F45-AV425 - HD DVD Playack Issues

All,

Thanks in advance for any help you all can provide. Here's my problem. I purchased a Qosmio F45-AV425 two days ago. This laptop come with an HD DVD drive and an HDMI output jack. Using the Toshiba HD DVD Player application, I can play both standard DVD's and HD DVD's on the laptop's screen.

The problem comes when I connect the laptop to my HDTV. I own a Hitachi 50V500A LCD projection set, that has a DVI connection. According to the manual, the DVI jack is HDCP compliant. I bought a Dynex HDMI-DVI cable to connect the laptop to the HDTV. Again, using the Toshiba HD DVD Player application, I can play standard DVD's on the Hitachi HDTV. However, when I try to play an HD DVD with the HDTV connected, I get the following pop-up error:

Unable to output the video to an external device. Please switch your display device by pressing the Fn + F5 keys after ending the application.

I have tried:

1. Installing the latest drivers by both date and revision for the nVidia video, the Realtek audio, the Toshiba HD DVD Player, and the Broadcom decoder.
2. Slicking the drive and starting over from the Recovery discs.
3. Making the two displays mirrors and independent of each other.
4. Using only one or only the other display.
5. Two different televisions, with both the DVI-HDMI and an HDMI-HDMI cable.
6. Shaking feathers and chicken bones over it.

The Toshiba Level 2 tech was stumped on the phone, and has put in a referral for the engineering team to get a hold of me tomorrow. The Toshiba rep at Best Buy was stumped and asked me to write up the solution so he can kick it upstairs when I come up with one. Must remember to ask for compensation for that!

So, there's my problem. I have done a lot of forum crawling in the past two days and have found squat. Any help would be most appreciated! Thanks!

BW

 

i dont really know much about the problem you're having, but ive read in other forums that the toshiba hd dvd playback isnt that good and changing it to the new cyberlink powerdvd is better with no problems.

and another thing. i am looking at the same laptop you purchased and wanted to ask you about your experiences with it. if you could give me some personal likes/dislikes about it. i have read the review for it on here, but you just recently bought yours. hows the overall computer build? is the keyboard really that flexible? hows the view for hd on a 1280x800 resolution? and could you give me someother insights about it. thanks in advance

 

Yeah, I'd thought about using another software player. Cyberlink and Intervideo both have HDDVD/BR player apps out there, but I couldn't find a trialware version. I can't see spending $80 or so on something that MIGHT fix the issue.

As for the laptop itself, other than the HDDVD playback issue, it's great! Nice and quick, very responsive. The keyboard is comfortable to use (I'm on it right now), and all the controls are easily usable and ergonomically laid out. The screen is nice and bright, easily readable. It's a 15 inch screen, but it's good resolution for that size.

I've only owned it for two days now, though, so this is a very limited review, but first blush is good buy!

 

i wont be buying a laptop until the first couple of weeks into november. hopefully you find what you're looking for. and feel free to update about your
f45 in the future.

 

I had issues with the player on both my X205 and Sony FZ180E as well so I decided to do a clean install to get rid of all the bloatware with the vista anytime upgrade dvd using this guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783 ,then I just bought the retail version of intervideo's windvd and I can now play all my HD and Blueray dvd's on both laptops regardless of the video drivers I use and without any stuter or any other problems. The player is $69 and I think it is worth it to avoid all the problems we had with the toshiba version of the player.

 

Jesse,

Are you able to output HD DVD video from your HDMI port with the Intervideo software? I thought about it, but I didn't want to shell out another $70 without knowing if it would fix the problem.

On another note, maybe you know the answer to this one. This laptop has a shared headphone/SPDIF mini-DIN jack. What cable do I need to connect this jack as an SPDIF output to the coaxial SPDIF input on a typical surround sound amplifier/receiver?

Thanks!

BW

 

I just tried and it did not work the video works but I could not get it to play the audio through the HDMI port, then I tried Power DVD Ultra and that works flawlessly so I will probably use power dvd when using my 46" LCD TV with my FZ180E.

 

Jesse,

Appreciate the info, and I'll probably end up with one or the other (PowerDVD given your info). However, since my HDTV is DVI (and not HDMI), then I can't use HDMI audio regardless. Any info on using the coaxial SPDIF output, and which type of cable would be necessary (stereo mini-DIN, mono mini-DIN, etc.)

Thanks!

 

BigWorm2005GT - I am not too familiar with the types of cables that are necessary for SPDIF, but I know you might be able to use stereo mini to coaxial, on my home pc with the X-fi it has the stereo mini and I have seen coaxial also being used for SPDIF oh and you also have fiber optic cable but I am not sure if your TV or Stereo system supports that.

 

Problem is, there is no optical output on the F45-AV425. I've tried several coaxial cables, none work. I guess what I'm looking for is something on the order of: "You need a mono mini-DIN to single RCA" or something like that, whatever the correct answer is.

It did output HDMI audio correctly during testing to an HDMI TV, but that was on a standard DVD, and I'm back to the other problem of not playing HD DVD's with Toshiba's software.

Is there a trialware version of PowerDVD HD out there?

 

OK, got an answer to one question, anyway. I got an e-mail back from the Toshiba engineers that are trying to fix my display problem. I had no idea that the "Shared S/PDIF" port was an optical port in disguise! There's apparently a small mini-Toslink at the bottom of the port that, with the proper adapter, connects to a standard Toslink optical cable.

Will this do the trick? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123063

Still have the problem playing HD DVD's on an external HDTV, though. Tried 4 different TV's with three different cables, one an HDMI-DVI and two HDMI-HDMI cables. All give the same error as in post #1 of this thread. Anybody got any ideas before I get a refund and buy an HP?

Thanks!

BW

 

i had the same problem and fixed it real easy. if you go to the top of your desktop screen there should be a drop down menu go to output and make sure you put it on just the hdmi. when you run the hd dvd drive you can only have one screen running, thats how i got mine to work let me know if this works for you.

 

Halyoder,

First: IT WORKED!!!

Secondly: I know I've tried that before, I know it for a fact. But I said, maybe I'll try it again, and it did indeed play on my HDTV. Between now and the last time I tried, I've wiped and reloaded, and applied the latest driver packs.

So, that did it. Thanks very much for the tip. I still don't know for sure why it worked now and not two days ago when I tried it last. Normally, I prefer knowing why over "it just works," but in this case, I'll take it.

Thanks again!

BW

 

UPDATE: The Belkin PureAV optical Toslink cable that comes with the "mini-DIN adapter" that I referenced in post #11 works. I just plugged it in between the laptop and my Pioneer amp, and the surround is beautiful!

 

Halyoder,

First: IT WORKED!!!

Secondly: I know I've tried that before, I know it for a fact. But I said, maybe I'll try it again, and it did indeed play on my HDTV. Between now and the last time I tried, I've wiped and reloaded, and applied the latest driver packs.

So, that did it. Thanks very much for the tip. I still don't know for sure why it worked now and not two days ago when I tried it last. Normally, I prefer knowing why over "it just works," but in this case, I'll take it.

Thanks again!

BW

Hi Bigworm

Can you give me a list of all the drivers you wiped and reloaded to enable playback of the video on your HDTV. I am experiencing the same problem as you once were. Appreciate your response.