Toshiba HD DVD XA2 woes

[sunshine451]

Hello Again... Hope you can help...
I just rec'd a new HD DVD player; XA2 from Toshiba. The first couple of back up disks I put in would not play. They were the more recent ones I burned - Deja Vu & Casino Royale. I tried Kingdom of Heaven that I did with the older version I believe was DVD Express and it worked fine. Store bought disks are fine too.
I called Toshiba support and they indicated the machine has a higher grade chip in it to detect copyrighted material and therefore will not play those types of disks.... ouch!!! I asked if I used component cables rather than HDMI if that would help but support was sceptical that it would. Of course using the cables over the hdmi would defeat the better signal.
Any suggestions?
Thankyou in advance.

[Charlie]

You are most likely correct on the chipset and until this can be looked into further you will most likely be unable to play your backups temporarily.

[sunshine451]

Thanks Charlie... I hope progress can be made. The industry sure moves in leaps and bounds! I'll keep watching for updates and hopefully DNC will overcome this issue.

[Charlie]

Yes I am sure they will see this thread.

[sunshine451]

Its funny when you think you got the goods as I mentioned at the begining of this thread I called back to Toshiba cause something just wasn't sitting right in my gut and I spoke to someone else this time and got back a different answer. The chap this time asked if I had ever played back any of these dvd's on the computer or any other dvd player after burning to which the answer was yes... His take on it was that the copyrighted material was removed and should then be able to play on any player. Now, he mentioned that the Toshiba that I have has issues playing back 16x's disks... -R. Bingo... that's what I was using 16x's speed. When I tried a 8x's disk...it played. There may be a firmware update for the dvd player that may address the problem. I will play around abit and let you know how things turned out. You'd think a player that costs big bucks could play 16x's disks.

[Charlie]

Not when it is new. The new Bluray burner burn regular DVD's at 10 or 12x if I remember right. I'll be getting one of these soon myself even though the costs are high at the moment. Try +R media and search this forum for bitsetting or booktypeing. :)

[Charlie]

I have done some research on this as another user as well I know has this issue and will see what can be done.

[Vinman]

great tread good info thanks sunshine451 this will help other users as well!

[Charlie]

To be blunt I think it may have to do with the newer firmware in these machines and the UDF file system used to make a backup so the machine thinks it is a pirated DVD. I can't really elaborate more on this as this is just a theory.

[Vinman]

To be blunt I think it may have to do with the newer firmware in these machines and the UDF file system used to make a backup so the machine thinks it is a pirated DVD. I can't really elaborate more on this as this is just a theory.
I agree with you on this one!!

[Ralph]

See another member with thae same problem that have had since day one, with DNC it plays fine on regular DVD Player but finicky on HD players.

[Charlie]

It's being looked into Ralf. :)

[Ralph]

Fast Charlie, I now this and in the near future it will be resolved. By the way sometimes as fast as I post you reply wihin seconds, How about the nickname Fast Charlie ( joking), do you play billiards?

[Charlie]

I used to be a shark and had fun making easy money. I watch the competitions on the sports channels at times if I have time.

[Ralph]

Me too but eye sight and nerves got to me as part of the aging process, used to take my girlfriend out ( Wife Now) and we ate and had as many drinks as we wanted FREE, so yes pool playing was fun.

[Charlie]

Especially when you are playing the contender and they think you suck then play for 5 or 10 dollars a ball :giggle: Easy money.

[Ralph]

Are you reffering to 9 ball?

[Charlie]

Are you reffering to 9 ball?

The only best game out there.

[Ralph]

You got that right. When I was 17 hanged around a pool hall and was learning on how to shoot and was lucky enough that when my money ran out, the owner of the pool hall let me rack tables and then got paid for it and return the money bak to him but as time past did not hd to rack as often. :yes:

[Charlie]

I have been doing allot of reading on the net with Toshiba's and Samsung stand alone DVD players and they are all pointing to the same factors of issues. They are far too late to release any firmware to better the playability. HD-DVD has officially lost now as they surrendered to Blu-Ray this makes matters worse as all those that have these HD-DVD players are not locked to what they can do with their player now and will no longer be any support either by the looks of things now.

[Ralph]

Charlie I look at it his way the Toshiba up converts to an excellent PQ on STD DVD and will wait and see if the prices drop on the BR, especially a PS3 or stand alone player then make a buy.

Sony is in the movie business, correct and if so it influenced the other studios to roll over, simple as that besides BR is probability harder to burn a copy do to cost, my 2 cents.

[Charlie]

Yes but DVD was in the same boat many many years ago as well and look at them now dirt cheap.

[Ralph]

Who came out fir BR or HD?

[Charlie]

BDS came first far as news but if I remember right HD physically came out first.

[zebadee]

Hi :)
It is my understanding that in terms of physical presence, then HD DVD came 1st.
It is (or was ) a evolvement from DVD.
Hence the title HD DVD.
In the short term is probably superior to Bluray.
However Bluray offers the manfacturer/vendor many more options (protection being one).
Also as developement (it is developement costs [supposedly] that creates the higher price) continues is almost certain to reach/if not surpass any quality advantages HD DVD may have had.
Bad news for the consumer in the short run.
But even the early dird isn't entirely happy with Bluray.
The earliest standalone players can't & probably won't ever be able to play the latest additions to the Bluray.
As they no way of updating f/w, with any thought h/w upgrades being too costly.
It is bin time for these players for the purists.

[Ralph]

The bad thing about it all is no competition and that is bad for us consumer.

[Smduff]

No it won't be a consumer issue because the competion will be between the different makers of the hardware. This was just like beta and vhs. Vhs won that battle, and it didn't hurt the consumer. The prices will drop eventually and if they dont just buy a ps3.

[Ralph]

Hi :)
It is my understanding that in terms of physical presence, then HD DVD came 1st.
It is (or was ) a evolvement from DVD.
Hence the title HD DVD.
In the short term is probably superior to Bluray.
However Bluray offers the manfacturer/vendor many more options (protection being one).
Also as developement (it is developement costs [supposedly] that creates the higher price) continues is almost certain to reach/if not surpass any quality advantages HD DVD may have had.
Bad news for the consumer in the short run.
But even the early dird isn't entirely happy with Bluray.
The earliest standalone players can't & probably won't ever be able to play the latest additions to the Bluray.
As they no way of updating f/w, with any thought h/w upgrades being too costly.
It is bin time for these players for the purists.

Well put.

[Ralph]

No it won't be a consumer issue because the competion will be between the different makers of the hardware. This was just like beta and vhs. Vhs won that battle, and it didn't hurt the consumer. The prices will drop eventually and if they dont just buy a ps3.


Have that in mind but the PS3 will probably go up in price also, everything being equal.

[Charlie]

Nope if they want to make money they'll lower all those prices.

[Ralph]

Just read that the PS3 is actually costing them money, our gain.

[Charlie]

It has always since the launch ans the drives originally were 500 USD and they were saling the PS3 for 399 and 499 USD so the loss has yet to let up. It is hurting them more now as the PS2 and PS1 games won't play on the PS3's.

[Ralph]

With my karma it would probably will go up within a few months, the PS3 that is.

[Charlie]

Well there is only one model and choice now the 40 gig hdd model.

[Ralph]

Thought that they had a 60 also?

[Charlie]

Canceled the making of the 60 & 80 gig models.

[Ralph]

Did they give a reason not that familiar with the PS3, why so much Gig in the first place?.

[Charlie]

Well the 60 gig models were supposed to be better and be able to play PS2 and PS1 games but didn't. Then they made the 80 gig models saying that they were supposed to be able to play PS2 and PS1 games but didn't. So PR yanked them to try not to confuse users and to gain momentum I guess.

[Ralph]

Thanks for the info. Charlie.

[ReadMeToo]

Something to think about Toshibas AW35 HD DVD will play all our back ups.

As soon as the AW35 drops to 150 or less Im grabbing one they upconvert regular DVDs great , Ive tried problem DVDs ive backed up at Best Buy to see if they would play an they play awesome compared to my SOny which would not.

So Ill take one or two for sure for the spare rooms as the price drops so all my backups will play for a long time.