Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player

I've only had this thing for a couple of days, and have been absolutely blown away by the video and audio quality of the two HD-DVD movies I've watched thus far: Sahara and Goodfellas. Both the picture and the sound (when the player is properly connected and properly set up) are far superior to that of DVD when viewed on a high-definition TV. For video, I set the output to HDMI and the resolution to 1080i (even though my TV is an older 720p model). A supplemental sheet that comes with the manual recommends that, for HD-DVD discs, the resolution be set to the native format of the disc rather than that of the TV. Every HD-DVD I've read about thus far is encoded at 1080-line resolution, so I set the player at 1080i. I haven't yet noticed anything in the manual regarding what to do for regular DVDs, so I experimented a bit and concluded that 1080i is the best setting for DVDs as well. Thus, I set the thing at a resolution of 1080i and plan to leave it there. I connected the player to my TV's DVI input using an HDMI-to-DVI adapter, then connected the six analog 5.1 audio outputs on the back of the player to the analog 5.1 inputs on my stereo receiver, then calibrated the audio for speaker size and distance using the "Setup" feature. Note: The owner's manual doesn't mention that the "Setup" button is hidden under a sliding panel on the lower end of the remote control. My only complaint is that the remote control is an un-backlit version of the backlit remote that comes with the more expensive HD-XA1 player offered by Toshiba. The only way I can read it is with a flashlight. Fortunately, once I got things figured out, I found that I really only need to use a few key buttons, the positions of which are easily memorized. Also, there ought to be a label on the sliding panel that hides the setup button. The menu of an HD-DVD disc can be accessed and operated while the movie is playing. This is much cooler than it sounds. The features that can be operated from the menu are much more sophisticated than those on a regular DVD. Picture quality is phenomenal, even on my 42" 720p LCD rear-projection TV (a 3-year-old model that's already antiquated). It's obvious that HD-DVD is designed to be optimatlly viewed on a high-quality big-screen 1080-line TV (at least 60") in order to achieve a true home-cinema experience. I calculated that the ideal TV for my living room (viewing distance = 12 feet) would be a 65" screen with 1080-line resolution. The picture quality is even better than what I get from HD satellite and broadcast channels. I could detect no video-compression artifacts in either of the HD-DVDs that I've watched thus far, even in scenes with lots of complex high-speed motion. In addition to extreme picture clarity, HD-DVD offers a very noticeable improvement in color gamut over DVD. Watch an HD movie, and you'll see real-world colors you've never seen on TV before. Once I switched back to watching a regular DVD, the color seemed a bit phony-looking. What really caught me by surprise was the quality of the sound when using the Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack. Right now, the only way to listen to the DD+ soundtrack in its pure form is to connect to the analog 5.1 outputs on the back of the player, which involves a bit of extra cabling. It's well worth the trouble, however. DD+ apparently allows the use of a much lower compression ratio than ordinary DD or DTS. The surround effects are much more like those you'll hear in a good theater, and the realism and clarity of the sounds is absolutely electrifying. You can, alternatively, connect to your receiver via digital optical cable, in which case the DD+ track gets converted to ordinary DTS (possibly losing some of its quality in the process). We're in the midst of the TV Revloution, with a combination of new display technologies, new audio/video formats, and new audio/video media. The biggest problem has been the scarcity of HD material to watch on your HD television, and the lack of pre-recorded HD media (the obscure D-VHS format having been the only option until now). It will probably be quite some time before a sizeable portion of the cable/satellite/broadcast universe converts to HD. Even the local ATSC digital terrestrial broadcasts in my area are still standard definition much of the time, and my HD satellite programming package only provides me with 3 full-time HD channels and 3 channels that are mixed HD/SD. HD-DVD and BluRay discs could enable people to gain access to a lot of high-quality HD material while we wait for the cable/satellite/broadcast industry to catch up. After that, HD discs will be able to fulfill the same function that DVDs and VHS tapes currently provide, enabling you to own or rent a wide variety of programming for viewing at your convenience. Now that I've watched a couple of HD-DVDs on my HDTV, I may never want to buy or rent a regular DVD again (even though, admittedly, the HD-A1 does a very nice job of playing regular DVDs). Sales of HD players and discs could also drive sales of big-screen 1080-line TVs as well, as this is the only type of TV that would enable the home-theater enthusiast to really take full advantage of what HD-DVD and (theoretically) BluRay have to offer. Read more

From the very beginning, even before Blue Ray was announced, It made sense that the name for the next generation DVD would be HD DVD!. When I bought my TOSHIBA HD-A1 player, I was totally convinced I had made the right choice. Having been a part-time film projectionist and film collector before DVD was born, I have always watched my movies on a BIG screen. With the Toshiba HD-A1, and my OPTOMA HD76 projector, I am projecting on a 10x5 foot PANAVISION screen, and the image is comparable to a superb 35mm print and almost reaches 70mm quality. It definetly surpases Super 8mm and 16mm film quality.The sound quality is at least as good if not better than present day DTS. Being the first player of its kind on the market, it is not so overpriced, (Remember the prices of the early DVD players were $300-$400, ten years ago). All the reviews about how big and heavy it is, and how slow it is in loading the discs, they are insignificant when the projector iluminates the screen, and I forget where I am, other than in a pure CINEMATIC experience!. The TOSHIBA HD-A1 is a heavy-duty DVD player. I now own a SONY BDP-S1 Bluray player. It was worth the wait. This is a well built machine, very similar to the TOSHIBA in quality and workmanship. It has added features such as customized video controls (color, brightness, hue, etc). The quality of the Blue-ray movies is just as good as the HDDVD discs. The early reports of substandard picture quality may have been due to the first SAMSUNG Blueray players which had some bugs which were resolved with a recent firmare update.I have also tested the SAMSUNG player, and it has excellent picture and sound quality, but I preferred the SONY because of its better built frame and features, and thus, the higher price.Regarding the uncompressed PCM 5.1 channel sound option in the Blueray movies, if you can connect the SONY player to your receiver via 6 channel individual RCA connectors, you will enjoy the most spectacular sound. Humberto Martrinez, Coral Gables, Florida Read more

I returned this player because of frequent lock ups and other technical limitations. I saw what I wanted to see: a few nice pictures here and there when the player didn't take almost 2 minutes to load the movie. Some of the HD-DVD movies weren't noticeably better than the DVD. I just couldn't see keeping this player when the format is doomed to die. I don't feel like making two different collections of incompatable movies also!! I'm going with Blu Ray since Blu Ray is not only superior, Blu Ray has the support of 90% of the studios and soon 100% of the studios, plus 50GB Blu Ray discs will ensure the highest quality on long movies such as Lord of the Rings. Blu Ray has more bandwidth, much more storage (will have 100 and 200 GB discs in a couple years). There are also other technical advantages in terms of bandwidth available to both audio and video. Further, the Blu Ray players are coming in at 2.0X with further increases coming. HD-DVD is just too limited and already had shortcomings that cannot be overcome in the future. HD-DVD is DOA!! I urge early adopters to have self control and support only one format. Blu Ray will win, and rightfully so, it is the superior quality format. Read more