Toshiba Toshiba HD-XA2

Toshiba HD-XA2

Toshiba HD-XA2 Review, by Lincoln Spector March 27, 2007

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• Reviewed by: vinnieyor

  Strengths: Remote has backlight.

  Weaknesses: loched up twice already

  Overall: recently purhased both Sony BDP-S500 and Toshiba HD-AX2.The Sony is easier to use and seems to play SD/DVDs much clearer.BlueRay looks cleaner and clearer.only had them for 1 month.Toshiba has locked up twice already.had to unplug it and start over.time will tell as far as reliability.but so for BlueRay has my vote hands down.

• Reviewed by: nuje4

  Strengths: Incredible sound and picture

  Weaknesses: Sloooooow, lousy remote

  Overall: Once you go HD, you'll never go back. I have spent thousands on the best upconverting players, but the simple fact is that you can't beat the new formats (big surprise). The XA2 has been fantastic for me, the picture quality is extraordinary, the sound quality from the new formats is awesome, and it has never faltered. That's the good. The bad is the speed. While this sports a great Silicon Optix processor for upconversion, I find that the boot-up time is so obnoxious that I would rather use my Oppo to watch normal DVDs. The remote could also use some work, but since I use a Harmony, I rarely if ever use it. All in all, a solid product that delivers the goods for HD-DVD, but it's not without its quirks.

• Reviewed by: atechreviewer

  Strengths: Solid construction, many features

  Weaknesses: Must keep up-to-date

  Overall: The next generation of DVD is in high definition. There are two competing formats, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD and it looks like both formats are here to stay. This review will not touch on the so-called format wars.The XA2 is the flagship of Toshiba's second generation HD-DVD players. It is solidly built and delivers excellent picture quality. The most important aspect of this player is that it introduces you to HD-DVD but has excellent built-in features that help you make the best of your existing DVD collection and audio system. There are two features that are particularly attractive:1. A great de-interlacing chip, sometimes called an upscaler. This is used to embellish the display of regular DVDs (encoded in 480i) on 720p/1080i/1080p high definition displays. The components in this player are among the best on the market and allow you to fully enjoy your existing DVD collection.2. Line level 5.1 audio outputs. HD-DVD not only comes with a new picture standard, it also includes new audio standards as well. Only a few brand new receivers support these and the receivers most people have likely do not. These outputs allow the XA2 to decode the audio on-board and send it to any receiver that accepts these inputs. So, one does not have to invest in a new receiver to enjoy the new audio formats right now.The only downside is that the firmware must be regulary kept up to date, after all this is an evolving format and device. However, there are three ways to do this, getting a CD through Toshiba, downloading and burning the firmware to a CD, or connecting the XA2 to the internet.It has a few quirks here and there, but this is an excellent product.

• Reviewed by:

  Strengths: Excellent SD upconversion, ethernet, asthetics, ease of use with the exception of FW updates

  Weaknesses: Toshiba should start including the FW discs on their units, some folks are having a hard time updating via ethernet

  Overall: Compared to my 360 add-on, this machine flies by it with flying colors. Great PQ overall, AQ is okay, reason I say this is I do not have a very sophisticated AV receiver. I'm currently using the 5.1 analog connections for audio and with a bit of tweeking and calibrating, the sound is awesome. Great bass, didn't hear any noise on PQ or AQ. This is a must buy for any HD fan.

• Reviewed by: stevekaden

  Strengths: Solid, good looking box, beautiful image and audio, fast as the rest of the market.

  Weaknesses: The remote has to be pointed at the unit.

  Overall: I had an XA1, and now an XA2 for about a month. It is solidly built, works as fast as any HD type player, has lots of features for both system integration and audio/video options and tweaking. The SD-DVD upconversion is perhaps the finest in the industry. I'm glad to see the price come down, but I felt this was an appropriate value when I bought it at near list, and it is better now. I will still think highly of it when the HD player prices drop into the SD-DVD range. As for ironskull, that is a Blu-ray troll talkin - who in their right mind would trash a new player, and have us believe using an ax would leave a useable DVD - The XA2 has a cast aluminum over steel cover - WITH SCREWS attaching it.