Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player

The Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player is an entry-level player aimed at expanding the market penetration of HD DVD beyond the enthusiast and gaming crowds. I think it will succeed, but not without some growing pains. The output is 720p and 1080i, NO 1080p. Look to the HD-XA2 for that.

The player is handsome, in black and silver. It looks like a DVD player of a few years ago. Use is simple, just like any DVD player. The boot-up time is about 30 seconds, and loading time is scarcely longer than any DVD player. Picture quality can be stunning, if the source material, and the playback equipment is good enough. "BBC Planet Earth" is fabulous, for instance. Sound quality is also surprisingly good, and is better than my previous player, an Oppo 971H.

I had to buy new 24 gauge HDMI cables for this player to reach 27 feet to my front projector without the dreaded sparkles. This is a warning to front projector users: This player does not drive the HDMI cable as well as the Oppo, and length could be a problem. For the typical 6 foot run to a big screen TV, there is no issue.

The audio output is optical ONLY, no coaxial audio. That is a real travesty. They should have deleted the composite video output instead, if money was so tight. There is also no 5.1 audio. I was able to swap the optical audio connection with my TV tuner, which has both coax and optical outputs. Buyers should beware of the limited connectivity. I think that was a poor place to scrimp in the design.

Finally, The upscaling of DVDs only works with anamorphic widescreen DVDs. If you have one of the widescreen formats that is not anamorphic, the player will produce a smaller image with a black border all around. You will need an outboard scaler in your PJ, TV, or rack to correct this. I keep the Oppo around for those discs.

In summary, you can get into HD DVD for the least amount of money ever right now. The player is a best value at this time. If you want more player, 1080p, and more connectivity, look at the HD-XA2.

We bought this player about a week ago and have been blown away ever since. The high def quality is incredible. We bought a couple HD DVDs of titles we already owned, I was very dubious of the cost duplicating something we already owned. With that said the quality of the picture was astounding and the sound was extraordinary. I would sell my entire DVD collection if they were out in HD. Now that is saying something.

I feel about High def the same way I felt the I first watched a DVD. Before DVDs I had a collection of movies on VHS, after HD I won't be buying the regular DVDs if the HD is available.

We didn't choose a side the Toshiba HD A2 was the first affordable HD player of either brand. The HD DVDs are cheap, near the same cost we were paying for a normal DVDs. Amazon has plenty of titles and Sams Club had a few of the newer DVDs as well.
+ we are getting 5 free HD DVDs, of titles we actually like!

The picture provided puts our old 1080i upprocessing player to shame. Seriously the upprocessing on the HD A2 looks very close to high def, we can tell the difference but the picture quality for regular DVDs is remarkable.

Good points: the Player was easy to set up and easy to use. No harder than a setting up a normal DVD player or one with HDMI output.
It Played HD DVDs perfectly and upprocessed the regular DVDs remarkably.
The sound quality of HD was noticeable on the first DVD we watched.

The only down sides we've found is:
1. there was no HDMI cable included with the player, seriously who is buying a HD play and is not going to hook it up a HD TV?
2. The players firmware update. Ours played great right out of the box with no problems. But we did run an update over the weekend, took about 20-30 minutes.
3. Slow start up, it's not much,apparently all high def players do this no matter who's DVD they play.

A quick word about the HD format war, We are well aware of it and put off buying a player because of it. The Toshiba HD A2 was the first player to enter our price range and the price of the DVDs didn't scare us as bad.

But the coming of cheap high def dual format players is right around the corner, as is the availability of DVD drives making computers capable of playing both dvds.
The war is over, both companies need to realize this and turn their swords into profit shares. There is not only room but a market for both formats. VHS, LP, tapes, Laserdiscs are still haunting our collections. Keep this fighting up and guess what; the consumers are going to find a way around you.
It is already starting to happen with dual format players and HD DVDs that can play on either companies player. The next step is someone developing a way transfer format one to the other. Or the consumers forgoing your products and going to direct digital downloads instead of buying a hardcopy. My family is not ready for that day yet and we are perfectly happy with our new player and the DVDs available, but the day is coming.

All I can say is, holy cow! I purchased this after reading some of the pitfalls and problems of the Sony developed Blu-Ray technology. This player can be summed up in a word, "WOW". Now I've seen HD images on HD-TV's and broadcasts, and while they looked really sharp I didn't jump on the HD train. When Amazon dropped the price to less than $240 I toyed with the idea of upgrading to high def. I finally bought it and was fully ready to send it back if it didn't live up to my expectations. When I connected it to my Infocus DLP projector and saw the opening sequence of 300 in all it's high-def glory, I audibly said "I guess I'm keeping it". I never realized how sharp the picture could be and for that matter how muted regular DVD's are compared to this. Granted this unit does take about 30 seconds to a minute to "boot" but I can't really say a bad thing about it! I highly recommend this to anyone wanting a hi-def image with out the large price tag of Blu-Ray or some of the higher end HD-DVD players.

I've had my player for about a month now and am very pleased thus far. I've watched about 10 movies in HD and they all looked great. Even older ones like Goodfellas & Purple Rain looked better than the standard versions. If you watch a more recent title like Blood Diamond or Hot Fuzz you really notice the clarity of the picture. The scenery in BD looked fabulous in HD. I also like the idea of having all the xtras on one disc. Hot Fuzz has 3+ hrs of xtras alone!! If your not ready to spend more to get a Blu-Ray player then this is a good introductory product for the HD market. Enjoy!!

I wanted an HD DVD Player for cheap, but I also wanted Component *and* HDMI, as well as DVD up-convert. This Player has it all. My TV is a 720p DLP, so the lack of a 1080p option didnt effect me, but it might be something to think about if you have a 1080p capable HDTV. This Toshiba does have 1080i just not 1080p. It is fairly slow at loading but Im not pressed, so it got all 5 stars. Picture and sound quality is amazing. Now lets hope the HD DVD selection of movies starts to take off. Great player for the price. Recommended for those on a budget. -The 480p playback of regular DVDs is a good option for me as well.