OFFICIAL: Both Toshiba HD-XA2 *and* HD-A20 to get 1080p24 output in September

[Ruined]

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News...x?NewsId=20839

A lot of rumblings about it, but its now official. Both the Toshiba HD-XA2 and unexpectedly the HD-A20 will get 1080p24 output in September via firmware upgrade (in addition to their current 1080p60 output). Of course, you need a TV capable of 1080p24 to use this and there are very few that support it.

[Sehnzeleid]

Cool, though I wonder if they'll fix the A20's 3:2 pulldown issue when converting 1080i to 1080p...

[ganthc]

It's too bad Iggy hates firmware updates. He'd just miss out on this, because it's too much of a hassle to get the upgrade.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Sehnzeleid

Cool, though I wonder if they'll fix the A20's 3:2 pulldown issue when converting 1080i to 1080p...

If you have a 1080p display and it can de-interlace better than the A20, why not run 1080i from the A20 to the display?

Peace...

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

If you have a 1080p display and it can de-interlace better than the A20, why not run 1080i from the A20 to the display?

Peace...

Yep, might be a good way to go Tom. In fact a lot of people with highend setups use the 1080i output to scalers like Lumagen for exactly that reason.

[chlngr1970]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

If you have a 1080p display and it can de-interlace better than the A20, why not run 1080i from the A20 to the display?

Peace...

Originally Posted by Ruined

Yep, might be a good way to go Tom. In fact a lot of people with highend setups use the 1080i output to scalers like Lumagen for exactly that reason.

Then why not just get the A2? If not for 1080p, what is the point of the more expensive player? I understand the XA2...just not the A2

j

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by chlngr1970

Then why not just get the A2?

Because....

Peace...

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by chlngr1970

Then why not just get the A2? If not for 1080p, what is the point of the more expensive player? I understand the XA2...just not the A2

j

I assume you mean A20. And the reason is because some people have latched on to the "1080p" buzzword and desire a player that has it even if it is no better than one that doesn't have it.

A 1080p TV is superior to a 1080i TV, but in terms of signal transmission from the player it makes virtually no difference. You can even get perfect 1080p24 from 1080i if you have a decent scaler/processor.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Ruined

A 1080p TV is superior to a 1080i TV, but in terms of signal transmission from the player it makes virtually no difference. You can even get perfect 1080p24 from 1080i if you have a decent scaler/processor.

I would think any 1080p display these days would have great to excellent de-interlacing capability.

Peace...

[chlngr1970]

Originally Posted by Ruined

I assume you mean A20.

I guess

And the reason is because some people have latched on to the "1080p" buzzword and desire a player that has it even if it is no better than one that doesn't have it.

So, it's marketing that the HD-A20 is better than the HD-A2? If that is the case, why would I even consider replacing my HD-D1 with and HD-A20? My options ( Given my Mitsubishis limitations ) are HD-A2, or keep my HD-D1. I would like the better feature set of the HD-XA2, but can't afford it at the moment.

A 1080p TV is superior to a 1080i TV, but in terms of signal transmission from the player it makes virtually no difference. You can even get perfect 1080p24 from 1080i if you have a decent scaler/processor.

Then why is a 1080p TV superior? Again, is it just marketing? How will MY Mitsubishi ( might have to get a new one, my lamp died already ) benefit from a 1080p HD-A20 vs a 1080i HD-A2?

j

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by chlngr1970

So, it's marketing that the HD-A20 is better than the HD-A2?

From the standpoint of 1080p being output from the player, I think it is.

Then why is a 1080p TV superior? Again, is it just marketing? How will MY Mitsubishi ( might have to get a new one, my lamp died already ) benefit from a 1080p HD-A20 vs a 1080i HD-A2?

Because the TV can de-interlace 1080i to 1080p vs displaying a 1080 resolution image either in 720p, which is also scaled, or in 1080i, which is interlaced.

It's agreed that having a de-interlaced (progressive) image is better than an interlaced image and with a 1080p image you get the full 1080 lines of resolution, not scaled at all, and de-interlaced in all its marvelous glory. If your display can't accept a 1080p signal, having a player that can output 1080p doesn't really buy you anything. If your display can accept a 1080p signal, you can bypass any processing the TV will do and display the image directly. If your display can't accept a 1080p signal but it's native resolution is 1080p, the display will de-interlace the 1080i signal for you resulting in the same image you will get from 1080p being input directly UNLESS your video source can do a better job of producing 1080p video than the display.

People like the "warm fuzzy" feelings of having 1080p video read directly off the disc and passed to the display without being touched. I have read some comments about some "shimmering" that can happen when de-interlacing 1080i to 1080p in some displays but I don't know how prevalent that is or if that's a function of the de-interlacer involved vs it being due to de-interlacing 1080i in general.

Peace...

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by chlngr1970

So, it's marketing that the HD-A20 is better than the HD-A2?

Its marketing that 1080p signal transmission is better than 1080i. Due to that marketing, Toshiba responded and delivered a low cost player that outputs 1080p.

If that is the case, why would I even consider replacing my HD-D1 with and HD-A20?

Well first of all, regardless of video quality the HD-A2/A20/XA2 all are much faster than the HD-D1 in startup time. They also have better remotes. However keep in mind on the HD-A2/A20 you lose the analog 5.1 outputs of the D1.

Second, in most cases, your TV will do just as good a job as the player of deinterlacing 1080i. However, if you know your set is particularly poor at deinterlacing/inverse telecine then you may benefit from a 1080p player.

My options ( Given my Mitsubishis limitations ) are HD-A2, or keep my HD-D1. I would like the better feature set of the HD-XA2, but can't afford it at the moment.Then why is a 1080p TV superior? Again, is it just marketing? How will MY Mitsubishi ( might have to get a new one, my lamp died already ) benefit from a 1080p HD-A20 vs a 1080i HD-A2?

1080p TV sets are superior to 1080i TV sets because they display each frame in full instead of chopping it up into fields as interlacing does. That is not marketing.

However in terms of signal transmission, all of the original 24 frames per second in full resolution is there in the 1080i signal, they just need to be reordered. That is what inverse telecine & deinterlacers do. Therefore, "1080p" output on a disc player is really not all that useful since all modern TVs have the circuitry to do inverse telecine. Now it is true some TVs may have particularly sucky inverse telecine but that is the exception and not the norm. Also its worth mentioning that most "1080p" sets are 1080p60 which is already outdated by less juddery 1080p120 sets and other 1080p24 multiples.

In your case, unless you are having problems with the HD-D1 or can't stand the startup times, I'd either wait until I could afford the HD-XA2 or simply wait for 3rd gen. You probably won't notice a huge difference between the HD-D1 and HD-A20 in terms of video quality on your TV. Another option if you have a couple of hundred to spend might be buying the HP HD DVDROM or XBOX 360 HD DVD addon for your computer.

[chlngr1970]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Another option if you have a couple of hundred to spend might be buying the...XBOX 360 HD DVD addon for your computer.

I got one Now I just need to get off my ass and get an HDCP compliant video card

Someday soon...looks like Q3 may indeed be a busy month

j