HD dvd players any good playing CDs?

[Guest]

Well I couldn't help but notice someone inquiring into the same question but with blue ray players. I have been combing the net looking for feedback on 2 channel cd playback performance on these machines but there isn't much out there. Anyone here care to comment?

[ThomasW]

I have an HD-DVD player, but given the comparatively short lifespan of blue lasers it's not used for playing CD's.

[littlesaint]

I have the XA2, which is a very good HD-DVD and DVD player, but not up to par for playing CDs IMO. I use an Oppo strictly for music playback (DVD-A, SACD, CD). Eventually I'll add a Blu-ray player to the mix, and if the PS3 is still the best one, I may "retire" the Oppo as my DVD-A library is quite small and the PS3 is very good with CDs and SACDs (60GB and 80GB models).

[PatG]

ThomasW I wasn't yet aware the HD DVD players had longevity issues with their laser's, how do they compare to units found in CD players/ old school DVD players? I remember hearing significant hooplah over Toshiba's SD 3950, wondering if some of that engineering made it into the HD line.

[Kevin P]

AFAIK the blue lasers in hi-res players aren't used for playing CDs or regular DVDs.

[ThomasW]

ThomasW I wasn't yet aware the HD DVD players had longevity issues with their laser's

It's not a function of them having "issues", it's simply that blue lasers have a shorter life span than red lasers.

[PatG]

We picked up a Toshiba HD A30 for ourselves (seeing as Christmas was a bust). As far as image quality goes I'm a little bit dissapointed with the 1080p/24 performance, detailed but blurry with bright scenes being particularly problematic. As far as sound quality is concerned the HD A30 is smooth but uninvolving, in comparrison my VERY modest AMC CD8b produces a deeper soundstage with much more dynamic percussions. So far The Bourne Identity and 300 (ugh) were pretty unimpressive so I'll have to grab one more title before rendering a decision.

[littlesaint]

We picked up a Toshiba HD A30 for ourselves (seeing as Christmas was a bust). As far as image quality goes I'm a little bit dissapointed with the 1080p/24 performance, detailed but blurry with bright scenes being particularly problematic. As far as sound quality is concerned the HD A30 is smooth but uninvolving, in comparrison my VERY modest AMC CD8b produces a deeper soundstage with much more dynamic percussions. So far The Bourne Identity and 300 (ugh) were pretty unimpressive so I'll have to grab one more title before rendering a decision.

300 is NOT a good movie to benchmark an HD-DVD player. Try any of the following:

King Kong
Seabiscuit
Transformers
Troy: Director's Cut
Blade Runner: Final Cut
Corpse Bride
The Ant Bully

The transfer on these is exceptional. I was really impressed with Blade Runner which is 25 years old. There's an article in this months Sound & Vision on the process used to transfer it to HD. Very cool.

[ThomasW]

PQ and SQ on HD-DVD movies are a function of the transfer combined with the quality of the playback electronics.

I was blown out of my chair by the SQ of the "Serenity" soundtrack.

[John Holmes]

PQ and SQ on HD-DVD movies are a function of the transfer combined with the quality of the playback electronics.

This is so true! When my main viewing device, was a 32" JVC(analog), most DVD's looked good to great. Very few had bad transfers to me. But, once I moved to 56" RPTV HDTV(CRT), the bad transfers became more obvious. Now that I have FPTV, the transfer is everything!

As to SQ, I noticed a nice step up in quality on my cd playback using my XA1. The analog outs (2ch) gives a very satisfying and enjoyable response with my equipment.

[PatG]

Why they included 300 with the player is beyound me, it would look horrible on any system. I would love to see Blade Runner (final cut), I'm very happy to hear the transfer was handled with care, excellent film. Played Simpsons the movie the other night (sd dvd) but in any mode it looked pretty bad, it exhibited a lot of weird shadows/outlines, hysterical all the same. I'll have to check out one of those better transfers.