My first deal post so please be gentle......I did a search and did not see this posted.
PC Richards.com has the Toshiba HD-A30 (no, not the A3) HD DVD player on sale for $199.97 (available in store as well). They have free shipping although it won't arrive in time for Christmas with this option.
I have seen the A3 at this price but don't recall seeing the A30. The sale is through 12/21/07. Enjoy
Nice, thank you. I was researching HD and it was reported that WalMart placed an order for 2 million Hd dvd players in November from a company in China. With WalMart jumping in the ring I feel more comfortable with the HD format.
bangis
Senior Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 8:26a
possible pricematch to BB and CC.
chuckywang
Senior Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 8:28a
bangis said: possible pricematch to BB and CC.
Only if you live in the tri-state area. Not to mention with tax it comes out as a wash (maybe a few bucks off).
Lessthanzero
Senior Member - 2K
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 8:41a
sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
Lessthanzero said: sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
A3 outputs at 1080i max, A30 can do 1080p
ughpaul
Senior Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 8:51a
FYI 3-day shipping to MD is $16.40 if must have by xmas, alternative at Amazon is 7 free movies and free 1-day shipping $200 a3 or $233 a30 of course their offers can change any second
PinwiZ said: Lessthanzero said: sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
A3 outputs at 1080i max, A30 can do 1080p
does this really matter though if you have a 1080p tv? i've heard that it does not matter because if you have a 1080p tv, it will convert the hd dvd's signal from 720p (at the dvd player) to 1080p (at the tv). thus, it's my understanding that if you have a 1080p tv and a 720p hd dvd player, the picture quality will be the same as if you had both the tv and dvd player at 1080p. can anyone confirm or deny this?
jkim7 said: PinwiZ said: Lessthanzero said: sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
A3 outputs at 1080i max, A30 can do 1080p
does this really matter though if you have a 1080p tv? i've heard that it does not matter because if you have a 1080p tv, it will convert the hd dvd's signal from 720p (at the dvd player) to 1080p (at the tv). thus, it's my understanding that if you have a 1080p tv and a 720p hd dvd player, the picture quality will be the same as if you had both the tv and dvd player at 1080p. can anyone confirm or deny this?
You're close. If you have a 1080i HD-DVD player and a 1080p TV, the 1080i signal will get deinterlaced by your TV and look more or less the same as if the signal were coming in at 1080p. Both signals are the same resolution picture, just one is interlaced and the other is progressive scan. Since LCD/Plasma/DLP don't display interlaced signals period, they'll just turn it into a deinterlaced one for you.
So to answer the "does this matter question", the answer is sort of, but not really.
glee719
Shopaholic Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 9:12a
jkim7 said: PinwiZ said: Lessthanzero said: sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
A3 outputs at 1080i max, A30 can do 1080p
does this really matter though if you have a 1080p tv? i've heard that it does not matter because if you have a 1080p tv, it will convert the hd dvd's signal from 720p (at the dvd player) to 1080p (at the tv). thus, it's my understanding that if you have a 1080p tv and a 720p hd dvd player, the picture quality will be the same as if you had both the tv and dvd player at 1080p. can anyone confirm or deny this?
It all depends on the scaler that does the conversion and if you have really crappy source it's not going to matter anyway. Your argument is technically true but doesn't work in reality. It's like having a 1600x1200 PC monitor but you turn the resolution to 640x480 only. Granted every pixel is displaying something, the graphics will look like 8-bit Nintendo.
glee719 said: jkim7 said: PinwiZ said: Lessthanzero said: sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
A3 outputs at 1080i max, A30 can do 1080p
does this really matter though if you have a 1080p tv? i've heard that it does not matter because if you have a 1080p tv, it will convert the hd dvd's signal from 720p (at the dvd player) to 1080p (at the tv). thus, it's my understanding that if you have a 1080p tv and a 720p hd dvd player, the picture quality will be the same as if you had both the tv and dvd player at 1080p. can anyone confirm or deny this?
It all depends on the scaler that does the conversion and if you have really crappy source it's not going to matter anyway. Your argument is technically true but doesn't work in reality. It's like having a 1600x1200 PC monitor but you turn the resolution to 640x480 only. Granted every pixel is displaying something, the graphics will look like 8-bit Nintendo.
I certainly hope that the player wouldn't even be sending a 720p signal and that it was configured to send it's max signal [1080i] whereas you would not noticed a huge difference. This is configurable on the Toshiba players
cyberzenn
Dismembered Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 9:19a
jkim7 said: does this really matter though if you have a 1080p tv? i've heard that it does not matter because if you have a 1080p tv, it will convert the hd dvd's signal from 720p (at the dvd player) to 1080p (at the tv). thus, it's my understanding that if you have a 1080p tv and a 720p hd dvd player, the picture quality will be the same as if you had both the tv and dvd player at 1080p. can anyone confirm or deny this?
That isn't exactly correct. If you have a 1080p capable TV that correctly deinterlates a 1080i signal, then yes - there is no difference when using a 1080i vs. a 1080p source for movies mastered at 24 fps. This is due to the way 3:2 pulldown works to interpolate the signal up to your screen's native refresh rate of 60Hz. Note that this does not apply if your screen/player can handle 24/72/120 Hz natively. Also, this obviously is not relevant to HTPCs or game systems, since the content is not generated at 24fps.
I saw this deal in the paper inserts for PC Richards. It is a very good deal. I might have gone for this, but I got the A3 for 169.99 -10HD DVD Amazon deal on thanksgiving, and I have a 1080i plasma.
The 1080i/p debate has gone on ad nauseum. Basically it's not that big a deal, but as a cost/benefit if you get this deal you get the better unit (however slight/important) for just about the same cost (without tax).
cyberzenn said: That isn't exactly correct. If you have a 1080p capable TV that correctly deinterlates a 1080i signal, then yes - there is no difference when using a 1080i vs. a 1080p source for movies mastered at 24 fps. This is due to the way 3:2 pulldown works to interpolate the signal up to your screen's native refresh rate of 60Hz. Note that this does not apply if your screen/player can handle 24/72/120 Hz natively. Also, this obviously is not relevant to HTPCs or game systems, since the content is not generated at 24fps.
Good Reference The key here is "correctly deinterlaces". Deinterlacing is one of the things that's very hard to get right for all different types of images, and it's also one of the places where non-high-end equipment cut corners (not to say the high-end ones are perfect, but they are better). Personally, I like to avoid scaling/interlacing/deinterlacing whenever possible. Obviously, this isn't possible for all sources, but for 1080p sources like blu-ray and HD-DVD, I prefer a player that outputs 1080p and a display that takes in 1080p.
glee719 said: jkim7 said: PinwiZ said: Lessthanzero said: sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
A3 outputs at 1080i max, A30 can do 1080p
does this really matter though if you have a 1080p tv? i've heard that it does not matter because if you have a 1080p tv, it will convert the hd dvd's signal from 720p (at the dvd player) to 1080p (at the tv). thus, it's my understanding that if you have a 1080p tv and a 720p hd dvd player, the picture quality will be the same as if you had both the tv and dvd player at 1080p. can anyone confirm or deny this?
It all depends on the scaler that does the conversion and if you have really crappy source it's not going to matter anyway. Your argument is technically true but doesn't work in reality. It's like having a 1600x1200 PC monitor but you turn the resolution to 640x480 only. Granted every pixel is displaying something, the graphics will look like 8-bit Nintendo.
Well that's not a particularly good comparison. Both 1080i and 1080p are the same resolution. Its not like I'm saying a 480i source upscaled to 1080p is going to look the same as a 1080p source. As long as your TV does a decent job of deinterlacing the 1080i, the picture quality will be the same, the only difference might be in fast motion scenes you'll see a bit of jitter.
vrbaba
Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 9:49a
cyberzenn said: jkim7 said:
That isn't exactly correct. If you have a 1080p capable TV that correctly deinterlates a 1080i signal, then yes - there is no difference when using a 1080i vs. a 1080p source for movies mastered at 24 fps. This is due to the way 3:2 pulldown works to interpolate the signal up to your screen's native refresh rate of 60Hz. Note that this does not apply if your screen/player can handle 24/72/120 Hz natively. Also, this obviously is not relevant to HTPCs or game systems, since the content is not generated at 24fps.
Yup, much is focused on 1080i vs 1080p. It really does not matter for Most TVs. The good thing about A30 is really that its future proof with a 24fps output. Next year when TVs comes out with a true 5:5 pulldown at 120Hz, it will make a huge difference (for most ppl).
So, you are protecting your future tv upgrade mostly. Some people with current 120Hz sets want 24fps, however, due to the lack of a 5:5 pulldown, it still wont look as good as it can, however, it will be slightly better. It will be exactly the same on any other TV set (60hz).
jkim7 said: PinwiZ said: Lessthanzero said: sorry for being ignorant, but what is the difference between the A3 and the A30?
A3 outputs at 1080i max, A30 can do 1080p
does this really matter though if you have a 1080p tv? i've heard that it does not matter because if you have a 1080p tv, it will convert the hd dvd's signal from 720p (at the dvd player) to 1080p (at the tv). thus, it's my understanding that if you have a 1080p tv and a 720p hd dvd player, the picture quality will be the same as if you had both the tv and dvd player at 1080p. can anyone confirm or deny this?
That's not true. If you have a 1080p TV, you would output 1080i from the A3. This will be deinterlaced back to 1080p without any image quality loss. If you are outputting 720p to a 1080p TV, you are downscaling the image from 1080p to 720p and then the TV upscales the 720p signal to 1080p. So you want to output at 1080i. The A30 can output 1080p but does not do a good job at it. Your TV will probably do a better job. But, the A30 can also output 1080p/24 for those that own 1080p/24 capable sets. Outputting 1080p/24 matches how the discs are encoded so picture looks smoother. I personally have not seen HD DVDs output at 1080p/24 so I cannot tell you what a major upgrade that would be. Also, the A30 might have better upscaling than the A3, which I am not sure of.
the big difference with the A35 is that it can output Dolby TrueHD over HDMI (assuming you have a receiver capable of decoding it). I don't think the A30 can do that (it will decode it internally and output via PCM)
Haudidoodie
Senior Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 10:34a
Great deal... paid $100 more than this 2 months ago. Fudge!
wdlemke
New Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 11:29a
Now dead. I had it in my shopping cart, just put in my credit card number, and then the item was removed. I tried to go back in, and it stated that the item was no longer available.
Blondiefan
Shopaholic Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 11:59a
Looks like it is OOS online but for those in the NY area, you may still be able to pick one up at the store (although the website will not allow you to purchase it with instore pick-up).
If anyone manages to get one in person, let us all know.
I ordered earlier today but I just received an email stating it's out of stock. It's asking me if I want to wait for the item or cancel my order.
Blondiefan
Shopaholic Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 3:32p
chuckywang said: I ordered earlier today but I just received an email stating it's out of stock. It's asking me if I want to wait for the item or cancel my order.
At that price, I would probably wait as long as it isn't a Christmas gift.
chuckywang
Senior Member
posted: Dec. 19, 2007 @ 3:38p
Blondiefan said: chuckywang said: I ordered earlier today but I just received an email stating it's out of stock. It's asking me if I want to wait for the item or cancel my order.
At that price, I would probably wait as long as it isn't a Christmas gift.
It's not. It's for myself. I just sent an email back asking if I wait, will it still be the $199.97 price. Will let you know what they say.
The A3/30/35 have crappy scalers anyway (Anchor Bay video processor)so chances are your 1080p set will do better than the actual unit in deinterlacing the picture to 1080p.. The XA2 is the way to go with the more updated REON processor but it costs a whole lot more..
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