quite good all the way through the Matrix Revolutions and American Gangster. I think DJ funk mentioned something earlier about the firmware 2.0 update, being a bit buggy. I played the extended version of American Gangster, and is got stuck about an hour into the movie. I played the same part in the A3 with no glitches? Now I know why they had that warning at the start of the disk. For the money your better off with the A3 unless you want the decoder. Keep in mind that the A35 and A30 use the same video scaler. That would explain all of the negative reports about the A30.

ReaggieP... the A35 is shipped with firmware 1.3 installed, not the recent 2.0 Toshiba released last month. I know, as I purchased the A35 3 weeks ago from the Amazon sales link ($169.95). So, if the 2.0 is buggy (as early reports said), then as Djfunk said - just don't install it, and only consider a later update if they've fixed the bugs.

As for it's quality, the 1080p/24 output is outstanding, and is the reason I purchased this player. 1080i is excellent on my Pioneer plasma, since the plasma is doing the deinterlacing. As for SD-DVD upconversion, the player does as good a job to my eyes as my original A1 (which is very good). I don't have any player with a Silicon Optix Reon (or their Realta) chip, so can't comment on the XA2's upconversion quality (which has the Reon chip) - but others here have said it's great.

But for $169.95, the A35 is a great deal, especially if you mainly use it for 1080p/24 outputs of your HD-DVDs - note: 1080p/24 is beneficial (over the standard 1080p/60) only if your TV display has a special 1080p/24 viewing option, otherwise the signal is converted to the standard 1080p/60 mode (with 3:2 pulldown added).

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)

FYI...

> Toshiba v2.0 Firmware for 3rd Gen HD-DVD players causing 'jaggies'

-New EngadgetHD report, about the problem that Djfunk alluded to (see page 1), if adding v2.0 firmware to the A35 (and other) players - affects playback when in 1080p/24 mode. Glad I have mine at v1.3 firmware, and didn't add the v2.0 update.

-JIMI (the Voodoo Child)