Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player by Toshiba
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Our Price: $399.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $79.00 (click here) Category: Home Theater See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player
Digital camera Review: Excellent Player, stunning picture, Wonderfull upscalling
Summary: 5 Stars
Hello,
I bought this player from BB, but I returned it not because of anything wrong with the player, but because BB wont price match after the price dropped in their stores, any way...
I hocked this baby with HDMI to my Onkyo TX-SR705 going through HDMI to LNT5271F and JBL CS6100 Speakers, and boy I tell you what the picture is great, the sound is shocking ..
You see I watched Gladiator the movie at least 100 times before I bought this player, and when I watched it on this baby its like seeing it for the first time..
We watched some other movies from BL.Bust. and the picture is GREAT..
If you want to see great picture, watch KINGKONG in HD while he is setting watching the sunrise OOOOOOO that's a great scene.
You see I had to return it to get the refund back, and by that time I bought a PS3 ( blu-ray), so until now I didn't buy this player back but planning to buy it soon, you know what am buying it right now.
Even the wife noticed the difference and said we may need to get that player back :) Coooool..
Bottom line if you want a nice and great upscaling for not that wallet emptier player get this one, picture is great, voice is wonderful nothing missing..
whom ever complain about the wait time, that's their problem, these are huge amount of data need to be processed, and electronics and things has to take its time, and once u power it on wait for a min ( get a sip of coffee ) boom ur stunning picture is up..
Go buy it and don't hesitate...
The only downside that it wont play PAL but I was expecting that and I resolved it by having a very cheap player 20$..
Digital camera Review: Excellent Technology
Summary: 4 Stars
The Toshiba HD-A30 brings high definition entertainment to your home at an excellent and affordable price.
As far as I can tell the only difference between the A30 and the A35 is that the A35 supports 7.1 sound.
Make sure you update your firmware (do not expect a brand new unit off the shelf to have the latest firmware - mine, purchased new at the end of February 2008, was *many* versions behind.)
Beware - these machines are SLOW to "boot up". It takes about 30 seconds before the machine is ready. So just be patient, power it up, go get a snack and when you are back pop in a disk and enjoy!
The design of the remote certainly isn't the best I've seen (I'd call it downright weak). The tiny display indicators are impossible to read from six feet away. Once you get used to the player it works fine, but there is a bit of an initial "learning curve".
Overall I'd recommend those who enjoy bargains go ahead and buy this player and enjoy a good selection of HD material while we wait for Blu-Ray to become more reasonably priced (it might be a *long* wait).
Digital camera Review: Excellent and Not So Excellent
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this model because the A-35 was sold out and the A-30 and 35 were getting good reviews on AVSForum (http://avsforum.com), and because I was mistaken about the analog audio outs.
The excellent-- The HD PQ is excellent. My display is a 50" Panasonic plasma that that does not accept 1080p, the conversion to 1080i is really very well done.
Less good-- The SD up conversion is good, but not as good as my Panasonic S-97 is some respects. The Toshiba has less macro blocking in dark scenes, but less detail in better lighted scenes. There are no picture adjustments except for black level (and only via component out). Color, brightness, tint, noise reduction cannot be adjusted.
The not so good--
The new audio formats are only output via HDMI. There are not analog multi-channel outputs for those with HDMI capable receivers. The sound is output as Dolby 5.1 bitsteam via an optical connector. Not so good if your receiver does not have an optical audio input or if its in use.
Load/unload time is long compared to many SD DVD players, but better than the earlier models.
The firmware needs to be updated right out of the box, like it or not. I downloaded and burned a CD using the free program active@ISOBurner from http://www.lsoft.net/products.html. You can also connect the player directly to a broadband internet modem or router and update on-line.
In short the HD PQ is terrific. The SD is good but not top-notch and the lack of analog audio 7.1 is a definite minus. I am pondering returning the it an getting the A-35. But if you don't want or can't use 7.1 high-def audio, then this is a good player for the price.
Digital camera Review: Excellent player...forget Blue-ray
Summary: 4 Stars
You can't beat the price coupled with the 10 free DVD's.
I wanted to wait before choosing a side but I couldn't pass up the deal and I'm glad I jumped.
The picture and sound is outstanding on my Sony Bravia KDL-40V2500 and the DVD upconversion looks MUCH better then my standard def DVD player on the same TV.
Slow start-up loading time is the only thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars but this really is a non-issue and shouldn't make you think twice about this player.
Firmware upgrade actually required a call to Toshiba which went rather quickly...for me I had to adjust a few ports under the players Ethernet tab @ the set-up menu.
Another quick call to CS schooled me on what the optimal resolution setting would be for me given my TV....1080P
Digital camera Review: Excellent product
Summary: 5 Stars
The only "slightly" negative item I can say after owning this product for the last 50 days is that it takes about 30 seconds after turning it on before you can insert a DVD. I don't know why it takes that long, but that's the only thing that could use improvement. Everything else about this player is superb.