Toshiba HD-A2 Player HD-DVD Player

Pros: Plays HD DVDs in 720p/1080i, while Upconverting Standard DVDs to 1080i.
Cons: No longer a viable choice for new HD movies.

With Toshiba recently announcing that it will cease production on its HD line of disks and players, it might seem like a bad idea to go out and purchase an HD-DVD player now. But with many of the players (such as the 720 p/1080i A2) going for as little ...

Pros: Cheap, amazing picture quality & sound quality, easy setup, easy to operate, great upconverter
Cons: appears to be a dying format, no HDMI 1.3

UPDATE 5/4/08: I have removed my complaint about this player not being able to play the new lossless audio codecs. I've found out (after writing this review) that since all HD-DVD players were required to have a built in Dolby TrueHD decoder built ...

Pros: Inexpensive, 1080i Output, TrueHD Audio Support, Great Upconverting Capability, 5 Free HD-DVDs
Cons: Emerging Technology, Future Uncertainty

As an early adopter of technology, there is always risk in buying into a new format. HD-DVD is no exception. With the current "war" with Blu-Ray, it is uncertain who the winner will be but that is risk we taking buying into new technology early. Now ...

Pros: Affordable, great looks and fantastic playback!
Cons: The Remote Control, Only 720p and not 1080p

HD DVD or Blu-Ray? Thats the question on the tip of everyones tongue right now! For me, it is HD DVD. It to me is the natural successor to the dvd and second of all it is affordable and is not proprietary like Sony's Blu-Ray! Even though Universal just ...

Pros: Inexpensive, great picture
Cons: Crappy remote, evolving technology

Anyone purchasing a new high definition DVD Player will have to first decide if they want to commit to the HD DVD or the Blu-Ray technology. What's the difference? About $400. We have yet to have a DVD player that has lasted more than an year or two ...

Pros: Solid picture quality, Great "Secret Sale" price point, 5-Free HD-DVD by mail
Cons: Poor remote, Difficulty with Internet access, Glitches with newer film playback, No coax audio input

Hello! After purchasing the Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player during the November Wal-Mart "Secret Sale", I thought I'd stop by and offer up my evaluation. I should note that I'm a Playstation 3 owner with a fairly large (@65 movies) Blu-Ray collection. Now, ...

Pros: Picture quality, sound quality, user interface, sleek design, online capabilities.
Cons: Initial powering on of the system is slow (about 20 seconds).

If your looking for a great way to enter the HD-DVD realm without the high price tag then this is the player for you. I purchased mine on 12-7-2007 at Walmart. I paid $199 for the player plus got 5 in store movies for free and the usual 5 by mail. So ...

Pros: good analoge sound, good dvd upconversion
Cons: slooooowwwww....

I bit during the $98.97 walmart special this past weekend. At this price its a throw away if hd-dvd looses the "war" and with hd-dvd movies coming from netflix provides the perfect combo while we wait for the dust to settle. Whats bad: It sloooowwww. ...

Pros: Low cost, great 720p output for projectors.
Cons: No true 1080p output, awful awful remote, weak menu system.

What is It? The new Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player is one of the lower priced units on the market. This is the compeition to Blue Ray. Now that Paramount and Dreamworks have signed on to HD DVD, it has a significant leg up over Blue Ray. In addition, HD ...

Pros: Actually none except for the format war issue.
Cons: None, except for the fact that a couple studios only produce Blue-Ray discs.

I was able to obtain this player for $199 by buying it along with a Toshiba HDTV with a promotion at Circuit City. At the time of this writing, it can be found now and then at some places under $250 (due to a rebate)--just wait for it to go on sale. ...

Pros: Excellent picture, excellent sound. Good price for HD DVD player.
Cons: Some operational glitches. Format war.

I bought the HD-A2 about a month ago. I was an early adopter of DVD when it was released, there was a small spinner rack in the back corner of the store with DVDs, everything else was just VHS or the occasional Laserdisc. It has been over 3 years ...

Pros: Incredible picture and currently a real bargain.
Cons: Still some bugs left in the system.

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 ...

Pros: Excellent price and value. Upconversion of SD is very good. HDDVD movies are simply awesome.
Cons: Load times are slower than SD Player. May have a problem reading all SD DVDs

What can I say but wow, WOW! Simply Spectacular! My original plan was to wait to buy until there was a clear winner in the HighDef Format War. But when I saw the recent release of this second generation player from Toshiba for $499.00 at Best Buy I went ...

Pros: Cost-to-benefit ratio, price, picture quality, Ethernet-capable upgradability.
Cons: Slower boot-up time compared to conventional standard DVD player. Ongoing format war.

I have to confess, I'm an early adopter when it comes to electronics and most of the time I hate myself for that. Why? Because most of the time, we act as the guinea pigs for the products that companies introduce. As soon as the buzz started building up ...

Pros: super up scaling, great digital sound, sharp 720P / 1080i picture
Cons: firmware update probably required, For a 1080P display opt for a newer model

I bought the Toshiba HD-A2 about a month ago at a one day Walmart special for $100. Not even considering the HD capability, this made it a fantastic value as a top end up scaling DVD player.

The unit is connected through an HDMI port to a 720P / 1080i LCD overhead projector. This made the HD-A2 a perfect match since that is its maximum display capability. The picture quality of regular DVDs appears very close to the HD variety.

The sound quality through the optical port on a 7.1 receiver is excellent.

The appearance and size of the unit fits well with black theater components.

Besides being slow to boot up, the only major complaint was that the first HD-DVD from Netflix was not even recognized. After downloading the latest firmware update on a computer, transferring it to a CD, and running it through the player, I have not had any further problems.