Thanks for sharing the info. I didn't know Sharp G7 could do that. For Samsung models, are you referring to their M8 series?

They don't have ready stocks, right? I don't remember seeing it when I was there a few weeks ago. Only saw the Halo 3 wireless controller. Hahaha. Maybe he has hidden it somewhere.

So based from your feedback, seems like the XBOX 360 HD-DVD add on is a much better buy but I believe the PQ on your A30 is much better since it is using Anchor Bay's video processing DSPs to handle the deinterlacing part whereas the XBOX 360 relies on software to do the deinterlacing part. A properly authored HD-DVD movie will play fine on the XBOX 360 since it is flag based, if not, those ugly jaggies will be an annoying sight. Of course, most HD-DVD movies are properly authored except for a couple of old movies like Full Metal Jacket, etc or the Toshiba HD-DVD demo disc (not properly authored)

Well, I just found out that the XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive has a built in memory of 192mb to speed up access and loading times, and utilizing the multicore architecture that the XBOX 360 has to offer, it could be the reason why it is faster than a dedicated player. I'm not sure about the A30 though, I can't seem to find the technical specs for this model. The original Toshiba HD-A1 was actually a pc in disguise with a 2.5 GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 1GB of PC2700 DDR RAM plus 256mb of Nand memory, it could be the reason why it took forever to load a movie but my wild guess will be that the A30 could be using a much better hardware than the previous two generations to speed things up.

I'll be getting my XBOX 360 HD-DVD drive tomorrow so I'll probably plug it to my pc to give it some Intel C2D love and see how it performs. At this point of time, I shall limit myself to this add on, wouldn't want to buy a dedicated deck but might consider a combo player if the price is right. However, from what I know Samsung has a lot of playback problems with blu-ray movies even updated via firmware updates so their combo player might be a failure while for LG, their first combo player received very lukewarm response as the picture quality is not up to the mark plus it was pricey.

The blu-ray and hd-dvd debate is just like Aliens Vs Predator, whoever wins, we loose.


The PS3 has pretty good upscaling capabilities to be honest, it scored 120 out of 130 from the HQV test benchmarks. Not bad I must say but be careful of the lens, it's pretty sensitive as there are many cases of dead PS3 consoles as a result of playing standard dvds on it.

Yup, New Line Cinema is not exclusive to the HD-DVD format, otherwise my Rush Hour 3 won't be on the Blu-Ray format. Here's some pics of my Rush Hour 3 Blu-Ray, with DTS-HD 7.1 sound ....... freaking awesome. If they could bring their LOTR Trilogy to either format, I'll definitely buy them. Very good effort by New Line Cinema, Rush Hour 3 was neatly done and mastered, it's on two blu-ray discs.

Well, the HD-DVD camp is definitely in trouble, they have Paramount on their site but they lost Warner to the dark side. What's next? Halo The Movie from Microsoft on HD-DVD.

If worst come to the worst, it will end up like our laserdisc player but as long as Paramount, Universal and Dreamworks stay firm with the HD-DVD camp, they should be okay even without Warner. Don't forget that there's Tai Seng which is distributing Hong Kong movies to the HD-DVD format and one of the movies will be Donnie Yen's Dragon Tiger Gate. There are other smaller movie studios which are also supporting the HD-DVD format so it's not only Paramount, Universal and Dreamworks.

Too bad, nobody bulking the Toshiba A35 anymore. Previously, it was about RM2K plus but I guess with the new pricing, shouldn't be a problem to get it less than RM1.6K now. The Toshiba A3 is even cheaper than a normal upscaling dvd player. Really value for money to be honest. Hopefully, Toshiba Malaysia will be able to bring such models to our shore.

Stepdown not really that expensive, if you get our EKK stepdown transformer (buatan Malaysia), it's only RM30 bucks the most. A30 can output in 1080p while A35 can do 1080p and output lossless audio via bitstream (HDMI). IMHO, get A35 if possible.

This post has been edited by sunauto: Jan 18 2008, 02:12 AM

Aiyah, A30 and A35 difference of USD100 aje, not quite a big difference. According to my cousin, the A35 is USD270 in the US but sending it to Malaysia by EMS (or also known as our poslaju), it costs about USD110 ....... Yikes

Wasted he is not coming back for CNY, if not, can ask him angkat one unit for me. Even HD-DVD kick the bucket end of this year also nvm, at least can use it to upscale and watch standard dvds mah, right?

Lately most of my favourite movies are on the Blu side, haven't bought any new HD-DVD titles lately. Universal, Paramount and Dreamworks should do something about it, release something like Titanic, ET, Jurassic Park, etc ...... for a start. I certainly like to see these movies in HD.

Brother RX, A35 lah ....... you won't regret it. It can output TrueHD and DTS-HD via HDMI. When you get your new amp, it will be a perfect match.

Sadly, the bulk for Toshiba HD-DVD players in the bulk thread have been closed liao so need to cari our own lubang to buy it. There are a few sellers in eBay but their shipping method is a little bit inflexible, just USPS air mail or EMS the most. Can't choose DHL or FedEx.

Then you gotta buy Toshiba HD-A35 or get a Samsung BD-UP5000 combo player then CNY, we will visit you.

The Yamaha 1800 is slightly more expensive if I'm not mistaken. Should be around RM3,800 isn't it?

I went to ask Hi-Fi Choice Penang, he said RM3,650 is the lowest he can offer but still out of my budget. I was hoping it to be below RM3K if possible. Who knows, may later got cheaper midrange amps from Yamaha that can do DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD leh, right?


You like black colour too? Phew ...... I thought I'm the only who likes a black coloured Yamaha AV amp.

Hopefully ...... tei fu also not black ........ hahaha...... just kidding.
I noticed that black coloured stuff is a finger print magnet especially for those with a glossy surface. The PS3 is one of it.


Interesting question, how to bring back an amp to Malaysia without being taxed. Hide it underneath the fuel tank?

Maafkan patik if I OT.

So terror leh, expert in smuggling electrical items into Malaysian soil. Must call you sifu leh.

Why lately no hd-dvd news here ....... everyone went over to the blu camp, ar?

Any idea which 3 Paramount titles which will be on the 51GB HD-DVD disc? Titanic? I jump, you jump.

Firmware upgrade? Itu XBOX 360 punya HD-DVD add on drive macam mana? Can play these new babies or not?


They wanna tell people HD-DVD got 1GB extra than Blu-Ray mah. Feel the power of the red team, the red devils.

Well, $2.7 million for a 30 sec advertisement? They better use the money to rasuah Warner, Disney, Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, etc over to HD-DVD camp better still.

Anyway, sad to know, Jurassic Park is not slated to release on either format.

Too early to tell, BD haven't won the war yet as HD-DVD still have many good exclusive titles yet to be released. We'll see.

It's getting dirt cheap now, even normal branded upscaling dvd players cost more than Toshiba's babies here. Wonder when will Toshiba Malaysia be bring such models here. After all, Berjaya HVN has the rights to distribute HD-DVD titles here, all we need is a player which is affordable.

My uncle bought Mr. Bean's Holiday for me on hd-dvd, I was surprised how well the movie looked in HD even though it ain't any big budget movie.