http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-a ... ?subj=fdba
Because the HD-A20's major upgrade over the HD-A2 is 1080p output, the performance of the HD-A20 in 1080p mode is critical to whether the HD-A20 is worth the extra money. To start, we looked at some of the tests from Silicon Optix's HQV test suite on HD DVD in 1080p mode on our Pioneer Pro-FHD1. The results were disappointing. The HD-A20 struggled with the Film Resolution Loss tests, with moiré present in the image of stands at Raymond James Stadium, and a strobe effect occurring on a shifting resolution pattern. The HD-A20 also did a poor job with the Video Resolution Loss test, with the same strobe behavior occuring on certain areas of the test pattern. We even saw significant jaggies (stair-step patterns along the edges of lines that should look smooth) on the Jaggies test with three shifting lines--which is notable, as most players and displays ace this test. We looked at these same patterns with the HD-XA2, and it passed every single test. Additional test discs also confirmed the HD-A20's limitations in 1080p mode--most importantly, the player failed to resolve the finest detail on test patterns from the HD DVD version of Digital Video Essentials.
We also looked at actual content to see how often these failures affected program material. Unfortunately, we found several instances where the HD-A20's subpar 1080p performance had a significant impact on the viewing experience. When we loaded up MI:III, we noticed some flicker on the bottom of the main menu right off the bat, along with some significant jaggies on the computer-generated graphics in the background. Jumping into the movie, one of the worst examples was at the beginning of Chapter 8 of MI:III, where there's very noticeable and distracting moiré on the stairs in the background. At the beginning of Chapter 16, we could see obvious jaggies on the limo as it rolled up to Tom Cruise. These are only the some of the easiest places to spot the jaggies--we saw them popping up constantly throughout MI:III.