Toshiba HD-A35 1080p HD DVD Player by Toshiba
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List Price: Our Price: $239.00 You Save: $60.99 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Toshiba HD-A35 1080p HD DVD Player
Digital camera Review: As the price drops maybe it will be worth the price
Summary: 2 Stars
I purchsed this player along with a Blu-Ray as well. The image and sound quality are great with this unit but load times are unbearable. It takes about 20-3 seconds to power on and start playing a disc if there is one in the drive. If not i have to wait the 20 seconds or so it takes to turn on so i can eject the tray to place the disc in. This may not seem like a long time but when you watch a lot of movies like i do it gets very annoying to have to stand next to the player for so long. The image quality is excellent along with sound. The upconversion is sup par compared to my stand along dvd upconverter so if you are looking for a really good upconverter i would look else ware. Overall, as the price drops this might be worth the investment.Digital camera Review: Awed and very happy !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Before purchasing the A-35 on Amazon I read half of all reviews, both good and bad .The machine is all I could have hoped for ! The regular DVD's are played in awesome detail . I have rented 30% of the HD DVD"S from Hollywood Video and can't get enough . What I don't understand is the negatives I read about the machine regarding,,, waiting , fussiness about playing etc . I must have received an exceptional machine ..... not one problem ! Toshiba has hit a grand slam !Digital camera Review: Awesome !!!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
HD-DVD starts up slow, faster then blu-ray, bet the picture, sound, ease of use make up for the slow start. I can not beleive the picture quality. This is my first Toshiba product but will buy again. Picture quality with regular dvd even better with this player.Digital camera Review: Awesome HD DVD player
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got this one from Amazon today,it got here in 3 days. I ordered it monday night and I chose the free shipping too,so how cool is that for it to come so fast? I immediately did the firmware update which was easy to set up and do. Then proceded to hook it up to my receiver.I chose this model especially for the Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, and Dolby Digital Plus audio decoding through the 5.1 analog outputs that are in the back of the player(not all HD DVD players have these). I just got a new receiver that doesn't decode those formats(the ones that do through HDMI are very expensive),so it's great that I can hear them through the analog inputs to the receiver.
If you want to hear these great audio options,this is easily the least expensive way to go.Make sure your receiver is set to the 5.1 analog option for this to work. You need to do a little homework when getting into these new players and formats for home theater cause nothings worse than spending good money and not getting what you want out of it.So make sure you know how your gonna get your HD audio(by way of HDMI or 5.1 analog) for your 5.1 surround sound system,cause when you do get it hooked up and pop in your first movie,It'll knock your socks off. By the way, it's normal for the Dolby TrueHD audio option to sound not as loud as the regular Dolby Digital your used to. No worries,just turn up your system a little higher and you'll definitely hear the difference.
The video is beautiful and the upconverting of regular dvd's works very well, better than my Sony upconverting player. I like the instruction manual this player comes with too. All the sections are nicely set up and easy to read and understand. It was no problem,as it takes you from the very beginning with a step by step process while explaining what all your options are depending on the set up you have.
Any downsides you ask? Well,it's a little slower than a regular dvd player. It loads up when you first turn it on and when you put in a disc. It has a slight delay when you skip a chapter or pause and play,but this stuff is so minor and insignificant that you start not to notice it at all. And what's with reviewers lowering the scores on dvd players cause the remotes aren't backlit? Who cares? You memorize your buttons in no time anyway so what's the big deal. I only mention this here cause alot of people see this as a downside, but I couldn't care less about a lit remote.
Anyway,this is a great HD DVD player that's got everything you'll ever want or need.It's practically future proofed for the duration of HD DVD.Like I said,it decodes ALL the HD audio formats available and has any number of ways to hook up to your system.And with the unbelievable price that Amazon is offering(it just dropped $10 lower than when I bought it 4 days ago),you can't go wrong with this one.
Update:The same week I bought this player,Amazon began to offer 12 free HD DVD's (5 from Amazon's pre-selected titles,5 from the Toshiba mail in offer and The Bourne Identity and 300 packed in) with this one and a few others.I may have missed it when I bought mine or it began just after but I contacted Amazon's customer service to find out and they decided that I was qualified for their 5 free HD DVD's offer!!! They allowed me to choose them and then reduced the price to nothing.They would otherwise require me to send mine back,refund it,then re-order with the offer but they were cool enough to let me have them this way.Amazon's customer service rocks!!! They are quick to respond and are so good at really listening and trying to help you solve any problem as quickly and easily as possible.I'll never shop anywhere else online. P.S. No,I am not, nor do I know anyone who is affiliated with Amazon.I'm just giving them the credit they deserve.
Digital camera Review: Awesome machine!
Summary: 5 Stars
This machine is simply AWESOME! I got this as a gift for Christmas (from me to me) to accompany my Onkyo SR705 receiver and I love it! I have to admit, at first I was skeptical when watching the first HD DVD movie (Evan Almighty) with my kids because it started to act up part-way through the movie...and this was after the firmware update! After returning the movie back (it was brand new) to get another new copy it worked just fine. Turns out that some of the double-sided HD DVD titles had some manufacturing defects...so folks, just return the movie and NOT the A35. Planet Earth (HD DVD version) is just stunning due to the ability to set the output at 1080p/24 on this model. For newbies, the "24" means 24 frames per second (fps), and most movies and t.v. shows (at least the non-reality ones) are shot originally in this format. This means that you would get playback from the HD-A35 pretty much as the director had intended. Once the final specs of Deep Color (which will take the current color we see from millions to billions of color pixels) finally comes into place, the A35 is ready (and so is the Onkyo and Epson 1080p projector...all HDMI 1.3a compliant). HDi (web and content interactivity) also makes the HD-DVD experience all worthwhile since Blu-Ray is still working out the bugs in this department. In addition to all this, the A35 is probably one of the BEST upconverting DVD players on the market...in my opinion of course as I have not tested the others who "claim" to do this scaling very well. Listen folks, upconverting WILL NOT make your standard DVD's look like HD, NEVER...period, but the A35 does a great job at making them look better!! This is very evident on seeing things at 100+", not necessarily on a 65" or smaller t.v. set.
Don't let me forget to mention the sound. Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 is a very nice compressed sound surround format (much better than the original Dolby Digital 5.1), but Dolby TrueHD lossless format (via HDMI) is the most incredible sound I've ever heard to date (like on V for Vendetta)...thanks to the High Bit Rate Audio capability. However, I still have not experienced the DTS HD Master Audio surround sound format yet, but I know that too is suppose to be awesome. If nothing else, this machine has much more than you'd expect at $299 or less (it was $499 originally)...it's a steal!
Lastly, I know most people don't have/own a 1080p projector, but IF your t.v. is capable of handling 1080p/24, this machine can output it and it is well worth the extra cost above the HD-A3 (not 1080p and lacks future Deep Color support) and HD-A30 (also lacks future Deep Color support) models. Also, if you do NOT have a newer surround sound receiver with HDMI...the A35 has the extra analog outputs for each surround channel and the other two previously mentioned 3rd generation models do not, so be careful in your choosing! As usual, Amazon.com came through for me once again!! Thanks guys!