Guys,
Thanks for your comments. I thought long and hard before publishing our review and even tried to get the manufacturer involved to see if they were working on an update which would help us in recommending the machine. They have yet to come back to us after almost three months.
We try to be as objective as possible with our reviews and not fall into the subjective hole that the majority of other reviews do. The tests are done fairly and double and triple checked to make sure the information we give you is accurate. The firmware is also checked to make sure it is the latest version.
Viewing tests were done on both the HC6000 projector and as I mention in the review, a 46" LCD screen. On the 46" the problems are still there but are far less noticable, as they would be by changing screen size. We cover both bases as we realise that people will be using either or both with their purchase.
As to whether you see the same issues is quite a valid point. It could be that you are actually using the displays processing which is masking that of the player.
Since video processors can be found in both televisions and Bluray/
HDDVD players, it is important to avoid duplicate processing of the signal.
When evaluating the HDTV make sure to put the HD DVD player into 1080i
output mode. When testing the Blu-ray or HD DVD player turn the setting to
either 1080p or 720p output (720p still requires proper video processing of a
1080i source as the 720p image is created by scaling down from the 1080i to
1080p conversion).
The tests we use are industry standard and produced by Silicon Optix, a lot of manufacturers use these tests on their products.
I also feel that some of you are reading things into the review that are not there. Boot up time is important as someone might buy the machine and then wonder why it takes so long, it's a problem for all players so should be mentioned, we even critised the XE-1 for this and it's a reference player.
Occasional software freeze is a problem for some machines, even the XE-1 and the EP30 we had for review. Lack of bitstream audio is also an area that causes confusion (just look at the forums) and when people buy a new amp capable of decoding they want to know if this is the player for them. These points are not necessarily putting the player in question down but rather highlights the issues that are there and need to be explained and explored.
Build quality is also very important to some people, even if it does sit in a rack. You can usually tell how good some components are by the weight and design especially power supply. You wouldn't buy an amp that weighed the same as a player, likewise the best players out there do have improved power supplies and other components, the XE-1 is a good example as is my imported XA-1 which has fantastic build quality and feels sturdy. (plus even for a Generation 1 player the XA-1 upscaling is stunning when compared to this 3rd Generation player).
The main point made in this review is that going on the objective testing and living with the player for a number of weeks, it could have scored top marks had it not been for some issues we saw on the big screen (as well as the 46") and the poor processing.
In this state and not using other processing in your video chain we feel there are a few players out there that have had these issues resolved and give a better all round performance. Hopefully Toshiba will fix these issues with their next firmware upgrade and if that is the case, we will revisit this review and the testing.
If you have bought an EP30 then my advice would be to let the display do most of the video processing with DVD playback. If your not seeing the issues we have discovered then live happily with your machine and don't let anyone point out the issues to you
We pride ourselves on producing accurate reviews, sometimes people will for whatever reason disagree which is why where we can, use nothing but objective testing which you cannot fudge or misinterpret, how many other reviews and reviewers do that, I don't know. And how many would also come back to answer questions and explain tests etc.?