Toshiba pushes firmware 3.0 update to first-gen HD DVD players

by Richard Lawler, posted May 8th 2008 at 2:01PM

All those still hanging onto your ~~obsolete~~ vintage first generation HD DVD players have a reason to plug in the network cable and turn them on one more time, as Toshiba has issued a version 3.0 firmware update for the HD-A1, HD-XA1 and HD-D1. Similar to an earlier update for the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on, the patch tweaks network connectivity a bit as well as clearing up some HDMI handshaking issues. The update quietly came online April 26, and of course can be issued by burning it to a CD or calling Toshiba and requesting a disc by mail. So go ahead, pour a glass of wine, dim the lights and celebrate a little quality time with a two year-old box that still offers features some new players can't match.

[Via DVD Town]

Filed under: HD DVD, Toshiba

Tags: 3.0, firmware, hd-a1, hd-d1, hd-xa1, hdi, toshiba

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Low Ranked

Ron @ May 8th 2008 2:26PM

I am going to jump on this right after I update my BetaMax...

Low Ranked

miggins @ May 8th 2008 2:34PM

Your right, my Blu-ray player can't come anyhere close to the slow bootup times of these players...

The only think HD DVD did, was half baked features launched to market early (because they were half baked).

Neutral

Fargus @ May 8th 2008 3:00PM

your kidding right? Blu ray players are almost just as bad with start up times (except the PS3) and just because they beat bluray to market, doesn't mean there use of the features were half baked. I would love for you to elaborate on that comment.

Neutral

Dasgooch @ May 8th 2008 3:19PM

Give me a break lets count the full features HD DVD launched with. PiP, Check. Internet Connectivity, Check. Finalize Spec, Check. Other than the PS3 I can not think of any BD player to future proof. And now look at the mess we are in, without HD-DVD providing compitition Bluray prices have gone up, market share for HD (all HD including BD) has gone down compared to DVD. I'll take my HD-DVD player anyday over my PS3, load times were faster on my 360 Add-on anyways compared to PS3. Half baked indeed...

Highly Ranked

blauck44 @ May 8th 2008 3:13PM

A couple of days ago I received an update disk from toshiba for my HD-A3 HD DVD player it says update 2.0/1.1, but it does not say what this update does. when I looked at the Number on my player it says it is 2.0

Neutral

FrankTheCrank @ May 8th 2008 3:31PM

I'm glad I bought a PS3.

I didn't even care about Bluray to be honest.

Neutral

Nfinity @ May 8th 2008 4:03PM

This is great news.. I'll update my 2 HD DVD standalone players and this is what consumer support means in general. Something that we had with HD DVD from start, though I'm already in process of ripping all my HD movies both Blu-Ray and HD DVD to my hard drives and will continue doing so with upcoming BR Blockbuster movies. Screw this rip off crap with Blu-Ray too. Other suckers can pay for it, I'm done.

We need to show them that their greed is not what consumer wants. We want great quality for cheap, not mediocre quality at absurd prices all I got to say.

When BR movies get $19.99 at least for new releases and fully featured players are

Neutral

mntwister @ May 8th 2008 5:25PM

nothing like confessing to the general public that you are breaking the law and pirating. Renting a movie and ripping it is illegal. The truth is that it's people like you who actually make the prices stay high because of the cost loss of pirates. Glad I don't have to live with myself breaking the law. Enjoy.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 8th 2008 5:53PM

Of course that all depends on just where you live and what the law actually is there.

Contrary to the f*ckwit 'common knowledge' downloading a movie for personal and non-commercial use is not a criminal act in the UK, actually.

(which begs the question why are the moron element just parroting their ignorant BS about this?)

It all actually falls under civil law, not criminal law,
and tough t!ttys to the supine b!tches who suck up any old lies &
sh!te 'the industry' would have you believe but there has been nothing like enough case law and precedent built up to blindly say it's proven as illegal.

Sorry & all but that is the situation in the UK
(you'll also note that we don't go for that American stupidity in Europe generally either, the EU Parliament recently chucked out this idiotic & patently obviously self-serving narrow BS last time the movie & music industry tried to get their stooges to pass law similar to that in the US).

Besides we also have a concept of 'natural justice' too
(which informs the law here).

If you pay a BBC TV & Radio licence you are paying to 'support' the movie & music industry.
If you buy satellite or cable TV channels you are paying to 'support' the movie & music industry.
If you buy the movie & music channels on your satellite & cable TV you are doubly (and handsomely) paying to 'support' the movie & music industry
(and yet again if you buy the HD channels too).

Basically what it boils down to is no-one cares what the greedy b@stards and their teams of paid suits & lawyers say or how much they pervert and abuse the law with their paid tame politicians.
The vast majority already pay (handsomely) - and usually several times over for the same stuff too.

Sharing (despite the lies & repetition) is not 'pirating'.
That is the correct term for the guy who sells dodgy copies of DVDs & CDs at the local flea market for profit, or the Chinese mini-industry that sells huge numbers of fake copies of various goods.

No-one (despite the attempts otherwise) is ever going to believe that downloading for personal non-commercial use is anything but harmless.....and that the current attempts to make punitive 'examples' of regular people are nothing but a vindictive and wildly excessive 'punishment'
(you won't see the likes of Bush punished for illegally having the Beatles on his iPod - and publicly saying so).

.....and for those of us who pay (and pay a lot) it is merely a matter of convenience and timing, we are not getting anything that we would otherwise not get.

The shills and apologists here can whine & mew about this all they like but it is just another aspect of the laughable 'King Canute' act the industry & their paid tame politicians & supporters are still trying to push
(although interestingly the music business seems to have woken up to reality recently).

Neutral

Nfinity @ May 8th 2008 6:38PM

The comments system is ridiculous.. so I'm gonna stop posting this anymore. Half of my posts don't go through.

DEEZNUTS

It's not theft. I am not doing anything illegal. I rent a movie, I watch it in my player and what the hell I decide to copy the movie onto my hard drive.

I bought a software from a company (paid for it) and I don't hack or do anything to really steal the movie.

I don't know anyone who won't copy the movie on their hard drive with legal software they bought?

If anything, they should prevent the software company not me. I don't have to NOT do anything in my house. If it's in my house, it's legal. DONE. If they don't want me to copy the movie, they will either stop renting the movie or will legally penalize the company who allows me to normally copy the movie.

The burden is not on me.

I'm doing the same thing with my HD DVD movies too. So it's pretty normal thing as I want to have movies on my hard drives instead of slow ass optical media.

Neutral

DrXym @ May 8th 2008 7:15PM

Truth Teller, wrong idiot. Piracy is an act of wilful copyright infringement and can be prosecuted under UK. Even format shifting content is currently illegal.

Now it may be that the courts don't have time and resources tot prosecute personal downloaders but they could if they so wished. Using P2P would also qualify you as a distributor making the charges easier to stick. And there would be nothing to stop the copyright holders suing you for damages either if they felt like it.

Of course they'd have to catch you first, but considering you've just confessed to doing it on a AV forum, so I wonder how hard that would be to get your IP address and figure out who you are for themselves.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 8th 2008 7:26PM

Actaully it's you who are wrong DrXym.

I described the situation perfectly correctly here in the UK.

You can take your homespun stooge BS and shove it where the sun don't shine, just like the rest of the ludicrous lickspittle w@nkers.

.....and try not to gurn your eyes out too much for your pwoor wittle entertwainment industwee.
Diddums.

Ya risible moron.

Neutral

DrXym @ May 9th 2008 3:41AM

Truth Teller, grow up little baby. Copyright infringement is copyright infringement. If you think there is any provision at all for making unauthorized personal copies of copyrighted material, you should have no trouble at all providing the link to that provision.

Here let me make it easier for you to find it. Here is the UK Intellectual Property Office website describing copyright. Please supply reference to where it says you can legally and wilfully infringe copyright.

http://www.ipo.gov.uk/copy.htm

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 9th 2008 7:19AM

Try not to be such an obvious moron DrXym.

UK law is comprised of both criminal & civil.

Copyright is not a criminal issue it falls under civil law and civil
law requires case law and precedent to 'prove' anything beyond the
individual & specific case.

There hasn't been a 'body' of case law built up or tested about this
so your laughable bleating & whining on behalf of the industry means absolutely nothing
(but it at least lets us all see exactly where you - and those like you - are coming from).

It means about as much as that Gov body your want to stand behind
claiming they will always tell you the complete and unvarnished truth
(jeez, now that's just too funny.....are you about 5 or something?).

If you didn't have your patsy head so far up the industry's a$$ licking their tonsils clean for them you might even be aware of the rudimentary situation here that law is not the total preserve of the Gov
(or any of it's depts).
It really is basic stuff.

Our Gov (not even our latest attempt to pretend they're not in the pocket of big-business) does not have the say on everything
(tho even they have had major problems trying to amend the law in 'the industry's' favour when the opposition & their own backbenchers would not go along with this tide of idiotic control-freakery & spite - just as happened in the EU Parliament too).

That's where the Judiciary comes in......and European law too.

Wake up, for a change.

You ludicrously ignorant stooge.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 9th 2008 7:55AM

OMG

I see the Americans have actually gotten the IP Act (overwhelmingly passed by the supposed representitives of 'the people')
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080508-house-overwhelmingly-passes-controversial-pro-ip-act.html

I guess it's only a matter of time now before their spiteful & vindictive punishments (utterly at odds with any notion of the punishment fitting the 'crime') cause a backlash.

Poor America, what have you become?

I guess this just shows the f*ckwit element
(DEEZNUTS, DrXym and the others that used to pop up to support this kind of sh!te)
that they get the Gov they deserve.
Shame for the rest.

Be interesting to see how much d/l'd stuff they have and how quickly they'd change their tune if they were facing the sort of punitive fines they hand out these days.

.....and of course the true hypocrites (the hadrware & media industry) that churns out all those burners & blank media (whilst also having multiple connections to the music & movie industry) just sails on and not a word is ever said.

Tragic.

Neutral

DrXym @ May 9th 2008 8:12AM

Little baby should read up on the numerous instances of piracy groups and counterfeiters receiving jail terms and heavy fines in the UK. Little baby should read up on UK copyright law and understand that it does not allow personal piracy no matter how much little baby wishes otherwise. Little baby should learn that it does not even allow format shifting for legitimately owned titles although that may shortly change. Little baby should learn that while it is unlikely that an end user will be prosecuted in a criminal case his copying activities are still illegal and it could be argued that using P2P to download / upload copies is detrimental to a copyright holder. Furthermore little baby should learn that even if criminal charges were not laid, the copyright holders can still seek damages for your actions.

So grow up little baby. Downloading is not legal and pretending otherwise does not make it so. Copyright holders have more than enough scope to prosecute in civil or criminal courts if they so felt like it.

Frankly I'm not surprised you are having so much trouble understanding this given your tenuous grip on reality.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 9th 2008 8:38AM

DrXym

"little baby"

FFS

Utterly pathetic.

Go try your lies (there have not been countless cases in the UK, liar) and industry shilling on someone else. Fool.

Neutral

Franssu @ May 9th 2008 10:45AM

DEEZNUTZ : You're wrong. This could be considered copyright infringement, but definitely not theft. Copyright infringement IS NOT theft, contrary to what the content industry would like to make us believe.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 9th 2008 10:52AM

* quote
Franssu
You're wrong.
Copyright infringement IS NOT theft, contrary to what the content industry would like to make us believe.
=====================================================

We have (another) winner.

Precisely.

No matter how much 'the industry' attempt to mould opinion with outright lies and ludicrous distortion the truth is that the "theft" they speak of is not actually "theft" at all!

(unless you're talking about in the USA where, after the IP Act, God knows what is meant to be what anymore.)

It's just so tragic how this vindictive anti-freedom agenda is actually welcomed & supported by the cretinous element.

Highest Ranked

Achilles @ May 8th 2008 4:41PM

Good news for the HD-DVD crowds with the first gen.

BR crowd, we're still waiting to catch up on some aspects (don't fool yourselves, our load times are similar to HD-DVD, excluding PS3) and still pissed that the studios are slower than VHS speeds in releasing real movies and not crap!

STUDIO'S GET IT TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BR lives on but help us with real movie releases and not crap!

Neutral

Mr. E @ May 8th 2008 5:00PM

Well, we've got the Criterion Collection coming on board, finally, so there's definitely some relief in sight for those waiting for more quality movies.

I'm glad to hear that Toshiba is continuing to support their players. PS3 owners shouldn't be getting all the firmware love!

Neutral

Aaron @ May 8th 2008 11:05PM

All 34 of the people into Criterion Collection will not really do it. Blockbusters move people.

//Exaggeration obviously intended.

Highly Ranked

Truth Teller @ May 8th 2008 6:31PM

I bought the HD DVDs (and the DVDs) I have because of the 'added
value' stuff a download can never give (and if 'the industry' had
anyone in it with the slightest ounce of sense they'd realise that far from
crippling sales downloads can generate sales precisely because of
this).

But be honest DEEZNUTZ you're not interested either way.
You just wanted to waltz on in & make your dumb 'theft' claim
(which as I said is actually a sack of cr@p in the UK & Europe
anyways).

But if that's the reality you live (and then come to post & whine
about in support of) then just consider it another little part I'm
laughing my tooties off about.
Idiot.

You & those like you deserve everything they throw at you
(cos it sure as hell isn't stopping or inconveniencing any of the sharers).

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 8th 2008 6:40PM

....so (and I'm just dying to hear this one) where's the "hypocrisy" in any of
that, hmmmmm?

You ludicrous industry shill-patsy?

Highest Ranked

HDisCool @ May 8th 2008 6:49PM

Apart from the fact that HD DVD is discontinued, my purchase of HD-A30 for $129 and Xbox 360 HD DVD drive for $49 has been the best deal that I got in the recent times.I got the best upconverting dvd player plus these 10 movies, The Departed , Blood Diamond , Aeon Flux , Italian Job, Troy Director's Cut, Serenity , Harry Potter(OOTP) , The Mummy , Casino and The Chronicles of Riddick , for Freeeee ....plus there is a fire sale on HD DVD movies !
No Blu deal can beat this, I will buy into Blu Ray when the price of the player falls below $150, till then Blockbuster online is my best friend for HD movies !
who says HD DVD is dead !!!!!

Neutral

Spiza @ May 9th 2008 9:25AM

I bought 3 PS3s at Wal-Mart with 10 free blu-rays, returned 2 of the PS3s and kept the movies (they allowed me to do this, I returned with receipt). Sold 26 titles on Ebay including the 5 by mail. I ended up with a 80GB PS3, 9 movies of my choice, and was only down $150.

Only time I've shopped at Wal-Mart in like 4 years.a

Highly Ranked

FLskydiver @ May 8th 2008 7:43PM

I bought the same two players ... but since I bought them from Amazon (with Prime) I also got $100 back from them. My total investment in hardware stands at just $80. That's an HD-A30 for about $176 (reduced to $129 via price protection) and an X-box add-on (reduced to $49) with a better, backlit remote for my HTPC. Less $100 due to the customer satisfaction rebate initially offered by Best Buy and matched by Amazon. And oh, yeah - 13 free movies. Above poster forgot to mention the two that came with his HD-A30 and King Kong that came with his add-on.

Highly Ranked

FLskydiver @ May 8th 2008 7:56PM

^ contrast the above with the $400 I have invested in a PS3 (which came with 1 movie and 5 by rebate) and the several hundred more dollars I spent to have blu-ray in my laptop. Two set-tops, and two PC solutions. One cost $80 and came with a useful remote and 13 movies. One costs $700+ and came with 6 movies. The only advantages my BD hardware offers are gaming (PS3) and mobile movies from disc (BD-rom laptop). The latter benefit is by no means exclusive (since I can rip hd-dvds to my home server or laptop via the add-on drive); it's just more convenient.

I'm happy with my investments in both technologies. I'm just happier than I expected to be with my hd-dvd purchases, since the hardware cost me practically nothing and my hd-dvd movie collection (I've got about 80 titles split roughly equally between formats) costs considerably less the my blu-ray one.

Neutral

dl @ May 8th 2008 11:16PM

this update also cover RCA HDV5000 HD DVD player which is based on Toshiba HD-A1.

Neutral

Spiza @ May 9th 2008 10:00AM

It didn't take me long to find that UK citizens have been getting sued for uploading songs for years now. ISPs in the UK have to turn over names of IPs used to upload the songs. They haven't gone after anyone for simply downloading a song, but if you are using torrent, kazaa, etc, you upload as you download. I didn't find a case of someone actually going all the way to court, but all so far have settled out of court.

You can get most of this information at: http://www.bpi.co.uk/

"The BPI

The BPI represents the UK recorded music industry.

Its membership comprises of hundreds of music companies including all four 'major' record companies, associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies representing literally thousands of labels.

We have represented the interests of UK record companies since being formally incorporated in 1973 when our principal aim was to fight the growing problem of music piracy."

Most telling: "It is absolutely clear in UK copyright law that unauthorised filesharing is illegal.

Specifically, filesharing runs counter to Section 16, which grants the copyright holder various exclusive rights, including the ‘exclusive right to copy and to communicate works to the public’; and Section 20, which provides that the exclusive right of communication to the public includes the ‘the making available to the public of the work by electronic transmission in such a way that members of the public may access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by them”."

In the UK, its illegal to even make a back up of copyright material. So rent and copy would be illegal:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6095612.stm

We all know its illegal to copy a rented movie in the US.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 10th 2008 8:51AM

BTW just to be clear about this, the notion that the deal-breaker here is uploading isn't true either.

Putting music & movies in a shared file isn't illegal, even in the USA.....

"In the ruling this week, U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake denied the RIAA's summary judgment motion and shot down all of the RIAA's theories of file distribution where the digital file did not change hands. This includes the "making available" and "offer to distribute" theories that pertains to storing songs in a shared folder."

http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/006876.html

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 9th 2008 10:13AM

"They haven't gone after anyone for simply downloading a song"

- Thank you.

"in the UK have to turn over names of IPs used to upload the songs."

- Er, no they don't.

That can only happen if there has been a court order issued
(which invariably there isn't cos it never gets that far).

My ISP specifically states that they will never reveal the names and addresses of any of their users without a court order
(and the moment they do they would undoubtedly lose large numbers of their customers as we went elsewhere to someone with a little more spine).

In short 'the industry' can go f*ck themselves.

This is not the USA
(thank God).

Intersting when the facts start coming out, huh?

Neutral

Vic @ May 9th 2008 2:31PM

@ Truth Teller

First off, If it wasn't for the good ol' U S of A, you'd all be speaking German over there.

Secondly, why can't you keep your posts in this forum relevant to the original post? Your comments always seem to end up ranting about how much Blu-Ray sucks, how people who buys BDs suck, spewing various facts about laws and blah blah blah.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oops, I fell asleep reading your last post.

Also, childish name-calling of other members is unnecessary and pathetic.

And now on to the original post...I think it's great that Toshiba is continuing to provide firmware support for those who decided to go with HD DVD. I read somewhere that they will continue to provide support for many years to come. For the record, I own a PS3 and as a consumer I would expect the same from Sony if Blu had lost the format war.

Neutral

Truth Teller @ May 9th 2008 3:06PM

Yeah Vic, of course.

The rise of the corporate bullying campaign clamping people's freedoms in the USA & their trying to export that ludicrous insanity
should all be excused & forgotten.
Just cos 60yrs ago the USA came (late) into the war and helped us (whilst charging us top $ for that material help.....this despite the UK giving the US radar & jet engine technology - as well as contributing - like so many of the rest of the European nations - to the US atomic bomb effort to such a degree that 'we' made it all possible in the 1st place.
I bet you don't get too much about that taught in the US schools! ).

Actaully as far as the truth of WW2 goes without anybodies' help the UK managed to maintain it's independence and territorial integrity.

If you want to say who really 'defeated' Germany back then well the truth is it was mostly Russia.

........and it wasn't me that first raised that lauaghable sucking up to 'the industry' BS about sharing and the ridiculous whining about 'pirating'.

Neutral

Cassini @ May 9th 2008 5:34PM

A firmware update? Why on earth would they offer an update for a dead product? HD-DVD is dead and so the players are worthless!

So why do people keep holding on to these stupid things, anyway? Get a Blu-ray player. The industry has moved on.

Neutral

Alex @ May 13th 2008 2:34PM

They offered an update because even the first gen players are better movie players than the BluRay standalone players. Oh yeah, and lots of people still use them to play DVDs!

How do you like those price increases BD fanboys???

Neutral

Mikael.H @ May 13th 2008 4:36PM

I'm not surprised about the recent numbers. Since HD DVD dropped out I've given up on buying high def retail movies completely. I get no incentive from the BD team to get in on the action.

I'd rather pay an online movie provider for hd movies than give one penny to the blue team.

Neutral

gmd @ May 13th 2008 10:02PM

I'm from Canada and brought an HD DVD player in the States (I'm close to the border).

Before mailing for the 5 movie offer, the identical offer came out in Canada. The only differences were that you were sending your form in Southern Ontario and had to include 10 bucks.

The answer I got back was that my unit was not bought in Canada.

All my Toshiba gear is on its way out. Not impressed.

Have you heard of the auto manufacturer that did not want to honor car warranties bought in the States? Not sure Toshiba has heard about it.

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