Bodalenko Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Just spoke to Castel (9.10am) re the ETA of the XE1. Stated that still had no idea when they were appearing and since they'd lost the rightds to Toshiba as of 1/4/07 didn't rellay care too much! Advised me to call back next week!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodalenko Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Yeah, I've dealt with them since I bought my SD9000 and 3 other Tosh DVD's, and yes I know what they're like but sometimes you just have to hope they'll get it right. Don't really care about Castel I just want an XE1 so I can see the 15 odd HD-DVD's I've bought and no, before someone says it, the E1 won't do for the setup I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rider007 Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 Just a quick head up the UK HD-XE1 owners manual is available here in PDF format http://www.highdefinitiondvd.eu/media/Medi...1(061206)_E.pdf to read up on while we wait for Aus stock to arrive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momaw Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 some UK owners with their new XE1's have posted their initial opinions here: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480285 upscaling (as is expected) sounds pretty sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djOS Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 some UK owners with their new XE1's have posted their initial opinions here:http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=480285 upscaling (as is expected) sounds pretty sweet. Im not surpirsed, my HD-A1 is an amazing upscaling DVD player for NTSC DVD and considering the XA2/XE1 is powered by a HQV ReonVX it was always going to be superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Im not surpirsed, my HD-A1 is an amazing upscaling DVD player for NTSC DVD and considering the XA2/XE1 is powered by a HQV ReonVX it was always going to be superb. now jsut why wont tosh make the damn thing region free on dvd. dont they realise jsut how important that is ? and that this would make this a real contender for many lookign for both a dvd and hd-dvd plaeyr in one. otherwise anyone buying still has to buy/keep another dvd player for multi region dvd replay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton-P. Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 now jsut why wont tosh make the damn thing region free on dvd. I think the big name companies are bound by some agreements to implement region coding on dvd. But as usual in time they will leak out the "secret" to hack it. Got a couple of questions on the HD-A2 model (US version of HD-E1). If already answered elsewhere please point out. Q1: is the HD-DVD format affected by the NTSC vs PAL business? Q2: is the HD-A2 NTSC only for dvds (also for HD-DVD if Q1 applies)? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djOS Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 now jsut why wont tosh make the damn thing region free on dvd. dont they realise jsut how important that is ? ---SNIP--- Agreed, it's the one thing stopping me from putting my Toshy HD-A1 & Denon 2910 up for sale right now and ordering a HD-XE1! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I think the big name companies are bound by some agreements to implement region coding on dvd. But as usual in time they will leak out the "secret" to hack it.~ Thanks ah no I'm talking dvd anton not HD-DVD and we have had region free on DVD as far back as I can remember includign on my first DVD player ever a tosh as well bought 8-9 ? years ago ? yes do hope there is a hack for DVD to make it region free like on hd-dvd as they have on these players. but we shouldnt need hacks. DVD should be region free as it always has been on dvd players in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djOS Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Im guessing that Castel is a fault for not giving a rats a$$ (due to loosing the distribution rights) and not insisting Toshiba Japan make them multi-region. Hopefully Toshiba Australia will sort this when they take over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Im guessing that Castel is a fault for not giving a rats a$$ (due to loosing the distribution rights) and not insisting Toshiba Japan make them multi-region. Hopefully Toshiba Australia will sort this when they take over. yes hope so. if the players are ntsc pal capable cant for the life of me understand why it woudl nto be an easy thing to keep them region free on DVD as it already is on hd-dvd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton-P. Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 DVD should be region free as it always has been on dvd players in this country. Not that I remember. Lots and lots of dvd players in Aust were not region free until hacked. But note sometimes the hack code came straight from the selling store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Not that I remember. Lots and lots of dvd players in Aust were not region free until hacked. But note sometimes the hack code came straight from the selling store. as I mentioned my tosh player came out of the box 8-9 years ago region free. buy any dvd player even the $50 ones and its likely to be region free. there is a very very small minority of dvd players that are not. pretty rare. there is no way it could be said that region locked players in oz is or has been the norm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton-P. Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 pretty rare. there is no way it could be said that region locked players in oz is or has been the norm. I'll have a friendly bet with you Al. Let's poll owners and see how many Aust dvd players display region 4 on the back against without It's not a question of "how difficult" for Toshiba. HD-DVD is region free by industry agreement (as of now). SD-DVD is region coded also by industry agreement. Companies signatories to this agreement had to make them region coded but then were disadvantaged by those non-signatories so they leaked codes to hack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I'll have a friendly bet with you Al.Let's poll owners and see how many Aust dvd players display region 4 on the back against without It's not a question of "how difficult" for Toshiba. HD-DVD is region free by industry agreement (as of now). SD-DVD is region coded also by industry agreement. Companies signatories to this agreement had to make them region coded but then were disadvantaged by those non-signatories so they leaked codes to hack. Anton I will guarantee all players will say region 4 on the back but also what you will find all bar a very very small minority will infact be region free. and thats out of the box, no dealer hacks or anythgin like that. thats the way it is, and has been including dvd players from toshiba themselves. it is crazy that they are all of a sudden imposing some 'industry agreement' ? that was never imposed before. why now on hd-dvd players when infact hd-dvd itself is region free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton-P. Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Anton I will guarantee all players will say region 4 on the back but also what you will find all bar a very very small minority will infact be region free. and thats out of the box, I have had at least five region-4 dvd players that did not play my region-1 US discs until I applied the hacks. In two cases I got the codes from the store (a Voxson from Dick Smith and a TEAC from K-mart), the other cases the players were *not* sold as region free but I already knew hacks existed on the net before I bought. I'm not trying to win a point here, all I'm saying is this region coding in the HD-E1 has been a common thing in the past in Aust therefore not to sweat much on its existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 I have had at least five region-4 dvd players that did not play my region-1 US discs until I applied the hacks. In two cases I got the codes from the store (a Voxson from Dick Smith and a TEAC from K-mart), the other cases the players were *not* sold as region free but I already knew hacks existed on the net before I bought.I'm not trying to win a point here, all I'm saying is this region coding in the HD-E1 has been a common thing in the past in Aust therefore not to sweat much on its existence. you'll find anton toshiba dvd player sold here in this country in the past have been region free. were not talking voxson dvd players here. We're talkign a $1599 disc player. why shoudl it not have the very basic capability of its lower siblings. sorry region locking on dvd players is not the norm. never has been and isnt now. as I mentioned there are a very very small minority of players that might be region locked but the very large majority are region free by default and not needign any hacks or anythign from either the customer or dealer so no reason why should be a need for anythgi nlike this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djOS Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 My $1200 Denon 2910 came Region free from the factory, despite the "Region4" symbol on the box. My very first DVD Player ('99) was a Toshiba and all I had to do was use a "remote hack" to get region free playback. The only Player I have ever owner that need a HW hack was my old Sony 5-Disc DVD Player (cost $250 for the Chip+Install & $999 for the player). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momaw Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 My DVD player History 1998 - Onkyo $1500ish - Region free out of the box 2000 - Pioneer $1999 - Region free out of the box 2002 - Harmon Kardon - Region free out of the box in the last 4 years: 2 x Pioneer DVD recoders - region free out of the box, KISS player - region free out of the box, telefunken (only used for DivX) - region free out of the box, Denon 1720 - region free out of the box, Denon 1920 - region free out of the box, Sony (freebie with a video camera) - region free out of the box, Oppo - region free out of the box. The only exceptions an LG HDD DVD recorder - required a handset hack but returned with in 2 days cause it sucked. PS2 - region locked, but why would I use it for DVDs. Xbox - region locked (see PS2 comments). Xbox 360 - region locked (see PS2 comments). and now Toshiba HD-E1 region locked on SD, PS3 region locked on SD and Blu-ray. So basically out of 13 stand alone players: 11 region free out of the box, 1 requiring a handset hack, and one as yet still locked. Out of 4 "games" consoles: All region locked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton-P. Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 My $1200 Denon 2910 came Region free from the factory, despite the "Region4" symbol on the box.My very first DVD Player ('99) was a Toshiba and all I had to do was use a "remote hack" to get region free playback. The only Player I have ever owner that need a HW hack was my old Sony 5-Disc DVD Player (cost $250 for the Chip+Install & $999 for the player). Al ... here shows a 2-to-1 ratio a hack was required. In my case it's like 5-to-1. You can't really say the norm was the other way round. And yes I'm talking about "remote control hacks", but that is sufficient to show they were not region-free out of the factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Al ... here shows a 2-to-1 ratio a hack was required.In my case it's like 5-to-1. You can't really say the norm was the other way round. And yes I'm talking about "remote control hacks", but that is sufficient to show they were not region-free out of the factory. yeah like momaw's ~So basically out of 13 stand alone players: 11 region free out of the box, 1 requiring a handset hack, and one as yet still locked. ~ or mine... all the dvd players from a $200-$2000 including pio to toshibas, denons, yamah, onkyo, sony that I've come across - 100% region free out the box thats the norm..as mentioned thats not to say that there is nto a very very small minority region locked. not sure what your tryign to prove anton. you want players region locked ? are you a castel/toshiba appologist I think you'll find most if not all on here would appreciate region free on dvd. unlike yourself that is trying to justify why (with some pretty strange reasons by the way) the tosh hd-dvd players shoudl be region locked ...is that your point ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton-P. Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 unlike yourself that is trying to justify why (with some pretty strange reasons by the way) the tosh hd-dvd players shoudl be region locked ...is that your point ? Here's my summary: The fact that region-4 was printed on the back clearly showed these players were *meant* to be region-coded. The fact that a lot of them (especially higher priced ones) were region free out of the box can be explained as they were individually FW hacked by the Australian distributor for easier marketing. The lower priced ones that I got, perhaps not enough margin for the distributor to bother with the hack themselves, so they included a printed sheet of instructions for me to do it. The bottom line: Toshiba has to "appear" to comply with the region coding agreement, but they turn a blind eye or lend a helping hand to distributors who hack it. I'm not saying the HD-E1 should be locked. I'm saying it has to be officially "known" as locked but who knows, the distributor will probably unlock it, or will leak the code to the net for you to unlock it. I'm not apologising for anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betty boop Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Here's my summary:The fact that region-4 was printed on the back clearly showed these players were *meant* to be region-coded. The fact that a lot of them (especially higher priced ones) were region free out of the box can be explained as they were individually FW hacked by the Australian distributor for easier marketing. The lower priced ones that I got, perhaps not enough margin for the distributor to bother with the hack themselves, so they included a printed sheet of instructions for me to do it. The bottom line: Toshiba has to "appear" to comply with the region coding agreement, but they turn a blind eye or lend a helping hand to distributors who hack it. I'm not saying the HD-E1 should be locked. I'm saying it has to be officially "known" as locked but who knows, the distributor will probably unlock it, or will leak the code to the net for you to unlock it. I'm not apologising for anyone. can you understand that the vast majority of dvd players sold in this country are region free for dvd ? can you understand that toshiba dvd players have been region free on dvd in the past. the only change in line is the tosh hd-dvd player released recently that is region locked on dvd yet region free on hd-dvd. I do not think it has infact anything to do with the distributor but in fact in the players design itself. toshiba must want to have the hd-dvd player region free on dvd and then it woudl be. if you have anythign from the distributor or toshiba sayign any other wise please do post I for one would be most interested to read. even if the distributor had a key sequence or whatever to unofficially unlock the player I'm sure that most people would be more than happy about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Would have to agree with Al on this and there is now no way I will be getting the Toshiba if its region locked and would need the hack in the hand prior to purchase, how to cut off ones nose to spite ones face Toshiba! especially when they are going to need as many customers to keep the format alive here in Oz cheers laurie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewW Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Would have to agree with Al on this and there is now no way I will be getting the Toshiba if its region locked and would need the hack in the hand prior to purchase, how to cut off ones nose to spite ones face Toshiba! especially when they are going to need as many customers to keep the format alive here in Oz cheers laurie I think you are being a little rough on Toshiba. At least the HD DVD side isn't region coded (unlike the BD players). And you can't tell me you don't already have a DVD player ? Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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