Does anyone have any clue how to enter into the service or factory menus for the new HDA1 Toshiba. I have been looking around but so far not much luck.
I wonder if an old code would work. Any help would be appreciated.

Ya got one already?

How does it look (on what kind of display) and how does it sound? (what's the audio side of your system/

Yes, I picked one up on the 18th.

$499 at Best Buy only one they had for sale.

As for the picture it's great. It seems more dense than regular dvd images with less grain. Colors are rich and full. I have not noticed any artifacts in the background as of yet. Although, I have not exactly put this issue to the full test.

The images are smooth, very soft, and subdued. You get the sense that you are closer to watching actual film with HD DVD than you do with regular dvd's. That is not to say there is no fine details in the image quality because there are. It just looks softer than what I am use too.

The connection is simply HDMI out to HDMI in on my Sony VPL HS-20 front projector. It's an lcd display so I use a 110 in. Stewart Fire Hawk for my screen. Ideal for this type of projector. The native resolution of the display is 768p.

I've tried all the possible output resolutions from the player 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i. The HD resolutions look as I have described above while the 480i... well looks like 480i.

Regular dvd upconversion to 1080i or 720p looks as good as any I have seen to date. I own two upconverting dvd players the Samsung HD941 and the Sony DVPNS-975. I must admit though that I have not really put the toshbia through the paces in this regard. I simply popped in a dvd and watched for a few minutes saying uh, that's not bad.

As for the sound quality I am still uncertain. As I am not really all that familiar with the test material that is available. I used both Serenity and the Last Scientologists to evaluate the video side of the player and format. I just have not had the time to do a proper side by side audio comparison using these dvd and HD DVD versions of the films. My first impression on sound quality though was that it appears some what more robust. I will of course make time to do a proper comparison soon.

Audio connection is SPDIF output via optical cable to my Yamaha RXV 2500. I have the HD DVD players audio option output set to bit-stream. I do however, think the player is transcoding it into a hi-rez DTS PCM for output over the optical cable. That seems to be a default setting for all surround formats that are not DD Plus, DTS HD or one of the other accepted HD audio formats.

I then pass the signal out the receivers pre-outs to my Rotel amps. I know, I know, I'm working on getting the Rotels out and the Outlaws in. I just bought a house so cut me some slack. Anyway, from there it's down the home made CAT 5 speaker cables to the speakers. My speaker package is a mix bag of Paradigm monitor and reference series products. Mains are ref. 100's, a pair of studio 40's for center speakers, monitor 20's for rears, and dual servo 15's as subs.

So there you have the setup. Oh, I will be posting when I have completed my audio comparison. If anyone even cares.

I think that ultimately dvd was so much better than vhs or laser disc that the differences were shocking. HD DVD benefits are there just more subtle. Your not going to have that same shocking experience that you had when you first saw a dvd on your home screen. HD DVD is superior in many ways it's just not going to be as in your face as dvd was.

Oh, if you want to see the system click on the link below.

There is a huge thread about this player on the AVS forum website. I believe they list how to navigate the menu's on there. They also mention that the DolbyHD is only available through the multi-channel analog outputs, sort of like the hi-res music formats.

Your last paragraph is really telling. There's a change for the better, but not a revolutionary difference. That right there spells trouble as the average consumer is not going to buy new equipment just for a small, if noticeable, difference. Just ask all the people out there with SACD or DVD-Audio.

Your final comments also closely match what Bill Hunt said the other day at Digital Bits - it's good technology, but the change from DVD is not the sort of revolution that DVD was from VHS.