Pros: Incredible picture and currently a real bargain.
Cons: Still some bugs left in the system.
The Bottom Line: A real bargain, but make sure you buy one from a store with a good return policy and rent lots of HD-DVDs before the return period is up.
wyomr2's Full Review: Toshiba HD-A2 Player HD-DVD Player
I have owned the Toshiba HD-A2 for about a month now and have run about a dozen HD movies on it, and have found this to be a very nice piece of equipment. It is only about 2 inches tall, and about 17 inches wide, which matches the width of most modern home theatre receivers. It is also deep enough (about 16 inches) so you can place another piece of equipment on top of it without it hanging off the back. You'll probably want to avoid putting the previously mentioned home theatre receiver on top, (especially if it is one of the heavier ones) as it really isn't built that sturdy, but you could easily get away putting a Tivo or VCR on top of it if you are so inclined.
One thing that is very much appreciated is the fact that it is a rather elegant and understated piece of equipment. It features the usual black face with a charcoal chromed flip down panel, which hides the manual controls. One oversight here is that Toshiba designed the panel so it does not flip all the way down when on a flat surface. In order for to open it up fully, the player will either have to be raised slightly, or hang over the front of the shelf slightly so the hinges don't come in contact with the shelf. This probably won't be much of a problem as most users are likely to use the remote instead of the manual controls behind the cover, but I am the impatient type who likes to hit the play button right after loading the DVD in to the tray.
On the plus side Toshiba didn't cheat anyone on the front panel display. Toshiba was thoughtful enough to display the time, chapter, HDMI status and upconversion data with about 3/4" high LEDs all at the same time. I've noticed many newer DVD players will give you the chapter or the time, but not both at the same time and usually the display is only about 1/2" high. My only other complaint on the front panel is that the LED surrounding the on/off button (blue when the player is on, red when it's off) is a little too bright, but certainly short of being obnoxious.
Around the back, you'll find the usual compliment of outputs. Most users will use the HDMI output, which is the recommended way to hook this up to your system, but also included are composite S-Video and component outputs. I can't imagine anyone using the S-Video or the composite outputs with this, but it's nice to know they are available. As far as audio outputs, there are only digital optical and analog stereo outputs. Toshiba decided not to include the 5.1 analog outputs on this model.
One very interesting thing about HD-A2 is that when playing and HD-DVD produced using Dolby-Plus, it is converted to PCM and then converted to a DTS signal when using the digital optical output. I thought this was a defect of the player, but after reading the manual, found out that this is normal. If output via HDMI, the player can be set to output audio as an MPCM signal (multi-channel pulse code modulation), which is the way most HDMI equipped receivers can receive the newer DTS and Dolby lossless audio signals. While using this method it is quite noticeable how much better the sound is when compared to the digital optical cable, as the audio signal is less compressed. It's certainly sounds more natural, and made a believer out of me.
As far as the picture goes, it is nothing short of spectacular. I started my comparison by watching a regular DVD an HD-DVD copy of Phantom of the Opera. Instantly I was amazed at the richness of color of the performers costumes, as well as the details. Also amazing was the detail of the background. I never realized how much we lose out when the background is not as detailed as it could be. I suspect that the producers of DVDs use their limited bandwidth to make the main objects and characters detailed, but cannot devote as much information to the background information, so we end up being short-changed. In any event I felt that the additional detail made the movie more relaxing and enjoyable. My reaction was like the first time I saw DVD versus VCR movies. Perhaps not quite as pronounced, but definitely there. Currently you can play most movies at up to 1080i resolution through the component video cables, which is very nice if you have an older HDTV. Rumor has it that eventually this feature will be discontinued and movies through component will be down converted to a lower resolution. Movie studios fear that people will be able to copy full resolution HD through the component cables. Apparently you can't copy a movie in HD through the HDMI port.
One other very nice thing about HD-DVD is that you can bring up the disc menus while the movie keeps on playing in the background. While I didn't use this very much, it was nice to be able to make adjustments and go through menus without having to stop the movie. On the negative side, when playing and HD-DVD, every time you hit the stop button, it starts from the very beginning of the movie when you push play again. Thankfully, it skips the advertisements and previews. Toshiba says this is a limitation of the disc itself and not the fault of the HD-A2, which is believable, as regular DVDs will resume at the point where you hit stop.
Speaking of regular DVDs, the HD-A2 is an excellent upconverting DVD player. Again, you can upconvert regular DVDs to 720p or 1080i resolutions. I compared this against the highly acclaimed OPPO HD-981 with both set at 1080i and could barely tell the difference between them. In fact, if I didn't know which one was playing I wouldn't have been able to tell which was which.
As far as negatives are concerned, the HD-A2 is not without blemishes. It can only play up to 1080i and not the newer 1080p. The new Toshiba HD-A20 and HD-XA2 can but are more quite a bit more expensive. This will be a non-issue unless you have a television which can accept a 1080p signal. The majority of televisions over a year old cannot accept 1080p, but you'll want to make sure before you commit. Also a negative is that there is no "fit to screen" zoom to get rid of the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen on movies shot in a format wider than 16:9. While it could be argued that movies should be viewed the way the director/producer meant for it to be seen, I prefer to have the ability to "center in" on the action. Another negative is that the HD-A2 is still slower than regular DVD players. It takes about 45 seconds for the player to boot up and a screen to appear. It also takes about 25 seconds for a movie to start after inserting it into the tray. While this is down to about half of what the first generation Toshiba HD-DVD players took, it's still slow when compared to modern standard DVD players.
One other complaint is that Toshiba still doesn't have all the bugs worked out of it. Toshiba has already issued two firmware upgrades just since its introduction a few months ago. The first upgrade was suppose to take care of some HDMI recognition issues with certain displays, and the occasional disc freezing up. They just introduced a second firmware upgrade which takes care of other HDMI issues and freezing. This can all be done via the internet if you have a home network and the correct connections to hook up the RJ45 connection. I only have dial up, so called Toshiba's toll free support number to order the upgrades on disc. I certainly give kudos to Toshiba's customer support as a live person answered the phone immediatly after connecting to the correct department. I was on the phone for less than five minutes!! Try that with most any other tech support and you better have about an hour or more to spare. After answering a few questions and giving them my serial number address etc., my upgrade was on the way and arrive about 4-5 days later. Again I was impressed as most sent upgrades take weeks to arrive.
The upgrade process is simple enough. Just turn on your system, pop the disc in the tray and it automaticlly upgrades itself to the new firmware. About 15 minutes later, the disc tray opens, and the machine shuts itself off, and the upgrade is complete. While the upgrade is easy enough, the first upgrade didn't solve the problems I have had with the machine. On about half of the HD-DVDs I have played, the disc will occasionally freeze momentarily. The problem isn't so much the momentary freeze, but after it starts going again, the picture is fine but the audio begins to stutter, much like a scratched CD, which only outputs half of the syllables of half the words. I've tried pausing the machine and fast forwarding, but it doesn't help. The only solution is to push the fast reverse button for a second or two which restores full sound again. At first I thought that my HD-DVD was scratched, but my replacement did the same thing. Also I tried the same disc on a friends Toshiba HD-XA1, and it worked perfectly. I've talked to Toshiba about this and they are aware of it. They claim their second upgrade will fix this, but I haven't received it yet, so can't tell you if if works or not.
As far as the remote control goes, I wasn't too impressed. It is basicly a large black piece of plastic with poor labeling and non-intuitive key layout. I didn't worry too much about this, as one of the first things I did was to transfer everything to my universal remote. If I had to live with it every day, I would probably not be too happy.
Many people may want to wait until the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD ends before buying either. Personally I feel that after spending as much as I did for an HD television, the money I spent on HD-A2 is not that much, especially considering that a good mid-range standard DVD player such as a Denon DVD-1930CI is about the same price. Also Netflix offers HD-DVDs for rent, so you don't have to risk building a library of discs, which may become obsolete in a year or two. One other piece of advice to those who are considering buying a player that plays both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Think twice, as you can buy both a Blu-Ray player and an HD-DVD player for about the same the cost of a new combination player. Also the new combination player doesn't offer full function of all the features of either format.
In conclusion, I am very happy that I went ahead and made the jump to HD-DVD and bought the Toshiba HD-A2, especially if the upgrade does what it is promised to do. The price has come down to a very reasonable $399, but is currently being sold for $349 or less at many retailers. Also they are currently offeing 5 free HD-DVDs with purchase. I recently saw a special at CC which was selling it for the $349 plus 5 free movies, but also threw in 4 additional free movies. Since most HD-DVD movies average about $25 each it is one heck of a deal. Also remember that if you need further justification for purchase, it make a fine upconverting standard DVD player for about the price of a mid-range standard DVD player.
Update as on July 25, 2007
I recently lowered my rating to average. Shortly after my initial review of this player, it started freezing or stuttering during some movies. At first it was with the HD version of The Bourne Identity. I thought it was the disc, so got a different copy, with the same results. The movie would stop on a scene, and stutter forward. Sometimes it would recover, other times I would just have to skip forward past the point that it stopped. If it did recover and began play again, the sound would not recover completely and would continue to stutter. I would have to hit the reverse button and then the play button for it to play correctly. This problem has occured on many other movies including Tomb Raider, Hollywood Land and Fearless to name a few.
I spoke with Toshiba a number of times regarding this, and they keep promising that the problem will be taken care of with the next firmware upgrade, although I've upgraded twice since they said this with no solution yet, although another firmware upgrade was just announced.
In short, buy this one from a company with a good return policy and rent lots of HD-DVDs before the return period expires to see if you have this problem. The problems I am having may be unique to my player. If you don't get any freezing problems, I still recommend purchasing the HD-A2, but if you do, I suggest you wait until the next generation before you buy.
One final thought is that I also own a first generation Toshiba HD-DVD player (HD-XA1) and have not had any freezing problems with it.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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