JimC wrote:
willbill wrote:
Sonnova wrote:
On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:59:48 -0800, willbill wrote
the Toshiba HD-A2, that you have,
does *not* have 6 analog outputs!
correct me if i'm wrong. 
It might not, I've never actually looked.
fwiw, i thought that it did but then went
out to www.toshiba.com and checked and
discovered that of the 6 current models
only the most expensive of each line
has 6 analog outputs!
so i can't justify one for it's ability
to upscale normal DVD movies
The ability to upscale DVDs isn't the only issue.
agreed
but it is a factor, perhaps a minor one
The HD-A35 does have analog outputs (in addition to HDMI and Toslink),
and it has the capability of processing most of the new high rez audio
formats, including DD PLus, DD TrueHD (lossless), DTS, DTS-HD High
Resolution, and DTS Master Audio (lossless).
again, agreed
given that almost all (all?) HD-DVD movie disks
come with a minimum of DD Plus (DD+) sound,
(see end of the "Capacity/codecs" subtitle near
the top of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...l_disc_formats
as well as an interesting frequency/bandwidth comparison
(not in wiki, sorry!, but if i find the ref i'll post it)
and "For commercially available discs, as of
September 2007 40% of Blu-ray titles use the 50 GB
disc and 60% use the 25 GB disc[88] while most HD DVD
movies are in the 30 GB dual layer format.[89]" in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolby_Digital_Plus)
and that the large majority of Blu-ray movie disks
only use standard DD, the open question is:
for those hi-def movies that are offered in both
formats, does the multichannel sound of HD-DVD
movies actually *sound* better than Blu-ray movies?
i've yet to see a comment on this from anyone that
owns both a Blu-ray player and a HD-DVD player
but i have a sneaking suspicion that the
normal HD-DVD movie sounds better than it's
Blu-ray counterpart
Although there aren't many
discs with high rez audio at this time,
agreed
but they are starting to show up
e.g. i hated the sound on my regular
DVD movie of Phantom of the Opera.
since it is offered on HD-DVD with
a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, it will
be one of the 1st discs i buy
another movie that i'd buy, provided
that it had TrueHD sound (or HD DTS),
is Evita, which i hated in standard
DVD format
(i have no clue if either of them is
worth a nickel, even with hi def sound)
the driver that i see on this, is that
there are already many many more hi def
movie disc players in households
than there are SACD players
which raises the open question:
just exactly how good of a mutichannel
audio/sound format are the so-called
"lossless" Dolby TrueHD and
i mean, there's been a modest amount
of serious sound content (both classical
and rock and jazz) offered in multichannel
SACD format, which in my listening experience
is a rather good sound format
but there aren't that many SACD players out there
so will that shift to formats such as Dolby TrueHD
and DTS-HD Master Audio?
i mean, there are already so many more players out there
most seem to expect more of them
in the coming year. With the A35 or a comparable player you would have
the ability to send surround audio in analog form to your AVR or pre/pro
via either analog cables, or audio in one of the digital formats via
HDMI or Toslink, as you prefer. - Whichever sounds best to you.
it'd be nice to have an AVR with HDMI 1.3
otoh, it was clear to me 9 months ago, when
i bought my current AVR that it was likely too
early be be spending big bux on such a product
...and having just looked at an interesting Onkyo
with 1.3 a couple of days ago (~$1,500) i suspect
that even if i were again buying today, that i'd
still not pay too much attention to HDMI 1.3
anyway, so i went with an inexpensive ($800)
Denon AVR that has 5.1 analog audio input as well
as 4 multichannel TosLink audio inputs.
no regrets
...but it means that if i go for a HD-DVD player, i'll
have to go for the 3rd gen A35 (or the older 2nd gen
XA2, both of which have 5.1 analog sound output)
In addition to its upscaling function,
which a couple of current reviews suggest
is OK (either comparable or close to that
of my current OPPO DV-981HD player)
it would be relatively future
proof with respect to processing formats that may be used on future
video (or audio) discs (though not including multi-channel SACD). Plus
being able to process HD video on HD DVDs. Although costing more than
the A2, I understand that the A35 is now available for less than $400
online,
currently ~ $360
including several free discs,
currently 7+, of which i get to pick 5,
and maybe more (Star Trek offer that
i saw out on
www.toshiba.com site,
but didn't look into coz it seemed
to be the early TV series and i have
to think that the sound is dismal
and the 4x3 format nothing to shout
about (unless yer a trekkie
)
bill
and close to that at BB or CC. -
I'm not stuck on this particular model, and others with similar
capabilities are expected to be introduced next year, but it seems to be
one that would have the capabilities you want, plus some you don't want
now but may want later.
to my mind, better surround audio is the one real
trump card that they can play with hi def movies.
but so far they don't seem to have done it;
at least not yet. they certainly have plenty
of great source material in the vaults