HD DVD 2.0 firmware to be released on Tuesday
by Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Aug 20th 2006 at 6:05PM
We told you a few weeks ago that TrueHD was coming to HD DVD in the form of a firmware update and another tipster has told us to expect to see the 2.0 update available to those with their HD DVD players connected to the Internet on Tuesday. Blu-ray fans everywhere are suffering from Ethernet envy and on Tuesday they can add TrueHD to the list of things they have to go without for choosing Blu-ray.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
adam green @ Aug 20th 2006 6:53PM
Dolby Digital Plus has been great! This is going to be even better! I wish I were able to quantify my statement with actual bit rates. If somebody would explain the bit rates between sound modes in hd-dvd, i'm sure lots of us would be greatly appreciated! Up until now, i've been jealous of the blu-ray uncompressed sound. As good as DD+ is, that is apparently much better. I guess DD True HD 5.1 puts HD-DVD back in the audio game with blu ray!?
Phil @ Aug 20th 2006 7:53PM
The bit rates for DD+ go up to 6mpbs while TrueHD goes to 18+mbps. Not only that but TrueHD is lossless compressed and 24bit/96khz sampled, unlike the 20/44 that Blu-Ray used for it's uncompressed LPCM tracks. TrueHD does quite a bit more with less space, which should be another kick to the teeth to those staunchly supporting BD at the moment.
I'm sure the BD camp will get it's crap together eventually and we'll see similar results with their movies/soundtracks but until we do man does HD-DVD make BD look like the biggest waste of money ever or what?
bmw68 @ Aug 20th 2006 8:26PM
What kind of receiver is need to be able to use this?
RW @ Aug 20th 2006 8:36PM
Yes, BD looks like a nice fresh pile of horse manure. And as we know you don't use it for anything other than agricultural purposes.
I wonder if the potential 2.0 release has any other additions other than the TrueHD.
dylan neild @ Aug 20th 2006 8:53PM
#3: Any receiver with 5.1 analog inputs, assuming you have the analog 5.1 connections hooked up from your HD-A1 to same receiver.
That said, TrueHD be damned. I'm much more interested in seeing Toshiba fix the problem that roughly 1/3rd of all HD-A1 owners are experiencing: random skips, audio sync loss and playback abnormality on BRAND NEW discs.
Jeff @ Aug 20th 2006 10:17PM
No receiver I think - I think the decoding is done by the player in this case.
TaiwaneseSTUD @ Aug 21st 2006 12:02AM
is decoding TrueHD the only improvement?
it's 2.0, how come i'm still at 1.4?
anyone can help me?
thx
Richard @ Aug 21st 2006 1:11AM
HD-A1 owner here with no problems...1/3rd? Huh? Where did you pull that number from?
B.Greenway @ Aug 21st 2006 1:49AM
I had one disc out of about that 22 skipped, this was early on and I had the player positioned where it wasn’t getting good airflow, once I moved it out of the hole it was in and to the top of the rack, zero problems there on out. And this includes many Netflix rentals with minor to moderate surface scratches. Using 1.4.
adam green @ Aug 21st 2006 1:53AM
Your still at 1.4 because the update won't be available until Tuesday. At that point, you can upgrade to 2.0. I don't know how many "things" will be fixed with this update. To my understanding, DDTHD, and HDMI handshake issues are the main upgrades.
Kevin @ Aug 21st 2006 3:02AM
Can TrueHD be carried over HMDI 1.1 also? I am currently using the analog inputs on my receiver for my SACD player. My receiver has HDMI inputs, but not HDMI 1.3.
PC @ Aug 21st 2006 3:51AM
Kevin:
You will be fine using HDMI 1.1 as long as you set the HD-A1 HDMI audio output to "AUTO" or "PCM". That will save your analog inputs on your receiver for SACD.
HDMI 1.3 is only needed IF you are sending the undecoded bitstream for the receiver to decode, but there are no receivers with the new HD audio. That is what must be burning BD fans @ss off right now, because they will never get it with the current players. :)
BTW. BD uncompressed PCM is only 16bit/48khz NOT 24bit/96khz like someone earlier said.
Kalle @ Aug 21st 2006 6:07AM
DD+, TrueHD and DTS-HD all need to have at least HDMI 1.3 for digital streaming to receiver. SPDIF/Toslink does not work ! DVD-Audio works with 1.1 and SACD with 1.2.
Jerry @ Aug 21st 2006 1:13PM
Kalle u are 1/2 right and half wrong.
DD, TrueHD, and DTS-HD do require HDMI 1.3 IF U SEND THE UNDECODED audio singal.
However with the new firmware the A1 can decode the audio signal and send it as an uncomressed multichannel PCM via HDMI 1.0+ to any receiver that supports multichannel audio via HDMI.
It is a digital signal either way. No loss of quality and no need for an HD-Audio receiver.
Tyler @ Aug 21st 2006 1:24PM
For #12 Jerry, so just to clarify, can you get DD+, TrueHD, and DTS-HD from 5.1 analog inputs into the receiver or is it only throught HDMI?
Chris Heinonen @ Aug 21st 2006 2:19PM
There are two ways to get TrueHD from this:
1. Using the 5.1 analog outputs
2. Over HDMI 1.1, where it will decode the signal and pass it as lossless PCM (then the receiver can apply any bass management and time correction that is needed to this signal)
You don't need HDMI 1.3 for this, and you won't in the future unless you want to just pass the bitstream instead of the uncompressed PCM. This might be more common in 1-2 years since it would lead to the DVD players being cheaper (much like initial DVD players often had Dolby Digital decoders built into them, or at least had a model with them).
Jerry @ Aug 21st 2006 5:15PM
#14 Tyler,
I agree with Cris #15 above.
The preferred method would be HMDI route (as stated it only requires HDMI1.1 not 1.3). This would send the digital signal to your receiver and allow your receiver to handle features like bass managment, time delay, room spacalization in the digital domain for (theoretically) best sound quality.
You can use the 6 channel analog out as another coonection method. The nice thing is that if u have a receiver w/o HDMI you could use the 6 channel analog out now. When u buy a new receiver just ensure it supports multichannel PCM via HDMI and your A1 will allow u to use the method also.
Tom @ Aug 22nd 2006 12:02PM
Ok, its Tuesday the 22nd, where's the 2.0 firmware?
Woot @ Aug 22nd 2006 1:10PM
I notice the comment about HDMI handshaking issues, I wonder if this will resolve the issue with my Samsung HL-S6187W... of course at this point I wonder if I am better off just getting the Xbox360 addon. Wondering what kind of quality that thing will have...
Waiting for 2.0 @ Aug 22nd 2006 9:08PM
Soooooo.... This was a hoax?
JMP @ Aug 22nd 2006 11:19PM
Thanks for the unsubstantiated rumor and lots of over-excited people repeatedly trying to update their players HDBEAT. 4TWN!
Dylan Neild @ Aug 23rd 2006 12:14AM
@Richard (#8): Poll in AVSForum right now is running about 33% - 1/3rd of all respondents are having trouble with skipping and lost sync issues on their HD-A1's.
Should optical media never skip? THat's probably unreasonable.... but when your brand new copy of Serenity has to be pause/played 3 times to correct audio sync issues there is a problem with the player.
The HD BEAT that cried "wolf!" @ Aug 23rd 2006 7:33AM
It's wednesday morning....
Still no 2.0 firmware available....
HDbeat sure blemished their reputation with the entire population of HD DVD enthusiests around the net. Great job, HD BEAT!
Rou @ Aug 23rd 2006 11:11AM
It's available now! The link just went up a few minutes ago at the AVS Forums. Go here to download: http://rapidshare.de/files/30453167/2.0firmware.nrg.html
Here's the original post: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8266704&&#post8266704
pnorth @ Aug 23rd 2006 5:00PM
Post 24 isn't an official firmware update. I sure wouldn't do it...
I'd be very dissapointed if this was the one that HD Beat was refering to. I, like others, am going to be very skeptical on anymore news from their "tipsters"
Ken Cooper @ Sep 22nd 2006 12:37PM
I own an HD-A1 and love it. No problems. The audio is important to me though. I use the 5.1 analog out to my pre-amp.
I'm not very up on new technology techniques. I really have no idea how I would update this player. Can I simply ask Toshiba for a DVD that has the firmware upgrade and then simply load it as I would load any DVD on this unit? Anyone know how I might get something like this from Toshiba?