Toshiba HD-A2 for $199

[davetroy]

I canceled my order following the Blockbuster announcement. Even at $199, I don't want to be stuck with what could be an obsolete format in a year or two, and I do have a perfectly fine DVD player as is (Panasonic S97).

 

[Duffinator]

It's here...

My $199 delivered A2 arrived this afternoon. It didn't take me long to connect it and put in Batman Begins from Netflix. It looks good. But not as good as Happy Feet. Man Happy Feet looks amazing! But I flipped the disc over and even the 480P version of this movie looks terrific. I originally purchased this as an upconverting DVD player for my 1080i input Sharp 45" LCD in my bedroom. But I think it's going to stay in my HT since it outputs HD via component. I can't test the upconverting performance via component so that will have to wait until later, maybe much later. My plan is to sell the HD DVD's I get from Toshiba and recoup about half of the cost.

A couple of comments about the player. It works fine right out of the box but as many others have noted it's a tad slow loading. Not real bad but slower than my other DVD players. The menu features are really nice as you can activate them while watching the movie. It also plays DD while in the menu screen at the beginning of the movie. The setup menus are very straight forward. One annoying thing about it is the fan is noisy. So bad in fact that I might send it back for another one. Is this a common problem or do I have a bad one? It's born on date is October 2006 so this is clearly old stock. I haven't had a chance to download the latest firmware but I'll attempt that later.

The other weird thing about it is my Denon 3805 shows it as playing DTS not DD. I guess this is the fault of the receiver not recognizing the newer formats. Is this what I should expect? Anyway for what may only cost me $100 out of pocket after I sell the HD DVD's from Toshiba I'm very happy!

Hey did anybody else get one for $199?

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, the receiver thinks it is getting DTS when it sees the LPCM stream, at least that was my understanding.

You can pop up menus while the movie is playing on BluRay players too. Slow loading is likely something you will have to live with, as this is also the case with many BluRay players as well, though the PS3 for some reason loads pretty quickly.

Congrats on the deal again!

 

[NapaDRB]

HD via component ?

Duffinator,
I noticed in your post that you said this unit outputs HD via component, I'm a nOOB but I thought all HD content was only available via HDMI? This could be huge for me because my TV only has component.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[Duffinator]

Yes

Napa, HD is available via component on Toshiba players. From what I understand it is software specific and from what I know none of them have been locked out as of yet. That could change. While the TV in my bedroom has two digital inputs my seven year old Toshiba 56H80 only has compenent inputs as does my Denon 3805. So I'm in business for the time being and will keep the HD player in my HT until a unified format is developed and I buy a nicer player. The A2 will not upconvert to 1080i over component as with most other players.

 

[NapaDRB]

Duff,

Thanks for the reply. By software do you mean the discs themselves or software/firmware in the player? Either way is this a feature that can/will go away in the future?

I find it strange that this unit will output HD over component but not up-convert.

Not to hijack, but that brings up another question. At this point in time I'm more interested in a player that up-coverts over component. Do many of them exist, and if so is this a feature that can not be disabled in the future?

Thanks

 

[j_garcia]

Right now it is the software itself - some movies are not coded so that they allow the image to be passed via HDMI only. Yes, I would imagine this will go away, but I am sure they did this so that they didn't isolate the people who don't have DVI or HDMI sets currently - a smart move on their part initially but will it pay off in the long run?

 

[mixmaster420]

lol i dont why all of you are wasting your money on hd-dvd, the funny thing is that blockbuster has now announced its full support of blu-ray dvd. When you have a company that big jumping on board with blu-ray you have to know who is going to win this battle. Also the reason hddvd players have dropped so much is because they already know the only way they have a fighting chance is to blow out there players really cheap. Sony has just announced that there new blu-ray is dropping to a price around 399.99. So buy all you want of that hddvd stuff. My money is on blu-ray with full 1080P processing unlike the hddvd that upconverts.

 

[j_garcia]

Oops I meant to say the discs are not coded and DON'T require HDMI to be sent (meaning you can use component).

the funny thing is that blockbuster has now announced its full support of blu-ray dvd. When you have a company that big jumping on board with blu-ray you have to know who is going to win this battle

Blockbuster still rents HD-DVD, you didn't read hard enough. They will continute to rent them in the stores that already carry them and they will still rent them online. It is a big blow to HD-DVD, but not the nail in the coffin.

The BIGGER (unconfirmed) rumor was that at a press conference someone let slip that Universal was indeed no longer going to be exclusive to HD-DVD.... That WOULD pretty much be the nail in the coffin if it is true.

I found out the movies that are only on HD-DVD that I really wanted to buy the player for are all coming out this year on BD so I decided just to wait for them rather than buy another player.

 

[Duffinator]

I find it strange that this unit will output HD over component but not up-convert.

There are very few upconverting players that will do so over component. Most only do it over a digital connection. Upconverting and playing an HD disc are two seperate processes.

As for HD or BD I've always leaned towards HD. Why? Mainly becuase of cost. Is BD a superior tecnnology? Yes. But can you tell the difference watching the movie? No. So what difference does it make? I'd prefer the lower cost option anyday. But it does look like HD is losing the battle. Regardless, as I stated earlier in post 22, I bought mine mainly for the upconverting feature. And as long as Netflix still rents HD discs I'm happy.

 

[j_garcia]

I agree, visually, they look more or less identical to me, so I don't really care which one "wins". A "war" would actually tend to bring prices down faster than if there is only one technology, so having the competition up front is actually a good thing in my book. Cost wise, in terms of media, it would seem they are selling for the same price as well, so the only savings is really on the player in terms of overall cost, and in that regard I think HD-DVD is gouging the customer a bit because they are able to produce the discs with existing equipment (same gear for DVD production) so their production cost isn't higher like BluRay which requires all new gear.