Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems The one of MANY HD-DVD threads (No bashing Blu-Ray)

:p

Well, against my better judgment, I broke down and went to the store yesterday to look at the Toshiba HD-DVD players. My 65" RPTV doesn't support 1080p and doesn't have DVI or HDMI inputs so the player's performance at 1080i over component is key.

The XA1 is built like a tank. I don't know if the slowness would bother me. I definitely wouldn't have to run to my seat after I put the DVD in. Might be a good thing. The A2 and XA2 are cheaply made but much quicker to load.

I was able to confirm that the XA1 and A2 will upconvert SD discs to 1080i (and the XA2 to 1080p) over component IF AND ONLY IF you back up your original disk using AnyDVD or a similar program to strip the copy protection. What silliness one has to go through to get the same performance on SD DVDs over component that someone gets with a newer set over HDMI. (The salesperson thought I was a little nutty demo-ing "Double Indemnity" (1944, B&W, Full Screen) upconverted to 1080p on a plasma set.) Since my RPTV doesn't support 1080p and I'm not planning on replacing it any time soon, I don't see any reason to spring for the XA2. The A2 was on sale for $299!

Alas, I restrained myself pending a little further research on the other differences between the A2, A20 and XA2. I am going to buy one soon though. I'm afraid as time goes on component outputs will be dropped and I don't want to be left out in the cold. Thoughts?

Frank,
I believe the rules are from the DVD CCA (the group that makes the rules for DVD) and the rules say no DVD can be scaled up and then put out on the "unprotected" analog outputs. Lets face it, who would really make a copy of a DVD this way when there is so much software out there that allows a computer user to make an easy copy. Yet those are the rules. So for DVD, you will get 480P max component video out. The HD DVD rules are that they will support 1080i output on the analog component because of legacy sets with no DVI+HDCP/ HDMI inputs.

The real worry you should have with your RPTV is does the 1080i input have a proper film mode detect and deinterlace sequence ("3:2 pulldown"). If no then all of this might not be worth your trouble. I could not easily find specs on this set but my hunch is it does not do this. My advice: wait until you upgrade your display before jumping into these discs if -IF- the judder that occurs with simple line doubling a film based source will annoy you. I would drive me crazy. But if it doesnt then jump in. ANd I would agree that there is no need to spend a ton of money on a player.

best regards,
Jerry

Funny how a DVD player can not be manufactured to upscale to output 1080p over component but you can buy an external scaler that does it!

That's actually a very good point...

Mark

Err. Can you? I thought the likes of Lumagen were prohibited from doing so if the copy protect flag was enabled?

I used to drive my CRT at 1080p from Lumagen...

Mark

Oh wait a minute! Are we talking about upscaling analogue outputs from DVD players? The restriction is on HDMI, right?

So, yes, it's weird that 1080p component is not available from DVD players.

I believe the restriction is only on the DVD player - eg Meridian HDMI can only ouput 480p - there is nothing stopping a scaler from upscaling to 1080p...

Mark

I thought there was. Which is why lots of CRT users are still stuck on SDI. No bad thing of course.

Well, I'm SDI - that might explain it

Mark

I believe the rule is you can output 1080i analog and then double it to 1080p if that is done analog. The powers that be I guess feel the analog to digital conversions make this acceptible. We all know better- that this is absurd. But I believe that is the logic. If you go in 1080i HDMI I think you are not allowed to output 1080P analog- however, could there be products that violate this rule- sure there could be.

best regards,
Jerry