A2 DVD Upconversion --Wow!

[runchuckrun]

It's been less than a week since my purchase of the Toshiba HD-A2, but already I'm happy with an unforseen benefit: the upconversion of SD DVD is excellent! Though my PS3 does an adequate job with upconversion, subjectively the A2 seems to be better. IMHO

[dingus]

It does a great job!! My toshiba a20 also plays music cds really nice too. I find that the sound from the a2 & a20 sound better then most cd players.

[Giantfoot08]

I just recently picked up a HD-A2 also. I decided instead of having my HD DVD add on, and an upconverting DVD player, I could just sell the two and pick up a standalone HD DVD. I am also very happy with the upconversion of my SD DVD collection.

[rizzlehd]

It's been less than a week since my purchase of the Toshiba HD-A2, but already I'm happy with an unforseen benefit: the upconversion of SD DVD is excellent! Though my PS3 does an adequate job with upconversion, subjectively the A2 seems to be better. IMHO

runchuckrun, so you can noticeably see a good enough difference between the upscaling of DVDs from the PS3 and the HD-A2? I have a PS3 and I barely see a difference in the DVD upscaling. I only ask because I'm in the market for a standalone HD DVD player and although the HD-XA2 might be the best upscaling HD DVD player with it's HQV chip, it's a little too expensive for me.

Also, what TV do you have?

[runchuckrun]

runchuckrun, so you can noticeably see a good enough difference between the upscaling of DVDs from the PS3 and the HD-A2? I have a PS3 and I barely see a difference in the DVD upscaling. I only ask because I'm in the market for a standalone HD DVD player and although the HD-XA2 might be the best upscaling HD DVD player with it's HQV chip, it's a little too expensive for me.

Also, what TV do you have?

In all honesty, the DVD upscaling of the PS3 and the A2 both look about the same. Because of its price, I expected the PS3 to do a good job, but I was surprised that the A2 did as well as it did, especially for a $200+ player.

I compared two DVDs: The Eagles' "Hell Freezes Over" and the movie "Lawrence of Arabia." Both looked excellent upconverted. Back and forth, I compared scenes between the PS3 and the A2 and it really was a toss up. I would say considering the price difference, the A2 was the winner.

As a tie-breaker, I compared scenes from "Bram Stoker's Dracula." I chose this movie because it will soon be released on HD, and I was on the fence as to whether I should upgraded my copy. On both machines, the upscaling was terrible. Thus, I concluded that the DVD transfer probably has more to do with how good the upconverting will look than the actual machine doing the upconverting. YMMV.

BTW: I will definitely upgrade my copy of "Dracula" to HD. I'm now in the process of "screening" my DVDs to see how well they upconvert.

I have a Westinghouse LVM-37W3 as my monitor. I used "Digital Video Essentials" to configure it.

[rajmarie]

runchuckrun, so you can noticeably see a good enough difference between the upscaling of DVDs from the PS3 and the HD-A2? I have a PS3 and I barely see a difference in the DVD upscaling. I only ask because I'm in the market for a standalone HD DVD player and although the HD-XA2 might be the best upscaling HD DVD player with it's HQV chip, it's a little too expensive for me.

Also, what TV do you have?

I think A20's also have the same upconversion chip...whereas A2's have a somewhat cheaper ones. Have no idea what chips will be in the new 3rd gen Tos.

BTW...does anybody have any links where I can see how the upconversion from Tos looks like compared to other cheap upconversion DVD player.

Thanks in advance

[resevilfan86]

U know I watched the Blade trilogy on SD-DVD using my A2 as an upconverter, it did a fantastic job, there were shots that I could have swore looked like it was HD. I had forgotten in was Standard def for a second.

[Rhoq]

The better the transfer is, the better the upconverting will look. I've watched SD DVDs on my A2 where they didn't benefit from upscaling at all and others have looked near HD-quality. I've also found that upscaling makes a world of difference when watching a DVD-R copy of a film. The upscaling seems to compensate for the additional compression which needed to be applied in order to fit the movie onto a 4.7GB blank. Of course as with anything else having to do with HT stuff, YMMV.

[joey0480]

yeah I agree, A2 is great with upconversion...pending the better the SD title is.

[vertigo]

Sin City looks beautiful up-converted, but I still can't wait to see how awesome it will look in HD

[resevilfan86]

Sin City looks beautiful up-converted, but I still can't wait to see how awesome it will look in HD

Agreed when I watched that on my A2 I couldn't believe how great it looked. So much detail. Almost makes me think I wont need it in high def.

[rizzlehd]

I think A20's also have the same upconversion chip...whereas A2's have a somewhat cheaper ones. Have no idea what chips will be in the new 3rd gen Tos.

BTW...does anybody have any links where I can see how the upconversion from Tos looks like compared to other cheap upconversion DVD player.

Thanks in advance

If you're referring to the HQV chip I'm pretty sure only the XA2 has it, if you go to the HQV Silicon Optix website ( hqv.com ) it'll only show the XA2 as the only HD DVD player featuring their chip. The A20 and A2 don't use the HQV chip but I hear they still do a pretty good job upconverting SD DVDs

[vertigo]

Agreed when I watched that on my A2 I couldn't believe how great it looked. So much detail. Almost makes me think I wont need it in high def.

You definately need an HD-DVD player, I upconverted it before on a Phillips I picked up last Christmas. While it was noticeable better than my old DVD player, it pales next to the video on the HD-A2. And besides, if the SD version looks this good, imagine the HD version...

[Spideybat]

If you're referring to the HQV chip I'm pretty sure only the XA2 has it, if you go to the HQV Silicon Optix website ( hqv.com ) it'll only show the XA2 as the only HD DVD player featuring their chip. The A20 and A2 don't use the HQV chip but I hear they still do a pretty good job upconverting SD DVDs

I recently bought the Samsung BD-1200 with the HQV chip and it doesn't hold a candle to the upconversion of my beloved HD A2.

[resevilfan86]

You definately need an HD-DVD player, I upconverted it before on a Phillips I picked up last Christmas. While it was noticeable better than my old DVD player, it pales next to the video on the HD-A2. And besides, if the SD version looks this good, imagine the HD version...

LOL look at my signature, I have the A2, and lots of movies for it. It replaced my old Toshiba upconverter. The A2 was what it was being unconverted on. Need to be slapped in the forehead? No worries, I'll do it for you....<SLAP>

What I was saying was that, if and when It comes out on Blu-ray, I may not really buy it right away because the SD DVD being unconverted on my A2 makes it look damn good. Obviously because it is a great master.