I am about to pickup a Toshiba HD-DVD player and can't decide between the current models (HD-A1,HD-XA1) and the new model comming out in a few weeks (HD-A2). I've noticed that the new model no longer have 5.1 analog audio out which seems to be a point of discussion on the various boards. I'm not sure how much difference that makes over using optical.

Using the 990, I'm currently driving an Optoma Hdc3 projector via DVI and also have Oppo 971DVD player and HD cable box in the mix.

How do those of you that have current HD-DVD models connect up to the 990?

Any thoughts from the community?

Regards,

billmac

As you've noticed, the HD-A2 lacks a 5.1 analog output. This is an issue because the new formats (both HD-DVD and Blu-ray) include three new audio formats: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD. TrueHD is a lossless compression format (it uses DVD-Audio's MLP, in fact), and all three are a step up from our old friends Dolby Digital and DTS. They are also too big to fit across an SPDIF cable (coaxial and optical audio cables), meaning that you must either use HDMI v1.1 or higher to carry the digital audio or convert to analog and use the 5.1 analog output.

The Toshiba players do have an interesting trick up their sleeves that many people have reported to be surprisingly good: they can decode Dolby Digital Plus or TrueHD (the players lack support for DTS-HD at this point) and re-encode as high-bitrate DTS 5.1 that can go across an SPDIF (coaxial or optical) connection. If you were to get the HD-A2, that would be the only way you could get these new formats. Since I don't have an HD-DVD player, I can't say just how much difference can be heard between the two approaches. The HD-XA2 that's due around the end of the year should include a 5.1 analog output, if that makes any difference.

I dont see any reason to pay an extra couple hundred for the HD-XA1.

Personally, I jumped in and bought the A1 instead of waiting for second generation players. Reason being, i got it for $400 and it has analog inputs (I can now enjoy Dolby TrueHD). The new player is supposedly faster, but that's the only real beneift I've heard over the A1. Maybe fewer bugs as well.

I have been very pleased with the A1 and would recommend to anyone.