I just bought this player at Wal MArts big sale yesterday for $98.00 plus 2 free HD DVDs (PLUS 5 more via mail in rebate).

Anyway, this player outputs a max of 1080i. Thats fine, because my Sony 60" SXRD-XBR1 only accepts 1080i for a max resolution, then converst it to 1080p.

I have 3 questions;

1-I notice that HD DVDs list on the back of the case that the disc is in 1080p. The movie should still output at 1080i correct?

2-Would it be better to hook up the A2 to the Outlaw 990 via component cables, or with a hdmi/dvi cable be better?

3-Regarding the optical audio output, should the player be set to output "bitstream" or "PCM"?


For what it sworth, I currently have a 5.1 speaker set up, but I plan on hooking up my other 2 rear surrounds soon.


PS I can t wait for outlaw to release a newwer pre with HDMI connections!

The HD-A2 will only output 1080i. If your display supports HDMI, I'd use the HDMI output. Lastly, you will want "bitstream" for the digital audio output. The HD-A2 will decode TrueHD tracks and re-encode as full-bitrate DTS. Once your rear surrounds are hooked up, you will be able to apply PLIIx to that DTS track to get 7.1. The results are quite good, even if they are inevitably not going to be as good as the original lossless TrueHD track.

I believe if you hook up the video via component, the A2 will not upscale DVDs to 720p or 1080i. It would be fine for HD DVDs, though.

If upscaling is important to you, I'd suggest HDMI.

Scott

How'd you get two free HD-DVD's? I know about the 5 but this is the first I have heard on the two from WM. I have heard that BB was giving 2 away though.

Best By ran the special, buy any HD DVD player and get 2 for free instantly. I copied the page and printe dit out and Wal Mart honored it.

I still need to send in the UPC for the 5 free movies.

Best Buy ad today says 3 for free.

In fact, they have the HD A3 for $199, and it includes 2 HD DVDs in the box, 300 and Bourne Ultimatum. Plus you get to pick 3 additional, and get 5 via mail in rebate.

Gonk (or anyone that is obviously more educated than I on the soundtrack stuff);

I have the A2 but I am considering getting the A3. I honestly do not undertsand the new audio formats, and how the A2 "transcodes" the Dolby Digital soundtrack to a DTS soundtrack to be output via the optical.

I personally have never done an A/B comparison between DD and DTS. However, I would think that if the soundtrack is in DD, then DD should be sent out via the optical output to my 990 preamp. If both formats are on the disc, then I should have the option.

While watching King Kong (which only has Dolby Digital) the front of my 990 is displaying DTS. On avsforum.com, I posted this oddity, and I still do not quite get it. To me, the sound did not seem very spacious. Maybe it is the movie itself, but the sound did nt seem all that spectacular.

So, assuming Outlaw will be releasing a newer preamp next year with all the audio formats and current HDMI connections, would the A3 be better than the A2? I do not want to spend a ton on a HD DVD player which is why I picked up the A2 last week at WalMArt for $98.00. But if I can get 5 more movies and have a generally better player I would be willing to sell my A2 and get the A3.

Someone please help with this CONFUSING audio situation!

I would not trade the A2 for the A3. The two are almost identical aside for the differing faceplate.

What the A2 is doing with the new audio formats is actually rather handy. There are a number of new formats to keep up with, which is why it gets confusing. Dolby Labs has two new formats in the mix: Dolby Digital Plus (which is the successor to Dolby Digital, but offers capacity for true 7.1 as well as offering more bandwidth and thus less "loss" in the lossy compression) and TrueHD (which is the descendent of DVD-Audio's MLP, and is a lossless compression). DTS has graced us with a single new format DTS-HD that is actually a (very confusing) host of formats, with DTS-HD Master Audio (the lossless equivalent to TrueHD) at the top of the food chain. Neither the A2 nor the A3 can decode DTS-HD MA (Master Audio). Both can decode the more widely-used TrueHD, however, as well as DD+. When Outlaw's HDMI processors start arriving next year, the HD-A2 will be able to output a decoded multichannel PCM signal via HDMI for either of these. In the meanwhile, though, the A2 is taking that decoded multichannel PCM and re-encoding it in the highest-bitrate package it has handy: DTS. That DTS can then be sent via optical output to a DD/DTS receiver or processor without having to get into the mess that is HDMI. Your 990 is decoding that DTS signal. If you want to, you can even hit the "Dolby" button and overlay PLIIx onto that DTS signal to get rear surrounds. As for why King Kong was disappointing, I haven't seen/heard Kong yet but I'd suggest trying some other discs. I've given the TrueHD tracks on both Batman Begins and Nine Inch Nails' "Beside You In Time" a listen via the A2's DTS output and thought they were excellent.

Thanks Gonk.

I did hear the rear surrounds in action during King Kong. I guess I wish I could have the option of hearing DD instead of DTS if I wanted too.

Judging by the email I received earlier this morning, it looks to me that Outlaw is getting somewhat close to releasing a new preamp. My guess is a release within the next 6 months.

With the HD-A2, the only way to get that Dolby Digital Plus or TrueHD is via HDMI - although I'm not sure that the DTS re-encode is much of a compromise for the DD+ sources, as it is a much higher bitrate than you're likely to ever find on a standard DVD (uses the maximum bitrate allowed by DTS, while most DTS tracks on DVD's operate at a lower bitrate to save disc space). The HD-XA2 (and the first gen HD-A1 and HD-XA1) offers a multichannel analog output that would provide access to it, but in that case you would lose use of the rear surrounds since the multichannel analog outputs are 5.1 only.

My 990 and 7700 can accomodate 7 channels. I plan on installing a set of rear surrounds by Xmas. Will the 990 rencode anything to 6.1 or 7.1 from my HDA2 or from my Sony 400 DVD changer?

I am running optical out on both, and I am running analog outs (6 channels) from my Sony DVD Changer for SACD.

Since the HD-A2 lacks multichannel analog output, 990 owners such as us are going to be using optical output from the HD-A2. One nice capability of the 990's PLIIx implementation is the ability to overlay PLIIx onto DTS 5.1 sources. This means that when the HD-A2 spits out its high-bitrate DTS re-encode of DD+ and TrueHD sources, the 990 can use PLIIx or NEO:6 to generate back surround signals. So the short answer is "yes" - you can get rear surrounds from any digital input you throw at the 990, up to and incuding the HD-A2's optical output, using either PLIIx, NEO:6, Dolby EX, or DTS ES.

The 990 does not apply any matrix surround processing (PLIIx, NEO:6, etc.) to the multichannel analog input. The only way to get rear surrounds with the SACD output of your Sony changer is to split the surround signals and pipe those signals to both the side and rear surround inputs of your 7.1 Direct input. This was a common practice among early adopters of HD-DVD and Blu-ray last year, but I never tried it myself to decide if it was worthwhile for SACD or not. It'll depend to a large degree on your speaker layout and room - in some cases it may help, but in others it may be of no benefit.

Thanks Gonk.

I still have not hasd the time to run my new A2 to the 990 using a hdmi-dvi cable. I should be getting Bourne Identity tommorow from blockbuster, and I hear the PQ onthat disc is great, so I will have to to it tommorow and see if I notice any difference.

Speaking of HD-DVD's and picture quality, I'll say that I was surprised by Transformers. I Netflix'ed it a week or two ago, and after going into it with no expectations (well, actually, no good expectations) I ended up enjoying it. It had a full dose of cheesiness (giant robots trying to hide in someone's back yard pretty much doomed to such), but it was also pretty fun - and the picture quality was excellent.

I just watched Transformers as well (with the HDA2 going directly to my Sony 60" via HDMI).

WOW!

Actually the HD-A1, XA1, and the 360 Add-on are the only ones that transcode Dolby Plus and TrueHD to DTS via optical/coaxial. All other units downconvert those two Dolby options to 640kbps standard Dolby Digital.

No, the HD-A2 and HD-XA2 also use DTS - it was only the latest generation (HD-A3 and its siblings) that changed to Dolby Digital. At the very least, my HD-A2 pushes DTS to my Model 990 when playing DD+ and TrueHD tracks...