4. Turning the HD-A1 On

Firing up the HD-A1 is a pleasant aural experience after putting up with the blaring fan noise from the Xbox 360. This fan runs much quieter and was drowned out entirely from the sound of my projector fan, which itself isn't loud to begin with. On the downside it takes a good minute for the player to boot up into either a movie or the splash screen. The impatient will have a serious issue with this inexcusable lag.

A couple quick calibrations are required before moving through a typical setup interface. From the remote control, which seems to work no matter where its pointed despite the instruction manual requiring it aimed within 30 degrees of the sensor on the player, both the signal source and resolution can be set with a couple simple clicks with the result displayed on the player. In my setup I chose HDMI as the signal and 1080i as the resolution. Other resolution options include 480p and 720p.

The setup screens offer adjustment menus for picture, audio, language, Ethernet and general settings. Some of the neater options include being able to set HDMI to auto or manual, turning off on-screen indicators, parental controls, a trio of setup menu skins, optional screensaver and powering down due to non-use, and controls for speaker calibration and crossover frequency.