Hi,

I ordered a Toshiba HD-A3. I read somewhere that
they upscale as well or almost as well as OPPO Dvd
Player's.

Is this True ???

If you have the video and audio requirements you will love it. I have one and it works great!

Regular DVD's will very be very close to HD-DVD's if it is set up correctly.

I have both the Oppo 981 and the Toshiba A3 and I can say that there really isn't much of a difference between the two in terms of upscaling abilities. Certainly not enough of a difference to merit the extra cost. As a matter of fact there are only 4 reasons why I hold on to my Oppo and they really aren't anything major:

1. Region Free capabilities for DVD

2. PAL/NTSC support

3. Auto-sizing for picture through different display formats. Not that big of a deal on this one since you can always adjust it on the A3 if you need to, it's just a nice little perk to go with the other things that I have mentioned.

4. The initial load time when you first turn on the machine is faster with the Oppo (5-10 seconds versus 30-35 seconds with the A3). This is only for the initial boot up though.

In hindsight if I could've seen that I would be purchasing an A3 I probably wouldn't have bought my Oppo.

From what I read, the majority of users says it's a good upscaler. But note that your A3 is 1080i while there are other OPPO that can do 1080p so it depends on your HDTV as well. But note that the 1080p OPPO cost over $169 - 229. So for price-performance ratio I think overall it's good (unless you pay too much!).

For Toshiba the XA2 is supposedly the best upscaler and that uses the Reon chip. The A-3, A-30 and A-35 use the Anchor Bay ABT1018 chip for upscaling. Not 100% sure about the A3 but sure on the A-30 and A-35. People seem to think the Reon chip has better upscaling/upconversion but I bet the average person couldn't tell the difference.

Yeah, and everyone and their dog said that the Faroudja Chip was virtually unbeatable but I can't tell much difference between my Faroudja chip in the Oppo 981 (with 1080p support) and the Sharc Processor in my A3 (with 1080i support) for standard DVD. As mentioned it depends on your display but for the most part the 1080i/p argument is all hype and the average consumer/HDTV won't be able to tell the difference. BTW I am running a 37" 37W3 Westinghouse True 1080p HDTV. Definitely not the best set out there but it certainly is a far cry from many similar priced competitors.

Thanks for the info,

I have a Samsung 46 inch 1080i HD DVD Player and the toshiba HD-A3.

Furthermore the XA-2 is horribly over-priced and to my knowledge it is no longer in production. Amazon has it new for $900+shipping

Originally Posted by crossg View Post
For Toshiba the XA2 is supposedly the best upscaler and that uses the Reon chip. The A-3, A-30 and A-35 use the Anchor Bay ABT1018 chip for upscaling. Not 100% sure about the A3 but sure on the A-30 and A-35. People seem to think the Reon chip has better upscaling/upconversion but I bet the average person couldn't tell the difference

Hi,
If they all have the same chip, wouldn't they all equally
upscale the same??

No the A3, A30 and A35 all use Sharc processors.

That's what I meant if they all use the Processor, shouldn't they upscale
the same.

Thanks

I think that some folks feel the A30 and A35 do a better job because of having 1080p output. This distinction is dubious at best, especially when viewing SD-DVDs. There are other potential differences in the player's video processing that could effect perceived image quality, but I'd expect most viewers to see no differences between these 3 players on SD-DVDs.

Hi,
The Toshiba - HD - A3 only has a max upconvert to of 1080i. It just seems
strage to me that if they you used same chip / processor in there different
machines wouldn't reach basically the same response.

I use to own a OPPO and absolutely loved it. As everyboby well knows they
are around 70 dollars more expensive than the HD dvd Players. That is why
I was hoping the Toshiba would Upgrade almost as well. Or I probably
would just buy a OPPO send HD DVD back to BUY.com. and upconvert
standard dvd's.

The Oppo I use to have gave SD Discs Great Picture and sound, maybe
even better than Toshiiba HD -A3 in High Def Discs ?????????

Many people think the Toshibas are as good or better than the Oppos at upscaling. It's pretty silly to think that a SD-DVD can "look better" than a HD disc.

Yup, as mentioned above I can't really tell the difference between my Oppo 981 and my A3. As mentioned by CDan, the up-conversion really can't compare with actual HD-DVD provided it is a title that had a good job done on it (ie Transformers, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Battle of The Bulge, Mutiny On The Bounty, Any of the Fast And The Furious series). You just can't compare the two, not unless you really have a crappy HDTV.

A refurb can be had between $200 - $300. I bought one and it looks brand new. I think most of the refurbs are returns that people didn't like or didn't know enough to update the firmware.

Plus with some people jumping ship because they read on some blog or wiki page that HD DVD is dead (If it's on the internet then it has to be true right?), resulting in lots of good players being sent back. I figure there will be more good deals in the future.

Oh for sure. The people who end up with the A3s for less than $100 are going to really clean-up.