Toshiba XE1 Upscaling SD Performance

[MarkeyB]

Just read a comment in a review in What Hi-Fi that the upscaling performance is as good as a Denon 2930 with standard DVDs. Is this true, as I was about to buy the Denon. I was waiting a while until the hardware had matured before buying into HD, but if I can get equal performance to a Denon 2930 on upscaling SD, then this is a no brainer considering this thing is cheaper than the Denon also!!

Any thoughts from any owners out there?

 

[scrapbook]

I have seen a number of threads that confirm this. I would recommend using the search facility.

The only issue you may have is that there is no SD DVD multi region tweak for the Toshiba yet. This may or may not affect you.

 

[TrevorS]

The nifty thing is you can get one of the better SD DVD upscalers available, and at the same time pick up HD DVD support -- almost as a freebie!

That's how I got my HD DVD player -- I specifically wanted a very good upscaler to replace my Denon 2900 for SD DVD, and it turned out I could get both that and HD DVD at a pretty reasonable price.

 

[AES256]

Here's a thread comparing the HD-XA2 (US version of the XE1) SD DVD upscaling prowess with one of the top of the line external video processors:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=782887

As has been mentioned above, the only issue is that the Toshibas are currently still region-locked for SD DVD playback i.e. you can only play R0 and R2 PAL and NTSC discs. No SD region hack in sight yet AFAIK.

 

[mshdsp]

I just played Casino Royale on my XE1 and was totally blown away. The PQ was excellent.

 

[av_101]

I have both players and my opinion is yes, the XE1 is as good as the 2930

 

[low-def.]

I bought the XE1 last week and I have been very impressed with the picture os sd-dvds.

I watched Jackie Brown the other night on it via 720p in 1:85 ratio and it looked amazing. Really crisp. Then I watched the Negotiator last night and it looked much better in 576p than 720p (strange).

The film is shot in 2:35, and seemed to have motion blurring when upped to 720p or 1080i. But I'm fine with this because the film played brilliantly in 576p anyways.

I don't have any hd-dvd discs yet to try out, but I have some on the way.

 

[gpa]

It's a no brainer, the SD performance is indeed very good and certainly a match for any mid priced player. You then get the option for HD stuff as a bonus

 

[rulocal]

It's a no brainer, the SD performance is indeed very good and certainly a match for any mid priced player. You then get the option for HD stuff as a bonus

I have just bought one of these. How does it compare to the Arcam?

 

[TopMeTom]

I have just bought one of these. How does it compare to the Arcam?

yeah, Very interested in that comparison!!

 

[gpa]

I have just bought one of these. How does it compare to the Arcam?

In a word it does not, but then again I would have hoped so for the money, softer picture less natural and some artifacts during upscaling. I use the 139 for SD playback amongst other things and the tosh(which I love) for HD. HD is a different matter, the Tosh hammers the Arcam, but again that's expected.