Toshiba HD-A1 Soft / washed out Image

Hawklan

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Hi

I have just upgraded from a Xbox 360 HD DVD drive to a Toshiba HD-A1

The trouble is that visually is does not seem to be an upgrade. The image is soft and washed out and when compared to the 360 Drive.
My missus was first to comment on this (She does not normally notice these sort of things)

I've tried switching between 1080i and 720p but no improvement

For the 360 Drive I used component and HDMI for the Toshiba HD-A1

My display is a Pioneer 43MXE1 with a Key Digital Xplorer HDCP compatible card

Any help would be much appreciated

Many thanks

RON
 
Have you calibrated the input??
 
Hi

To be honest No - But saying that I hadn't for the 360 drive either (which just seemed perfect out of the box)

I'll have a go now and let you know how it turns out

Many thanks

RON
 
Hi

All sorted - It was a calibration isssue - Contrast and Brightness needed quite a nudge

Oddly through component it was OK with the factory settings

The regular DVD upscaling is quite amazing - near HCPC in fact

Many thanks

RON
 
I find calibration to be critical whenever I make changes in my video playback chain. In case you aren't aware, there are at least two calibration discs available, AVIA and DVE (Digital Video Essentials). Makes all the difference for me.
 
Hi Trevor

Yep I agree - I was just a bit too eager to get it up and running

Using both Avia and the Original DVE my component sources were pretty much bang on out of the box

It seems that for my system HDMI needs quite a tweak

Now that I have the calibration correct I'm very happy - There is less noise than was evident with the 360 drive. The big improvement however with the sound



Many thanks

RON
 
There is less noise than was evident with the 360 drive. The big improvement however with the sound.

In case you aren't aware -- Microsoft is supposed to be releasing an XBOX 360 firmware update in a few weeks that corrects the compressed Dolby Digital dynamics (makes it selectable like in other players -- default being normal). It's also supposed to allow selection of DTS transcoding for advanced DD sound tracks. (Pus other things of course :)) .

I would expect your new player to still be the winner, but the XBOX HD DVD sound should be mightily improved.
 
Hi

As usual I found out about the firmware update after I sold the 360 Drive

But that is not a problem as I really wanted to hear the Hi def sound formats (dolby TrueHD etc) that a dedicated player with 5.1 out will let me experience - And boy do they sound great

Many thanks

RON
 

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