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: Excellent
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been pleased with this player. It does take a little longer to start up (less than 1 minute) than my old DVD players but the owner's manual explains that this is more like a computer than a DVD player. I can tell a difference with the upconverting although obviously not as good as an HDDVD. I purchased a Toshiba brand again because of the satisfaction I've had with my Toshiba DVD player, I also have a Phillips but the Toshiba was by far my favorite (even though it was several years older). I can recommend purchasing this unit, the only question is the format wars. Viewing the "Planet Earth" series was AMAZING and I couldn't believe the detail in "Shrek 3". I am also impressed with the quality in "Rio Bravo" and "The Searchers", especially with as old as those movies are. The only drawback is when watching an HDDVD it doesn't remember where the movie was stopped, it does on regular DVDs.Digital camera Review: Excellent HD-DVD player and DVD upconverter
Summary: 5 Stars
Of course, everyone knows the format wars are over. I bought two of these Toshiba HD-DVD players knowing that, thus purchased them for a bargain. Since the universality of Blu-Ray discs is not yet 100%,and there are still tons of standard DVDs out there, I find myself occasionally only able to rent from my local movie store titles that are not on Blu-Ray.
The DVDs that I end playing on my system though look pretty good, as they are upconverted to 1080p. On a medium-sized screen (42" LCD), the picture quality is not that far off from Blu-Ray quality. Therefore, for its particular use, the HD-DVD player gets five stars for its utility.
Digital camera Review: Excellent Performer
Summary: 5 Stars
The HD-A35 is outstanding. It starts up relatively quickly for a high definition DVD unit, it offers 1080p and 24 fps options, and most importantly, it is pretty inexpensive compared to Blue-Ray units or even HD-DVD units sold just over a year ago. On a large screen monitor (I project), even standard DVDs play with a clarity not experienced with high end standard DVD players.
I must admit that I bought this unit with a fair amount of concern considering the format wars. With two kids at home, it was no small decision to not buy the Blue-Ray unit and pass up on the access to the Disney library. The overall library for high definition is small, but growing quickly. With the relatively inexpensive price tag, I feel that even if Blue-Ray wins, my investment is not going to be costly.
I am well pleased.
Digital camera Review: Excellent Quality and Price - Better than Blu-Ray
Summary: 5 Stars
I did a lot of research before purchasing an HD DVD player. My decision to go with HD DVD over Blu-Ray was for the following:
-The HD DVD audio codec is more strict than Blu-Ray, so one could assume that HD DVD will produce higher quality TrueHD audio
-Price: The HD DVD player is ½ the price of a comparable Blu-Ray player
-At the time of purchase, Blu-Ray players didn't yet support TrueHD audio
-HD DVD players were outselling Blu-Ray 3 to 1
-Most of the titles that I wanted were on HD DVD and cheaper (avg. $20 ea)
-The DVD consortium backed HD DVD
-The dual/multi layer support for HD DVD means that it can store more data per disk side than Blu-Ray - interesting that Blu-Ray proponents claim the opposite
-The Amazon reviews on the Toshiba players were far better than the Sony/Panasonic Blu-Ray players
Overall, I'm satisfied with this HD DVD player but I suspect that the days of physical media disks for audio/video content are numbered - I fully expect to be downloading most of my 1080p content in a few years (i.e. AppleTV, Netflix, or TiVo downloads). Here are the A35 pros/cons:
Pros:
-Excellent video/audio
-Support for TrueHD direct to your receiver via HDMI
-1080p, deep color, and CEC support
-Great price $260 - expect to pay 100% more for a comparable Blu-Ray player
-Ethernet support; auto updates
Cons:
-Doesn't remember/bookmark disk location when you turn on/off player
-Startup time is slow - about 30 seconds. It takes 45 seconds to eject a disk
-Warners Bros recently announces exclusive support for Blu-Ray - not sure what this means for HD DVD but at 1/2 the price and better consumer reviews, HD DVD is the clear winner for me
Digital camera Review: Excellent player fo HD-DVD titles.
Summary: 5 Stars
This player works as advertised. No discs have caused isues so far. You absolutely MUST do the firmware updates though. I used the built-in Ethernet port for this, and it worked exactly as described. It's a shame HD-DVD seems to be losing ground, because I prefer this player over my Panasonic BD-30 Blu-Ray player by far. For best results, you probably want a receiver that can handle the higher end HDMI 1.3 and associated sound formats.