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Toshiba HD-A2 DVD Player

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14 User Reviews

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• Reviewed by: Timmy2tone

  Updated: 02-11-07

  Overall Rating: 5 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:1 Months

  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 Evaluation: 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.

• Reviewed by: fabjim74

  Updated: 09-08-07

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:2 Weeks

  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 Evaluation: 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.

• Reviewed by: dbulkley

  Updated: 06-20-07

  Overall Rating: 2 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:7 Days

  Strengths: Value, design

  Weaknesses: Slow boot, won't resume a film at a midpoint, seems to demand discs with perfect surfaces

  Overall Evaluation: 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....

• Reviewed by: mouseissue

  Updated: 03-05-07

  Overall Rating: 5 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:2 Months

  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 Evaluation: 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!

• Reviewed by: mark71mark

  Updated: 02-27-07

  Overall Rating: 5 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:1 Weeks

  Strengths: Beautiful 1080i output.Upconverts regular DVD's.

  Weaknesses: No hdmi cable included.No analog 5.1 output.

  Overall Evaluation: 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.

• Reviewed by: Jakeyyyyy

  Updated: 02-26-07

  Overall Rating: 5 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Picture Quality - HD and very importantly Upconverting

  Weaknesses: Format Support - Movie Studios.

  Overall Evaluation: 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!!

• Reviewed by: mgnc

  Updated: 02-24-07

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:1 Days

  Strengths: Value for the money, sleek look, simplicity of installation, excellent backward compatibility.

  Weaknesses: None so far as far as the player goes, but the jury is still out on how "compelling" is the need to upgrade to the High Definition DVD experience.

  Overall Evaluation: This is a solid choice for anyone who wants to upgrade to High Definition DVD viewing. This is the cheapest entry point, without any obvious sacrifices in quality and features. Toshiba's brand name is great, the player is easy to install and use, the electronics run seamlessly (fast response, good quality) on a decent range of DVD's. I connected it to a Toshiba LCD TV using an HDMI connection. I was most impressed with the "upconversion" delivered for some non-HD DVD's (Monsters, Inc., e,g) and satisfied with the way it played others. The HD DVD picture quality was good, but so far(as a point of comparison), I prefer that delivered Direct TV's HD (including the satellite network feeds. (I have not tested other HD DVD Players.) In summary, the player has delivered value.

• Reviewed by: jmybiawhdaee

  Updated: 02-23-07

  Overall Rating: 5 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:1 Weeks

  Strengths: The HD DVDs demolish the quality of standard DVD with this player. Player has greater quality than i expected for the price.

  Weaknesses: HD DVD playback of HD only at 720p or 1080i. But dont worry, Toshiba will send you an Firmware Update Disc as soon as it is available w/ request form provided, or dl update through ethernet.

  Overall Evaluation: For Quality enthusiasts, I highly reccommend. Everyone else looking to buy up-convert DVD players, don't bother. you're better off saving time and money in the long run. why sell yourself short when this player offers so much now and will offer you more in the future with update capabilities! Overall, i truly find no major flaws, this is a great player and am very pleased with Toshiba's product! Don't Wait! Toshiba's bonus offer of 3 free HD DVDs for limited time*

• Reviewed by: brettlandman

  Updated: 02-18-07

  Overall Rating: 5 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:3 Weeks

  Strengths: Excellent picture quality on standard DVDs as well as HD DVDs

  Weaknesses: Slow start-up time.

  Overall Evaluation: I debated not getting the HD DVD player, but I'm glad I did. The price was much more reasonable than BluRay. The overall picture quality is excellent and I'm hoping that with the network upgrade capability, the unit will stay current longer than other standard DVD players.

• Reviewed by: cmaestro99

  Updated: 02-17-07

  Overall Rating: 4 Star Review

  Duration of ownership:2 Days

  Strengths: Affordable price, HD-DVD playback, Excellent HD upscale of standard DVDs

  Weaknesses: Doesn't auto restart DVDs when turn machine on, must start from the beginning.

  Overall Evaluation: This machine does TODAY what BluRay will do in a couple of years, it gives you GREAT HD viewing at an affordable cost. BluRay may give us that in a couple of years if prices come down, but this TOSHIBA HD-A2 player does that NOW. Great upscaling of regular DVDs to HD quality as well, and for that reason alone it's worth the money. So if you want a great upscale DVD player, and want to also watch some true HD movies, buy this player and rent HD-DVD movies from Netflix. That's your best bet TODAY!

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