I had a new/perplexing issue arise a few nights ago. The film "The War" on HD-DVD (a Universal disc) causes my player, an Onkyo HD805 (Toshiba XA2 clone) to completely shut down / power off after ~5 minutes of viewing the film. There's no glitching, it just completely and immediately shuts the player off back to the standby state. I can immediately (by HD-DVD standards) turn the player back on and the disc loads as it normally would. It only occurs when playing the film, and it doesn't seem specific to any part of the film... if I power the player back on and try to pick up where I left off, it will play for another 5 minutes or so and shut down again. The shutdown points don't seem to align with chapter markers or anything like that, just an arbitrary amount of time anywhere from 4-7 minutes, usually right around 5 minutes. All of my other discs (10 or so, no WB discs) play back fine. There are no visible scratches, hazing, or below-the-surface irregularities with the disc itself. I have another player, an HD-A3, that I could hook up and see if it has a similar issue with this disc but I have not done so yet.

Has anyone seen anything like this? With this disc or others?

I have no knowledge but just going by what I know of other things and read about other things in the past.

I wonder if the disc is a bootleg or has a different thing like a region and it will only play for a few minutes then shut off???
There was something I had in the past that did this but don't own it anymore so can't remember what it was or how I fixed if I even did.

Bootleg HD-DVD sounds about as likely as a bootleg LD.

About as likely indeed, but much easier!

Transformers *BOOTLEG* (2007) [HD-001]
Island, The *BOOTLEG* (2005) [HDY14110]

They are DVD with a HDDVD files structure.

Julien

Maybe but something is causing the player to stop, could scratches be doing it???

Disc looks completely smooth/clean/clear. It also doesn't seem to be related to the location on the disc (so not a circumferential or tangential scratch)... if I pick any random spot in the film, it will play for 4-5 minutes and then power-off.

The weirdest part is how it just completely and immediately shuts down, but will still immediately power back on as it normally would. Even when actually powering off when done with the player, it doesn't shut off immediately (it goes through the "GOODBYE" process as any Toshiba HD-DVD would).

It’s garbage. You’ve proven it. Throw it away.

Yeah, I'm not attached to the disc or the film by any means (though I do like a schmaltzy period coming-of-age flick as much as anyone else)... mostly just curious if anyone's come across anything similar just due to how weird the fault is.

I have this disc and a DHS-8.8 with the latest Toshiba fw. I can try it but I have to find the disc which will take me a little time.

No rush... more of an oddity than a pressing issue I'm trying to fix.

On a side note... do you still have the firmware update disc? Or the ability to burn one? I don't have a CD burner left anywhere in the house. I'd gladly pay for shipping/disc/cost-of-time if you could be so kind as to burn me one. Thanks!

I know that I am resurrecting an ancient discussion, but since the "solution" was never posted that I could see, I am adding some notes and the most-likely fix here, in case shopkins82 or anyone else comes back to this topic.

This "random shutoff" problem was a known issue with some percentage of Toshiba HD-XA2 players, in the USA and maybe other countries. It was seen already when the players were still a current model in 2007, or shortly after that, and before the HD DVD format was abandoned if I remember right. I also do not remember any of the firmware updates fixing it; the last version in the USA was v4.0 if I remember right.

The "fix" is actually a workaround. To eliminate this problem, be sure your TV/display, or any receiver/processor between it and the HD DVD player, are either turned -off- or are at the least switched to an input/source -other than- the HD DVD player. Then, turn on the HD DVD player and wait for it to fully boot up (I think this is when its front panel displays the "No disc" message) before either turning on your display and/or receiver or switching them to the HD DVD player's input.

That workaround was a 100%-successful solution for me; I have forgotten to do it in recent years but I also do not remember the last time I watched an HD DVD.