I'VE READ a query posted in the AVSFORUM of a fellow wondering if the SD performance in the Toshiba HD-DVD reference model XA-2 would compare or upstaged that of the Denon 3930 & 2930. These two Denons are authoritatively cited as reference-grade DVD players because of the distinguished presence of the REALTA VIDEO CHIP, a device that serves as an all-in-one line-doubler, deinterlacer & upconverter inside the Denons. The Realta has been used in only three video devices as far as I know: the Denon 5910 & 3930 DVD players, and embedded in the ultra-expensive Yamaha DPX-1300 DLP projector. The 2930 used Realta's "cousin" - the REON XV video chip, its main difference from the Realta being that its "programming is fixed" whereas the Realta is upgradeable.
The query elicited very few answers and all the answers are very much open to well-grounded dispute. They retorted that the SD performance in the Toshiba can well compare with the Denons, that the upconversion itself is subjectively reference-grade. The drift is that the XA-2 is a stupenduous machine that plays both HD-DVD and SD on the threshold of perfection. As such, the XA-2 is supposed to be a bargain, a positive technological "anomaly" that plays two video formats superbly.
That is far from the truth. The real reason the HD-DVD format has reached its obsolescence fate is because the PLAYERS THEMSELVES were certifiably defective and no units could play normally. I have owned the Toshiba XA-2, and the chassis alone which is in mournful black seemed to have fittingly cast a portent against the format it supports. I have played dozens of disks on it, eight HD-DVDs and DVDs comprising the rest and every time, the machine would put out a cause to reject, to cut off, and to simply not move into action. The maddening thing thats the worst trouble is that every disk you'll feed it, the machine would have a different, random, assorted "reasons" not to play. For example, on the first disk it'll say: Format Not Supported, on the second: Not Playable, on the third: No Disk, on the fourth: When player is switched to 1080p there is no picture. And so on.
You could forgive the XA-2's sluggard loading time, forgive also that its 110 volts, and that its fixed to play only Region 1's. Forgivable by all means too is the design aesthetic which is uncannily similar to a dark TV/Cable converter box of ten years ago which you could buy in Quiapo by now for around P500. But its the "random" answers thats maddening because it testifies that the circuitry could not efficiently recognized between HD-DVDs and regular disk, its hypersensitive to normal usage scratches, and the manufacturer evidently push it out to the market but has bypassed quality testing inside their lab. And what is quality testing? Its like this: When Warner releases a DVD film it plays the "master copy" through 200 DVD units, from branded players like Philips, Sony- down to the most lowly China-made bargains. That ensures that the product comes to the market as consumer-perfect as possible.
Toshiba cheated its way out of such rigorous testing and the fruits are thousands of HD-DVD players thats miserable, cranky & ultimately junk fodder. I am one of the fellows who lost P39,000 by buying a good as junk XA-2. And what of its picture? There is no comparison between its SD performance against the Denons. The Toshiba gives blotchy hues & tints, its measurably soft - truly lacking image definition and the total resolution is dull, there's just no sparkle in there. The image just could not rise up from the player's innate poor workmanship. This evaluation is made by viewing everything on a 90-inch screen beamed through a HC3100 Mitsubishi DLP projector.
The Reon chip in the XA-2 is supposed to have delivered superb upconversion, but I see no visual evidence of that. The Denon 2930 implemented correctly and maximally Reon's full potential and the only thing that's absent are the screenshots I wanted to accompany up this post to demonstrate the 2930's strengths.
But even the Denon 2930 with its Reon "fails" to match the 3930's standards.
This is an entirely different monster. It brings DVD picture to another level - the brightest, sharpest, smoothiest rendering I've seen my good old Technicolor films being processed through. Its most distinguishing character is giving added brilliance to the picture, more "light" upon it; and, rendering an image thats on the threshold of being life-like, or at least as faithful as can be digitally extracted from the source. The added benefit is the smoothness, its a velvety smoothness, as if the Denon or the Realta inside it is thoroughly confident that it calculates with precision the logarithms to be worked on to bring a perfect image. And the 2930's trademark "judder" - the imperfection that mars its performance along with a harsher rendering - is absent in the 3930. Through HDMI, the touted and claimed billion shades of colour enhancing the picture oozes with bountiful evidence. So confident. So absorbing.
The folks who raised the argument that the XA-2 can compare with even the 2930 is dead wrong. They could have compulsed some people to be turned away from getting the best DVD images out of a thoroughly tested hardware. The Toshiba deserves its fate, the upconversion alone is a cause for it to be deservedly forgotten. Case closed.
