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More…Low-cost HD DVD player has a well-designed remote control, but image quality is constrained by the unit's 1080i resolution.
Toshiba Toshiba HD-A2
Pricing
$103.08 - $474.88 From 2 Vendors Get Best Prices »
| Overall design | Good |
| On-screen menus | Very Good |
| Ease of Use | Good |
| Responsiveness | Fair |
| Remote control | Poor |
| Other features | Very Good |
| Documentation | Good |
| Color quality | Good: 76 |
| Detail | Good: 76 |
| Brightness and contrast | Very Good: 80 |
| DVD-Video image quality | Good: 77 |
| Overall performance | Good: 78 |
| Specifications | Fair |
| Maximum component-video-output resolution | 1080i |
| 24p output support | No |
| HDMI output | Yes |
| HDMI version | 1.2a |
| Maximum HDMI-output resolution | 1080i |
| Ethernet connection (for Internet connectivity) | Yes |
| Ethernet connection (for streaming content across home network) | n/a |
| DLNA compliance | No |
| USB 2.0 ports | Yes; 2 |
| USB port function | For downloading additional content for movies that support this feature |
| Component-video Output | Yes |
| S-Video output | Yes |
| Composite -video output | Yes |
| Two-channel analog audio output | Yes |
| Coaxial digital output | No |
| Optical digital output | Yes |
| Maximum audio output over HDMI | 7.1-channel PCM |
| Best audio output over S/PDIF | 7.1-channel PCM |
| Bitstream output to audio/video receiver | Yes |
| DVD-Video upconversion | 1080i |
| Plays audio CDs | Yes |
| Supported DVD disc formats | DVD-R, DVD-RW |
| Plays MP3 DVDs | No |
| Plays MP3 CDs | No |
| Support for two simultaneous video streams (for on-demand picture-in-picture) | Yes |
| Storage | 128MB |
| Firmware updates delivered via? | Ethernet/disc mailing |
| Disc bookmarks | Yes |
| Media slots | None |
| Warranty | One year parts/90 days labor |
| Weekday support hours | 9 |
| Saturday support hours | 0 |
| Sunday support hours | 0 |
| Toll-free support number | Yes |
PCWorld Rating, March 1, 2007
8 User Reviews Add your own »
$103.08 - $474.88
From 2 Vendors
Get Best Prices »
- Lab Tested
- How We Test Home Theater »
Pros
Well-designed on-screen menus
Ethernet connection for interactivity and updates
Cons
Outputs 1080i image resolution
Toshiba HD-A2
Toshiba HD-A2 Review, by Lincoln Spector March 27, 2007
In Mission: Impossible III, Tom Cruise uses some fancy gadgetry to help him run up a brick wall. That's impressive in 1080p. But interlacing artifacts, as seen in the Toshiba HD-A2's 1080i playback, cause the wall to vibrate, making M:I3 downright psychedelic. And I don't mean that in a good way.
Toshiba's HD-A2 ($500 as of 2/20/07) can't deliver a 1080p image. Any 1080p-capable movie you watch on it--and that's most every movie available in the HD DVD format--is downgraded to the inferior 1080i high-def mode on its way to your television.
If your HDTV can't handle 1080p, the HD-A2 makes a tempting money-saver. It can natively decode Dolby TrueHD sound tracks. Over HDMI its audio was superb--this player tied with the HD-XA2 for second place in our audio tests, coming in just behind the Sony BDP-S1 (see our "High-Def Video Superguide"). However, it has only stereo, analog output; it cannot output analog multichannel audio. (By comparison, its sister model, the $1000 HD-XA2, can do so.) This model supports DTS-HD (core), and DTS Encore 5.1 output.
Other aspects of the HD-A2's design are a mixed bag. The setup menus are lovely to look at and easy to figure out. The front panel is well laid out, with a flap that hides most of the clearly labeled buttons and two specialized USB ports (labeled "Extension" ports"). The ports' function, according to Toshiba, is to add extra storage for implementing features such as the ability to download supplemental content. As yet, however, no titles use them.
Like its pricier sibling and the Xbox 360, the Toshiba HD-A2 can handle the HD DVD format's bookmarking capabilities. Both Toshiba players let you create bookmarks for favorite scenes using a button on the remote control. Because of the way the HD DVD format is designed, these bookmarks persist even after you eject the disc; however, the player's memory retains only ten such bookmarks at a time. In addition, to return to these bookmarks, you must navigate through the menu to view the disc's scenes; the menu will then show a new tab for "bookmarks" (previously not there). Neither of the Toshiba players' manuals offer details about this quirk.
The HD-A2's remote control is better than the one that comes with the HD-XA2. The rubberized buttons on the HD-A2's remote are softer to the touch than the metallic slivers on the HD-XA2's. The HD-A2's remote has too many buttons, though, and they all look and feel alike. Once you figure out what to click, the HD-A2 responds with a bit of lag--though other players, including the Sony BDP-S1, lag even more.
You can use the ethernet port to download firmware updates, as well as supplemental content provided by movie studios--once such content becomes available (perhaps later this year).
What didn't work well with this model (and the firmware PC World used in its tests) was its HDMI switching. You might, for example, switch the input on your amplifier while watching a movie to check a program that's airing on live TV. When I switched away from the HDMI input the player was using on one of our test televisions, a Pioneer Elite PRO-HD1, the HD-A2 locked up and had to be restarted. Toshiba said it was looking into what might have caused this glitch.
At $500, the HD-A2 is the least expensive stand-alone high-def player--for now. If you opt for that low price, however, you'll be making sacrifices in resolution and audio. If you're basing your decision on price, keep an eye out for specials--you may be able to find other players, such as the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player, that offer superior, noninterlaced image performance for not too much more.
Lincoln Spector
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User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Toshiba Toshiba HD-A2
3 Reviews Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 3 reviews
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Reviewed by: free2speak
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: Excellent video and audio for a little money.
Weaknesses: Slow startup.
Overall: I am very pleased with the HD-A2. I have watched around 20 movies since I purchased the player. My HDTV is 1080i so the HD-A2 is a perfect match with great image quality. The sound is sent as a very rich DTS sidnal over the optical cable. The internet connection works very well for firmware updates, and movie content. There are many unique interactive features that work well on this HD DVD player. I would definately buy again.
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Reviewed by: klingon
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: Phenominal pic quality and fantastic upscaling of standard definition DVDs!!
Weaknesses: No 5.1 analog output! :(
Overall: This is a fantastic piece of equipment, anyone who says just because it does 1080i and not 1080p that it doesnt have the resolution of AX2 is sadly mistaken and needs to do some research including Mr Lincln, please read up a little before reviewing products.All HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs will encode film-sourced material in full 1920x1080 progressive scan resolution at 24 frames per second. The reason why we get interlacing artifacts in a 1080i signal is that the frame was originally captured in interlaced format, with the odd scan lines and even scan lines being recorded at two different moments in time. When you reassemble two fields that are offset in time, you get jaggies, moire patterns, barber pole effects, and line twitter. That is not true of either HD-DVD or Blu-ray film transfers since the image is scanned progressively from a film frame that represents a single moment in time. Therefore we would expect to see none of the common evidence of deinterlacing when watching HD-DVD or Blu-ray movies that are being transmitted via 1080i Now what our reviewer here is refering to as being artifacts while watching Mission imposible could be introduced by the TV which probably doesnt have a good deinterlacing chip, if he would have bothered to use a high quality progressive display device he wouldnt have complaned! Hope he'll be carefull in his future reviews! regards Khan
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Reviewed by: Timmy2tone
Duration of ownership: 1 Month
Strengths: Really outstanding resolution. My Hitachi HDTV (no HDMI Connection, so 1080i is the highest resolution capable) is being replaced by Sony's KDS A2000 60" SXRD Grand WEGA because watching a HD-DVD at 1080P on the Grand WEGA is absolutely mind-blowing. I've compared the exact TV, Sony's Blu-ray player and movie side by side with the Toshiba A2 and believe the true value is found in Toshiba A2
Weaknesses: Takes a few seconds to boot up, but then again, it's a whole different technology than the standard DVD players. Personally, I don't see any significant weaknesses.
Overall: Easy to hook up. Menu options are simple and sweet to use. The player is a nice looking machine. Right now, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
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User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: fabjim74
Strengths: The price is exelent, it works as promise, the PQ is great, and the sound is a WOW factor.
Weaknesses: I wish it has analog 7.1 conectios, but for the price I can't complaint too much.
Overall: If your are like me, and can wait too much, then go for it> The way I see it is this, for $ 247 you can experienced HD movies right now and not wait another year or so for this war to end, and maybe you can help end it sooner. If Blue-Ray wins (I don't think they will) you can still play regular DVD in a exellent up-convertion unit better that most I see in stores, and save a punch of money, that you can use to buy a BR player for lower price than you pay right now and I think you still would save money. So my opinion is this enjoy your new HDTV now and not wait for another year of this stupid fight that nobody really cares about, we all just want to see HD movies, no matter if is F***** BR or HD. Good luck guys waiting and waiting.
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Reviewed by: dbulkley
Strengths: Value, design
Weaknesses: Slow boot, won't resume a film at a midpoint, seems to demand discs with perfect surfaces
Overall: This thing worked great for a handful of HD DVD films a friend loaned to me, but playing anything from Blockbuster is a crapshoot as fully 70% of the rental discs will not play. Either the machine denies that the disc is of DVD format, or it insists that there is no disc in its' mouth at all. It seems to barf on the slightest imperfection on the surface of the disc. I will take the issue up with customer support tomorrow - I'm writing this review now because it won't play my new films and so I'm bored....
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Reviewed by: mouseissue
Strengths: Extremely high quality audio and video even with standard DVDs. It makes standard DVDs look almost as good as true HD-DVDs. Toshiba's customer service for HD-DVD players is EXCELLENT!
Weaknesses: A bit slow during startup. Otherwise runs great!
Overall: When I first used this HD-DVD player is was very quirky. It would lockup during playback, freeze during DVD pause, sometimes be completely unresponsive, and be generally very slow... It was VERY frustrating! I almost returned the unit for a refund. I contacted Toshiba's customer service and got through to a real person right away. Customer service told me that Toshiba was coming out a firmware update disk that should fix the problems. I received the update disk about 2 weeks later and performed the update (it took about 15 minutes). After the update completed, I tried it out and found that it was much faster at startup (although still a bit slow) and all other problems seemed to have been fixed. The slowness during startup could be the time it takes the unit's "HDMI handshake" process to go through my home theater receiver and HDTV. I have a lot of standard DVDs and was thinking about replacing them for HD-DVD versions... I'm glad I didn't! With this unit, I can barely tell the difference! I recommend this unit to anyone looking for a high quality HD-DVD player!
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Reviewed by: mark71mark
Strengths: Beautiful 1080i output.Upconverts regular DVD's.
Weaknesses: No hdmi cable included.No analog 5.1 output.
Overall: With new technology dropping in price nearly every week, this Toshiba HD-A2 finally fell into my target range and I bought it. To sweeten the pot, there is a mail-in form for 3 free hd-dvd's with this purchase. I was dismayed that the only cable included in the box is a component video cable (other than the power cable). Fortunately, I had an hdmi cable laying around and used it to connect directly to the tv instead of the component one. Since I don't have an HDMI audio receiver, and this player doesn't have analog 5.1 output (the HD-XA2 does), I used a toslink optical cable to connect to my receiver. It was a snap to get everything connected and running. After setting the date, and tweaking a couple of minor setup options, I proceeded to play an hd-dvd. It took a little bit longer to put in the hddvd and begin playing compared to my old non-hd dvd player, but when the movie finally started it was all really worth it. I tried playing some old standard dvd's and they seem to look better than I remember them to be, probably from the player's upconversion. Apparently, there's been a recent firmware upgrade for the HD-A2, and I have the choice of sending in a little card for Toshiba to mail me an upgrade dvd, or I can simply use the player's built-in ethernet port and download it directly to the player.
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Reviewed by: Jakeyyyyy
Strengths: Picture Quality - HD and very importantly Upconverting
Weaknesses: Format Support - Movie Studios.
Overall: After researching and testing both options, I have concluded that HD-DVD has superior picture quality. Not only with HD but hands down with up-converting which is very important right now as not everyone can afford a new library of dvd's, and not all DVD's are in HD. Also this makes up for the unfortunate point of less HD-DVD support by movie studios. Blu-Ray has a harsher picture and you will notice it much more when upconverting. I see the choice being: Having more support of rich, powerful companies, or having superior picture quality. I choose picture quality!!
Shop for the Toshiba Toshiba HD-A2
| Merchant | Price | Merchant Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Tech for Less Store | $103.08 Buy Now » | |
| NextWarehouse | $474.88 Buy Now » |
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