Topic: Toshiba stubbornly launches the un-Blu-ray, XD-E500 DVD player

[dmaximus]

helpful links sir. thank you. now im decided. can't wait for Christmas. 

[Moks007]

Sure guys, I think there will be more and more reviews that will be coming out in the months ahead. If the majority of the reviews will be great, I think more and more will want this player by Christmas ..Me included There are some in avs saying its as good as the xa2 or even better. Stay tuned

I'm already sold at the review that says its better than the ps3 bec lately lang I really see how good  the ps3 is on dvds.

My order of best players pq wise, from what I own, IMO
1. ps3 - I find it really sharp, parang nga HD on some scenes hehe   especially on closeup faces (I sit around 8 to 10 ft away)
2. oppo 980 - I think it can be tied with ps3. Watching Grease on this player was Wow. Thats a nice copy of Grease I have to say, and combined with this player "truly awesome"
3. Toshiba a35/a30 - very close din to 2nd or first. My wife usually mistake the dvd playing in this player as "high definition ba yan?" No joke, pero she is no videophile ..She can't really tell hidef from dvd, no joke 
4. Pioneer 600 - returned to my parents na , pero excellent performer din
5. Sony ns75 - was the best player I had couple years back until these new players that I eventually owned.

I just want the "best of the best" for my dvds especially for the sharpness of the picture..Hidef is no challenge or excitement  ( for me lang recently) bec one knows it is already sharp diba? hehe, Ive gotten more selective on these  hidef movies bec of this reason (of course still want them but at better prices or just getting my favorites like the bond series in blu )...I wanna see You've got mail, Two weeks notice, Star Wars, Raiders, Grease, Ferris bueller's day off in "TRUE DVD GLORY"  . I get excited as the picture gets sharper and sharper using diff players. Call me crazy or weird I guess..You guys may say small diff na lang among these players but sometimes us dvd/home theater addicts want more and more, especially for the picture..Diba? .. Parang gatorade, Quenching for thirst , of course at a good price value/budget

[newbie pa rin]

Hmmm, did I made a mistake in ordering an OPPO 980 ?

Audio is subjective but PQ, another hmmm.

[juanch]

@Moks007

bro, you're not alone.
Just little improvements in PQ makes me go carzy.

And my non-videophile friends & cousins just look at me with a "What's up with him?" look. 

---------------------

One thing that is not clear though is how does the XDE stack up against the Oppo 983 or Tosh X-a2.

[iiinas]

@Moks007

bro, you're not alone.
Just little improvements in PQ makes me go carzy.

And my non-videophile friends & cousins just look at me with a "What's up with him?" look. 

---------------------

One thing that is not clear though is how does the XDE stack up against the Oppo 983 or Tosh X-a2.

actually sa avs forum, brader jauncho, some owners of the x-a2 are saying its at par or even better than the x-a2, but no comparison yet with 983. for me, if it trumps the 980 and 981, solve na ako. i think it will be hard for the xde to one up the 983. but for its price, oks lang na mas maganda ang 983.

some are even saying come christmas it might go down to 120$ level, yahoo for us. 

btw, some are also saying the region free hack through the remote seems to be not working for everyone. 

[Moks007]

Hmmm, did I made a mistake in ordering an OPPO 980 ?

Audio is subjective but PQ, another hmmm.

No you did not..The 980 is an excellent player in my opinion.. Its just this toshiba player is 20 dollars cheaper and MAY be much better than 980, 981, ps3 etc. Lets wait for more reviewers

Off topic ..By the way I might have to redo the order of the best players in my opinion above. I retested the 980 and ps3 just now using Eraser with Arnold. This dvd is not that great in terms of pq imo, thats why I used it for comparison. Im using warner region 3, bought here. The pq of this movie on the 980 looks way better than the ps3. I don't know if its bec my ps3 is not calibrated, firmware or adjusted to better settings for dvd but the 980 is sharper and has definitely less noise. So just based on this its
1. 980
2. ps3 with tosh a35/a30 just a hair behind or same lang with ps3
3. pioneer 600
4. Sony ns75

this is just my eyes and my opinion, others may rank these differently. Equipments, calibration, room conditions etc will have diff results. This is just my humble ranking

[Moks007]

@Moks007

bro, you're not alone.
Just little improvements in PQ makes me go carzy.

And my non-videophile friends & cousins just look at me with a "What's up with him?" look. 

---------------------

One thing that is not clear though is how does the XDE stack up against the Oppo 983 or Tosh X-a2.

..This I wanna see also

btw, some are also saying the region free hack through the remote seems to be not working for everyone. 

hmmm..thats not good, lets wait for more confirmation before we buy this Christmas? hehe

[juanch]

The 3 picture modes namely Sharp, Color & Contrast bothers me. 

Each movie will have it's own ideal mode, does this mean I'll have to choose at the start of each movie which mode I want?

I want an upconverting player that's simply insert disc & enjoy.
I don't want to find the ideal picture mode for each movie 

Maybe if I buy the XDE, I will just leave it in sharp mode. 

[juanch]

btw, some are also saying the region free hack through the remote seems to be not working for everyone. 

This one bothers me as well 

[iiinas]

The 3 picture modes namely Sharp, Color & Contrast bothers me. 

Each movie will have it's own ideal mode, does this mean I'll have to choose at the start of each movie which mode I want?

I want an upconverting player that's simply insert disc & enjoy.
I don't want to find the ideal picture mode for each movie 

Maybe if I buy the XDE, I will just leave it in sharp mode. 

sharp mode is always on, its between contrast or color that you have to choose, but based on reviews, professional or otherwise, i think a lot like the contrast mode, brings out deeper blacks. and i think toggling between modes is easily done through the remote. but i see what you mean, its always better if we could just set it once (like calibration) and just enjoy watching. 

[Moks007]

A more in-depth review. Buy na? 
http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/review/5531/toshiba-xd-e500-review

[iiinas]

A more in-depth review. Buy na? 
http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/review/5531/toshiba-xd-e500-review

thanks sir raymond. and for the reviewer to predict that the price will go down to $99 by x'mas...... 

[whiteb16a]

Can't wait for this player to hit our shores. I just hope it'll be here before X'mas...really want to upgrade my old DV-300 na for Tosh XDE "Patience is virtue"

[tambutsoo]

available na ba ito ?

[iiinas]

available na ba ito ?

sa u.s. palang. you can get it through amazon. $149

[blued888]

Some OPPO DV-980H vs. Toshiba XD-E500 image comparisons.

Link

[ninjababez®]

Some OPPO DV-980H vs. Toshiba XD-E500 image comparisons.

Link

thanks sa link bro

[iiinas]

Some OPPO DV-980H vs. Toshiba XD-E500 image comparisons.

Link

the toshiba exhibited a warmer skin tone, although the sharpening effect was done in a good way. seen the links before, but you can better judge it now because of the mouse over thing.

thanks for the links sir blued888

[blued888]

Does the Toshiba by default, boost saturation/colors? The Toshiba's images look so much warmer than that of the OPPO and I think it might be overdone during certain scenes and movies.

[iiinas]

Does the Toshiba by default, boost saturation/colors? The Toshiba's images look so much warmer than that of the OPPO and I think it might be overdone during certain scenes and movies.

four settings:

off                      - standard upscaling 
sharp alone          - edge enhancement
sharp + color        - edge enhancement + boost in green and blues
sharp + contrast   - edge enhancement + better blacks

[blued888]

four settings:

off                      - standard upscaling 
sharp alone          - edge enhancement
sharp + color        - edge enhancement + boost in green and blues
sharp + contrast   - edge enhancement + better blacks

Ok, yung sa image comparison kasi, kahit XDE sharpness lang nakasulat... May color boosting ginagawa eh.

[iiinas]

$137 nalang sa amazon. hopefully mga $110 nalang by x'mas. 

[Moks007]

$137 nalang sa amazon. hopefully mga $110 nalang by x'mas. 

hehe sana 99 dollars, my target din maybe this Christmas  ..However, Im thinking if I should get this or just the pch hehe..Im really craving for this toshiba tho   ..the screenshots in avs look really nice

[iiinas]

hehe sana 99 dollars, my target din maybe this Christmas  ..However, Im thinking if I should get this or just the pch hehe..Im really craving for this toshiba tho   ..the screenshots in avs look really nice

naku sir raymond, since may oppo ka na, prioritize pch nalang, i don't think this toshiba will trump the oopo, its at par lang with the oppo at best. besides the region free thing is still hanging. 

[Moks007]

naku sir raymond, since may oppo ka na, prioritize pch nalang, i don't think this toshiba will trump the oopo, its at par lang with the oppo at best. besides the region free thing is still hanging. 

hehe ya addict kasi ako sa dvd hehe..Ya I think the pch is the way to go. I might go now to ehome in annapolis and check it out again and inquire more haha..By the way do you download your own movies or just give it to someone to download for you for a fee? Bagal kasi net ko (I think its worth it if your internet is the 2mb speed or higher) and hassle I might just let the salespeople here download for me for a fee. hehe..

out of topic..How many movies ba 1 terabyte ba yan..hehe dont know the spelling..I like to collect movies and nakakahinayang to delete it and change to other movies haha..Sometimes kasi I like to go back and watch a certain movie out of the blue haha..

[iiinas]

hehe ya addict kasi ako sa dvd hehe..Ya I think the pch is the way to go. I might go now to ehome in annapolis and check it out again and inquire more haha..By the way do you download your own movies or just give it to someone to download for you for a fee? Bagal kasi net ko (I think its worth it if your internet is the 2mb speed or higher) and hassle I might just let the salespeople here download for me for a fee. hehe..

out of topic..How many movies ba 1 terabyte ba yan..hehe dont know the spelling..I like to collect movies and nakakahinayang to delete it and change to other movies haha..Sometimes kasi I like to go back and watch a certain movie out of the blue haha..

pag 720p file kasi mga 4-5gb so a terabyte of space is roughly 200 movies. pag 1080 p ka naman mga 8-10gb per movie kaya mga roughly mga 100 movies yan, but real world situation you will have both type of files kaya lagay mo sya at 6.5 gb per movie average, so 1 tb is mga 150 movies.

and i do both, download and let someone do it for me for a fee. 

[[joms]]

a) magkakaron na kaya eto sa market by the end of october? what do you guys think?
b) do you think this will play p*rated DVDs as good as the pioneer dv400/600 and philips 5986?

[iiinas]

a) magkakaron na kaya eto sa market by the end of october? what do you guys think?
b) do you think this will play p*rated DVDs as good as the pioneer dv400/600 and philips 5986?

sa asia, parang wala pang pending release, now, buying the u.s. model naman, yan nga ang risk, kasi there is no definite answer to the region freeing of this unit. there was a guy who posted at the avs forum that a code works in region freeing the unit which was good news but after a few post someone said the code he posted does not work and nobody has revalidated the code yet, kaya sketchy pa siya at best. but if it reach $100 by xmas, then sure ball na yung region freeing code, i think this will be a popular player even here in the philippines. bili nalang via amazon. 

[[joms]]

normally ba, if it is released sa US, how many weeks/months before it gets released sa philippines?

[iiinas]

normally ba, if it is released sa US, how many weeks/months before it gets released sa philippines?

Tough question, iba iba, smetimes simultaneous, smetimes mnths apart, smetimes the model does not see the light of day in the philippines. Look at oppo, not even a distributor to represent them, hopefully since there is toshiba here, bka magkaroon, but look at the ps3, may sony phils, naman, pero they dont sell it officially here.