[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by PaperNotes 

Of course it will be useless. Anything with an extremely limited library of titles that just keeps getting smaller is useless. Especially if you can't even record on to the discs. I wouldn't touch any next gen player unless it offered recording and lots of disc space. The money you spent on your HD-DVD player would have been better spent on poker (even if you lost!).

Umm, no. My XA-2 still works perfectly (just watched an HD-DVD last night). It still upscales DVDs better than any player out there. I can still buy HD-DVDs and the ones I already have still play fine. How is it "useless" again? The money I spent on my XA-2 has given me a year of HD movie enjoyment (so far). Well worth it IMO.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

Umm, no. My XA-2 still works perfectly (just watched an HD-DVD last night). It still upscales DVDs better than any player out there. I can still buy HD-DVDs and the ones I already have still play fine. How is it "useless" again? The money I spent on my XA-2 has given me a year of HD movie enjoyment (so far). Well worth it IMO.

Yeah, the XA2 gets stellar reviews for DVD upscaling.

It should be noted though I've tested Apple's DVD Player on my projector and the new one in Leopard does an excellent job at DVD upscaling too. In fact, at least one guy has reported back that the only upscaler he's seen that beats the XA2 is Apple's DVD Player.app. (I don't have an XA2 so I can't compare directly.)

That said, most people don't like using computers to play back DVDs on the TV, and I can understand why. PITA.

[PaperNotes]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

Umm, no. My XA-2 still works perfectly (just watched an HD-DVD last night). It still upscales DVDs better than any player out there.

If you just wanted an upscaling DVD player then an Oppo can kill your XA-2 and bury it 12 feet under.

I can still buy whatever HD-DVDs still exist from bargain bins and the ones I already have still play fine and I will never upgrade to anything in my life!

Fixed!

[Eug]

Originally Posted by PaperNotes 

If you just wanted an upscaling DVD player then an Oppo can kill your XA-2 and bury it 12 feet under.

Actually, the XA2 is supposed to be a much better scaler than the Oppos.

The advantage of the Oppos is region free support.

[pooka]

Eug, man, throw the dude a bone. Just admit what an utter moron you've been and how stupid you feel for backing wrong horse. Post some pics of you trading food stamps at Wal Mart for HD DVDs so the guy can get some validation. Better yet, taking it in an "uncomfortable place". Jeeze. Selfish much?

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by PaperNotes 

If you just wanted an upscaling DVD player then an Oppo can kill your XA-2 and bury it 12 feet under.

Do some research before spouting off nonsense. I had an Oppo. Sold it to apply the money to the XA-2. In direct comparisons, the XA-2 was better than the Oppo in DVD upscaling. I'll look for a link...

Originally Posted by PaperNotes 

Fixed!

How so? Because you thought it was cute to insert "bargain bins"? Show me ANYWHERE that has HD-DVDs in "bargain bins". Prices are exactly where they were a month ago.

"...and I will never upgrade to anything in my life." WTF does that mean? What needs to be upgraded? I have the best HD-DVD player on the market (XA-2) and the best Blu-ray player on the market (PS3). Your statement makes absolutely no sense. I'll upgrade when the need arises. There is no need right now.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by PaperNotes 

If you just wanted an upscaling DVD player then an Oppo can kill your XA-2 and bury it 12 feet under.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...shiba-ax2.html

I own the Oppo 971, the Secrets of Home Theater DVD Benchmark highest rated upconverting DVD player. I've happily used the 971 for over a year to enjoy the best quality DVD picture I've ever had. That is, until two weeks ago when I purchased a Toshiba HD-XA2.

The HD-XA2 is, hands down, superior to my Oppo 971. In fact, a friend and I recently did an A/B comparison of the standard def DVDs of King Kong and Happy Feet (two very-well mastered titles) in the Oppo 971 and XA2. Quite frankly, we were stunned by the differences. The XA2 image had more detail and was sharper than the Oppo 971 image. On one particular scene we still-framed on Happy Feet, where the Oppo showed some ringing around edges of objects, the XA2 looked much much cleaner. On another scene in King Kong, where the XA2's better detail clearly showed a defined bead of sweat on Jack Black's cheek, the Oppo 971 caused the bead of sweat to blend into the Jack's cheek and appear more like a smudge.

I am so very pleased with the standard def upconversion of the Toshiba HD-XA2, I consider its HD-DVD capability to be just a nice bonus.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=782887

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.

[ort888]

So my coworker just bought a PS3 as a Blu-ray player and only a Blu-ray player. He isn't a gamer and has no plans to ever play a game on the thing... EVER.

...and I was thinking, is this a good thing or a bad thing for Sony? Do they really want to be selling Blu-ray players at massive losses? How much do you think they make per movie sold? $2 or $3 bucks?

[Chongo]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

Umm, no. My XA-2 still works perfectly (just watched an HD-DVD last night). It still upscales DVDs better than any player out there. I can still buy HD-DVDs and the ones I already have still play fine. How is it "useless" again? The money I spent on my XA-2 has given me a year of HD movie enjoyment (so far). Well worth it IMO.

If want to pay the S/H you can order all the HD DVD you want, including BD "exclusive" titles, from UK and European sites.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by ort888 

So my coworker just bought a PS3 as a Blu-ray player and only a Blu-ray player. He isn't a gamer and has no plans to ever play a game on the thing... EVER.

...and I was thinking, is this a good thing or a bad thing for Sony? Do they really want to be selling Blu-ray players at massive losses? How much do you think they make per movie sold? $2 or $3 bucks?

IIRC, Sony claims that the PS3 now costs $400 to make.

So yeah, they're still losing money on it, but not hundreds like they were before.

But then again, I suspect that Toshiba is selling their low end players at somewhere close to cost too now.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by Chongo 

If want to pay the S/H you can order all the HD DVD you want, including BD "exclusive" titles, from UK and European sites.

I can also order all the HD-DVD I want from Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. They are still readily available everywhere. There have been no "fire sales" as many would have you believe.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

I can also order all the HD-DVD I want from Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. They are still readily available everywhere. There have been no "fire sales" as many would have you believe.

The HD DVD sales most have been talking about have been on hardware.

I wish they would have more software sales though, as I already have the hardware.

[olePigeon]

Toshiba just dropped the price of their entry level HD-DVD player to $150.

[Lateralus]

Don't make us timeline you Pigeon...

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by Eug 

The HD DVD sales most have been talking about have been on hardware.

I wish they would have more software sales though, as I already have the hardware.

Yeah, given the state of affairs, I'm actually suprised there haven't been more BOGO sales on HD-DVDs.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Lateralus 

Don't make us timeline you Pigeon...

I didn't see any mention of it, that's why I posted. Where was it, page 50?