Best player in the world? Nobody dares to make sure a bold claim. How about Denon 2930? There's no way Toshiba can beat it and it's cheaper too, only RM3200 and it plays SACDs and DVD-Audios. 

I don't recall Toshiba making any dvd players better than Denon from the first day till now, not a chance. So, I'm kinda surprised if any of you claimed that Toshiba's HD-DVD player is the best player in the world for standard definition dvds. I'm not a Denon fan but I'm aware what it is capable of doing.

Exactly my thoughts. If you buy a TV now, it better be 1080p regardless of what the HD broadcast norm is. I've returned my 1080p lcd, and cancelled off purchasing the 1080i Hitachi plasma. In the next 6-7 months, 1080p will officially take over 720p/1080i...price will drop, and if you think 720p/1080i is cheap now, it's gonna be dirt cheap next few months. Buying a 720p lcd now is like buying yesterday's technology I'm gonna wait for a few months to get a tv that is more future proof.

best DVD player in the world should be meridian audios DVD players. They cost 18-10k us dollars a pop and have astounding DVD quality.... not HD-DVD

When you mentioned users claimed that the XA2 beat the Denon 2930? The users here = siapa? Are you comparing apples with apples or apples with oranges, if you're talking about Toshiba's HD-DVD playback versus Denon 2930's standard dvd playback, then definitely not fair lah, both are on a different level but lets not go off topic, we're talking about standard dvd playback here, the Denon 2930 will pawn the Toshiba for sure because it has the least flaws playing standard dvds and if you gonna compare, the Denon 3930 is even better but I'll just stick with 2930 as it's around the price for the high end Toshiba HD-DVD player for a fair comparison. If you have the perception that the Toshiba HD-DVD player is better because it plays HD-DVDs and most definitely, it will have a perfect quality for standard dvds then you're probably wrong because that's not how you compare. There are even standard dvd players costing more than RM10K in Malaysia like the ones from Arcam and Meridian. There are not inferior just because they can't play Blu-Rays or HD-DVDs but at least they play standard dvds, SACDs and DVD-Audios with audiophile quality.

perhaps it'll help if you link to the thread on AVS

Wow--

I have to say this was one of the more interesting afternoons of testing I've done. Tom Huffman will chime in later when he gets home with his option as well.

Bottom line-- there is NO REASON TO BUY AN EXTERNAL VIDEO PROCESSOR if you buy the XA2. Not only did it match in virtually all the tests and visual observations the Gennum VXP chip in the Crystallio II VP but in some cases was VISUALLY SUPERIOR. The Toshiba XA2 is without a doubt the best upscaling SD DVD player that I have ever seen. It certainly leaves me depressed about the money I spent a month ago on the CII.

OK-- here was the test setup. The display device was an HP MD6580N DLP rear projector (65") that was recently calibrated by well regarded calibrator Gregg Loewen of Lion Audio Video Consultants. This display device has TWO HDMI inputs which each accept a 1080p60 signal. The display was set to Studio mode with 1:1 pixel mapping confirmed with test patterns.

In one corner we had the new Toshiba HD-DVD XA2 player. Its video settings were set to output 1080p60 over HDMI directly into HDMI slot2 on the HP set.
Its picture settings were Selective Color Enhancement- OFF, Edge Enhancement - OFF, Mosquito Noise Reduction ON, Block Noise Reduction ON, Random Noise Reduction ON.

In the other corner we had a Pioneer Elite 59AVI DVD player that had been modified professionally to produce an SDI output. The SDI output was connected to the Crystallio II video processor running the latest firmware (2.0). The VXP chip in the Crystallio was turned on and Noise Reduction was turned off. The Crystallio than output over HDMI a 1080p60 signal into the HP's HDMI slot1.

This enabled us to flip back and forth quickly between HDMI inputs on the HP.

Tests

We first started with the HQV test disk. We expected the XA2 to do well containing a Silicon Optix chip-- the Reon VX. It was outstanding.

Test1 - Color Bar/Vertical Detail -- XA2 and CII both score 10/10.
Test2 - Jaggies Pattern 1 - XA2 and CII both pass with 5/5.
Test 3 - Jaggies Pattern 2 - XA2 and CII both pass. [Edited] Tom and I agree
that we would score the XA2 at 5/5 and the Crystallio at 4/5. (the first surprise). I could see some jaggies on the lowest bar with the CII.
Test 4 - Test Waving Flag. - XA2 and CII both pass. Again Tom didn't see a difference but again I could see some minor inperfections with the CII. He would 10/10 for each. I would go 10/10 on the XA2 and 9/10 on the CII.
Test 5 - Picture Detail - here we had a slight problem due to the fact that the XA2 would only output the test disk at 4:3 and not 16:9. I've only seen this with the HQV test disk and not any movies. Here the CII looked a little sharper but I would call them even. I would call both 9/10, Tom might call the CII a 10/10 and the XA2 an 8 or 9/10 but I'll let him chime in later as we didn't record our numbers during the session.
Test 6 Noise Reduction -- here again I thought that the XA2 was superior to the CII without removing detail. I think we would both give the XA2 a 10/10 and the CII about a 5/10 or so as it becomes noticeably less detailed when noise reduction is turned on.
Test 7 Motion Adaptive Noise Reduction-- again significantly better with the XA2 than with the CII. Perhaps 8-9/10 for the XA2 and only 5/10 for the CII.
Test 8 3:2 Detection - the only test that the CII excelled on and it wasn't by much. It locked on instantly where the XA2 took between 1/4 -1/8 of a second-- what most users would never notice. The CII is 10/10 here and the XA2 8-9/10.
Test 9 Film Cadence - both pass with 10/10.
Test 10 Mixed 3:2 film with added video titles - both pass with 10/10.

That completed the formal tests. We then moved onto the qualitative tests. We put SUPERBIT copies of The Fifth Element into both players so we could flip back and forth both between motion scenes and freeze frames. I think we both agreed that the image off of the XA2 was SUPERIOR to the external VP the CII. You would have to see them side by side but the image from the XA2 was outstandingly sharp-- almost appearing HD-like at times, excellent color saturation, and what some have described as a 3D depth or sparkle to it. It seems that reflective surfaces in the image appear more real and on the CII a little more dull. We also viewed the Spiderman II Superbit DVD and again the image from the XA2 was outstanding.

For Tom's benefit we took a look at Phantom of the Opera in HD DVD and he was extremely impressed by the sharpness and color displayed on the HP set. It was one of the best rear projection images he had ever seen and he's a professional ISF calibrator!

What does this all mean? Well Toshiba has produced a phenomenal combination upscaling SD DVD player and HD DVD player. For the price it doesn't appear that anything can touch it. Certainly it puts ALL of the BR players to shame on upscaling alone--let alone its HD 1080p60 output. I have to congratulate Silicon Optix as well in their production of the ReonVX chip-- I believe it clearly beats the image produced by the Gennum VXP chip in the Crystallio II. Not good news for the external processor market if someone is primarly looking to display movies and not video/tv. I can not imagine improving the picture produced from the XA2. The movie studios should be ashamed that they conspired to eliminate the HD DVD technology.

Now -- go out and order one from Robert at VE. I'm going to put my Pioneer Elite SDI DVD player up for sale this week on the forum. Fortunately I still have to deinterlace and upscale the tv I watch or the Crystallio II would be a waste. Its too bad that Calibre couldn't get its firmware working very well or the Realta chip in their video processor would probably have blown everything away.

based on the results so far, the DV-59AVi does nothing to tarnish Pioneer's outstanding video reputation, which began in the laserdisc era and has continued to the present. This is one of the best DVD players on the market, regardless of price.

The Pioneer 59Avi (or also known as 989 here) is the one I'm using lor ......... it's not even close to Denon's 2930 so that's why I said that the XA2 should be compared with Denon's latest baby as both players can upconvert to 1080P. I know Denon's dvd player is pricey and it doesn't play any next gen formats but it's no doubt an audiophile quality type of dvd player so it's in a different league. I have nothing against Toshiba lah, it plays next-gen movies better than PS3 and Samsung Blu-Ray players so I'm definitely giving it thumbs up. Somehow, I feel that HD-DVD is the more superior format compared to Blu-Ray in terms of PQ.

Sell it? No lah, I can trade it in for a Denon and yeah, planning to get it after CNY. Managed to trade in for RM2K as my unit has 3 months warranty to go.    I would like to buy a Toshiba HD-DVD if it's imported by Toshiba Malaysia. My friend ordered a Samsung Blu-Ray player, it was faulty so we spent a fortune to send it back and also to pay for the freight charges to send it back to Malaysia. Import duties also paid twice, the customs office don't buy his story that the unit was sent back to him after warranty so in total, he spent RM600 extra for this. That is excluding the price of the Blu-Ray player. Arghhh ..... better buy it in Malaysia for a peace of mind.

Some people can't wait mah, always wanna be the first to own it mah. The details are not pretty clear regarding Toshiba's HD-DVD player but from what I know so far, they're just planning to bring in the basic model because generally, very few Malaysians will go for high end models. As for Blu-Ray, Sony has only one model and it should retail RM6K plus (price is not finalized, might be cheaper).

Samsung also came out with BD player already... go go get it.

But seriously, the Tosh HD-A2 player at USD499 /w 3 free HD-DVDs was really looking damn yummy. But after reading the reviews and the unknown winner in the HD war, better hold back first.

They have a few demo units from Japan, my friends have attended the product demo recently. It should be out soon, mid of this year I guess but it's the lower end model, the one that outputs at 1080i. It's not a problem I guess since some LCD tvs or video processors can scale them to 1080p signal. I guess they dun wanna frighten us with the flagship model as very few Malaysians will wanna spend on something with limited softwares and worst of all, Speedy Videos don't sell HD-DVDs. You can order them online but if it gets stucked at the customs, then you'll be running here and there, doing the donkey job unless if you want, you can contact Misa, she sells HD-DVD titles too. I have just asked her. 

Islamic country mah, what to expect ....... everything also censored, my friends from Australia had a great laugh, developing country but all katak dibawah tempurung. I'm fine with uncensored movies but Finas (our censor board) has a mentality of a 8 year old kid. They worry if we watch Batman Begins, children will start jumping off buildings because they thought that they could fly.  

Want order original softwares properly, they end up being stucked at the customs so no choice, had to falsely declare them for a smooth journey.    Not our fault, we wanna do the right thing, in the end, we get punished for it, being stucked lah, want you to bring your own player lah, let them test lah, later tax you high high, thinking you're rich because you imported the movies from the US. I remembered once I ordered 6 dvds, they were taxed around RM38 each and the movies just cost RM80 or lower, they taxed it by including the shipping fees too. I dunno how they derived to this figure, when I asked them, this officer told, you tak mau bayar cukai, saya akan rampas semua. With their lan si attitude, who wanna declare them properly.    I'm buying them from a friend, he got a lot of lorong to smuggle original region 1 dvds from the US into Malaysia, sent by ship lah and dirt cheap but lately he has stopped selling because he got another job, he is not free to handle this business anymore. I guess I'll be buying from Misa, I think she has some connections to bring the movies into Malaysia safely. That one people punya trade secrets lah, shouldn't question him or her but as long as we get our movies, that's more than enough.

there are two types of plasma; SD and HD. Which type you guys are referring to?

Yeah, they're not that pricey these days except for the Pioneer ones, can buy half a Perodua Viva already. 

The drawback for plasma tvs, they can't do 1980 X 1080, the closest you can get from a grade 'A' panel plasma tvs are either 1024 X 1080 or 1024 X 1024 the most. Still have room for improvement I guess.

The Pioneer ones are still fully imported from Japan and no doubt, the Plasma panel is one of the best in the world but at this price, nobody can afford it sadly.

Well, they should include 1080p since they're selling at such a crazy price, if Samsung and Sony can provide full HD for under RM13,000 then I guess Pioneer should do something about it.

kindly explain what is MRSP. By the way, when referring to the Pioneer plasma, did you see the quality for the astro, was it good? Tq