One of the hidden advantages of HD DVD players is their excellent audio quality. HD DVD players are well equipped to play a variety of audio formats and their DACs (digital to analogue converters) are of superior quality to most CD players. The built in DACs on HD DVD players like the Toshiba HD-A1 is outstanding. Digital outputs are provided on most HD DVD players, and the players are now available at rock-bottom prices. Thus HD DVD players can offer you the opportunity to own a high quality audio player at rock-bottom prices.
HD DVD players, additionally, offer Dolby TrueHD in some HD DVD titles. TrueHD is a format by Dolby that allows lossless bit for bit releases that are identical to the master recordings. Blu-Ray, on the other hand, is still relying on Dolby PCM audio, which is just raw, uncompressed Dolby digital. Add to that Dolby Digital plus, which is the standard of the HD DVD format, and the fact that HD DVD players can output more channels.
Toshiba’s HD-A1 has built-in, high-quality DAC processors in order to handle the multi-channel decoders for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD (2 channel) sound, DTS, and DTSHD. It employs the use of four DSPs to decode a wide variety of multi-channel audio formats. These 32-bit floating-point DSPs are very highly regarded for their high accuracy and are employed in many high quality audio setups in the home theater industry.
HD DVD is a high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video. Technically, it is obsolete, yet due to massive price cuts, the format remains popular. HD DVD was designed by Toshiba, primarily, and was envisaged to be the successor to the standard DVD format. That was until February 2008, when Toshiba abandoned the format, and announced it would no longer develop or manufacture HD DVD players or drives. HD DVD is based on the same underlying technologies as DVD. Since all variants except the 3× DVD employed a blue laser with a shorter wavelength, it can store about 3¼ times as much data per layer as its precursor, up to a maximum capacity of a massive15 GB per layer instead of 4.7 GB per layer.
In 2008, major content providers and the most important retailers began withdrawing their support for the format.
Toshiba’s withdrawal from the format ended the high definition optical disc format war, and anointed Blu-Ray Disc as the dominant format. As part of the fallout, the HD DVD Promotion Group was disbanded on March 28, 2008. Since the HD DVD format has been discontinued, prices have plummeted on HD DVD players and media. There are some good options out there; these include the original Toshiba HD-A1 and the HD DVD player for Microsoft’s Xbox game console. These players may be an excellent way to get a high quality audio player on the cheap.
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