Taking a spin with Toshiba’s HD-XA2, a top-of-the-line ($800) HD DVD player: The future, or perhaps a footnote, of high-definition disc players.
Video
Hot ticket No. 1: 1080p, the magic number in HDTV. Casual fans of HDTV, mindful of their p’s and i’s, recognize 1080p as the big attraction. The difference between 1080i and 1080p? It’s how these 1920×1080 scan lines are delivered: interlaced (sequentially, half the lines at a time) or progressively (simultaneously). Theoretically, 1080p should look sharper and smoother. With so many lines, though, it might be hard to tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p on many HDTVs. It’s much easier to see the difference between a standard DVD at 480i and 480p.
Hot ticket No. 2: HDMI 1.3. This is the real curiosity. The latest version of High Definition Multimedia Interface — a single connector that looks like a renegade from a computer commune — carries unprecedented video quality.
Number-crunching: Where a typical TV has 8-bit color depth, or 17 million colors, upcoming HDTVs with HDMI 1.3 will display what’s being called “Deep Color” — 10-bit color, or more than a billion colors.
Future shock/The big tease: The PlayStation 3 and the HD-XA2, at last check, were among the few players (the PS3 includes a high-definition Blu-ray disc player) with HDMI 1.3. Where are the TVs? For now, the 1.3 feature is all but useless, though the HD-XA2 is compatible with all current HDTVs and their earlier HDMI variants. But this player will be ready when HDTVs with HDMI 1.3 features start arriving in 2007 models in the coming weeks.
I paid this for that? The HD-XA2’s predecessor was a PC disguised as a disc player, with a loud fan, inconsistent performance and legendary sluggishness — it required almost two minutes to load a DVD. The HD-XA2 is still computerized, with a quieter fan, but it’s sleeker and much faster. It takes about 30 seconds to boot up, another 20 seconds or so to load a DVD. That’s progress, but still too long. And if you stop a movie, you can’t pick up where you left off as you can with an everyday $39 DVD player. The disc starts again from the beginning. Help!
The question you wanted to ask: Will a 1080p DVD player make a difference with a 720p HDTV?
With the HD-XA2, absolutely. The highlight of this player — for what it can do now, not in the future — is the incredible pictures from HD DVD discs and, shockingly, standard DVDs it produces on any HDTV.
In the HD-XA2, but not the entry-level HD-A2 ($400) or the just-out HD-A20 ($500), Toshiba uses the exceptional Silicon Optix Hollywood Quality Video Reon processor chip that downconverted pictures from the 1080p discs to the 720p resolution of a Vizio VM60P, a 60-inch plasma, but also upconverted a standard 480-line DVD to match the 1080p resolution of the Sony KDS-50A2000, a 50-inch rear-projection set.
The HD DVDs, as expected, looked every bit hi-def. The battle scenes in “Troy” — the Brad Pitt flex-fest that combines a pristine picture, fast action and superior sound (see below) — simply could not look or sound as good through a conventional DVD player.
Most surprising, basic DVDs — even the superb HBO documentary “Addiction,” shot in the squarish shape of a conventional TV — looked hi-def on the Vizio. Not only is the HD-XA2 an excellent HD DVD player, but it is also the best upconverting DVD player I’ve seen.
Audio
Hot ticket No. 1: Dolby TrueHD, a new uncompressed audio format that replicates the original studio master.
Hot ticket No. 2: Dolby Digital Plus, a less-compressed version of the Dolby Digital format currently used in DVD players.
Number-crunching: Let’s do this in bit rates, the number of bits needed to store 1 second of audio. The higher the bit rate, the more information and, presumably, the better the sound: Dolby Digital (.64), Dolby Digital Plus (6.14) and Dolby TrueHD (18).
Future shock/The big tease: Because the first audio-video receivers with HDMI 1.3 won’t arrive until June, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus can’t be used in its intended form. Receivers with HDMI 1.1 or later — check with the manufacturer — can convert the signals to another audio format called linear PCM to get high-resolution audio. (Your basic digital coaxial connection, because of copyright-protection considerations, produces nothing more than Dolby Digital.)
But an old-fashioned analog connection, if you’re willing to connect five cables from the HD-XA2 to your receiver — representing the three front speakers, two surround speakers and the subwoofer in your audio system — reaps both Dolby Digital TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus. I made those connections, noted that the “Troy” and “The Perfect Storm” soundtracks were encoded with both new formats and stood back.
Whoa. On a modest system built around a set of PSB Alpha B speakers, the TrueHD sounded deeper and more dynamic. Finally, high-definition sound to match the 1080p picture.
I paid this for that? Despite the new Dolby formats, comparable upgraded formats from rival DTS are not available. Apparently, the DTS rollout is lagging behind Dolby’s.
Bottom line
There’s no guarantee that HD DVD, or rival Blu-ray Disc, will survive. The HD-XA2, which typically sells for about $550, is a superb player that won’t become dated (like Toshiba’s other HD DVD players) if HDTVs and audio-video receivers with HDMI 1.3 become standard equipment in the modern home theater. Then again, the same technology probably will be available at half the price next year. If HD DVD is still around.
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