Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba HD-XA2 1080p HD-DVD Player

I'love movies.That's the reason of video for me:Beta,VHS,Super and ED Beta(Thanks Sony for the let go),Super VHS,8mm,Hi8mm ,and my venerable favorite:Laserdisc.
When High Definition was announced I felt great.
Then 2 sytems jumped into the Arena.
Talks and understanding was expected,but after a short time everything fade away.Arrogancy and migthy power came to be.
Toshiba,almost by itself gave birth to the first HD-DVD machine(XDXA1).Besides some minor problems everybody agree:the image was breathtaking.After that,Sony,and the rest of the bluray camp say they were more,they had more films(which is important),that meant:Electronic giants,and movie studios by the dozen;it wasn't about quality anymore it was about POWER.It looked like David against Goliath.
I'm so pleased with my TOSHIBA HD-XA2.It gives you a beautiful HD picture,so transparent almost three dimensional;it has the best upconversion for regular DVD's that let you revisit your "old collection";onboard decoding of the new multichannel Dolby Digital Plus,and Dolby True HD;even the elegant remote control is backlighted,contrary to what some people say.I thank TOSHIBA for this fine,elegant,simple machine at a very decent price,that in spite of some minor quirks it's "NUMERO 1",and second to none.
The other camp of blurays attack by saying they won the war("It'll be over by Christmas").Well I don't know about that.Who knows?.Maybe in the near future I'll be receiving My High Def.throw the internet.In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy my old favorite 70mm films like :"Grand Prix","BEN HUR","Mutiny on the Bounty","Battle of the Bulge",and other classics like "CASABLANCA",and the new "KING KONG" in pristine HD-DVD,and the"others",I'll just upconvert them in a decent manner.
Thanks Toshiba for a wonderful ride!

This player is as good if not better than the hype. The DVD upconversion on this player is as good as it gets. I had a Denon 2930 DVD player, that I returned once I heard about this one. Same quality for DVD playback, same price AND the XA-2 plays HD DVD!

In my opinion, this is a no brainer if you are in the market for a top notch DVD player. The HD DVD is a bonus and once you watch HD DVD you will be hooked. Trust me on that one!

The set up is very easy and every time I turn the player on I am amazed at how good this thing is. Definitely well worth it and I am glad I was convinced to get this player.

I have held off on writing a review until having had the XA2 for a few months, to give it a fair trial. During this time, I have applied 2 firmware upgrades and played countless discs including HD DVDs, SD DVDs, and CDs. Overall, I have to rate this product as outstanding. The delivered picture quality is far better than any other source device I have yet to see with HD DVD, and is the best of any DVD player I have yet used or demo'd. If you have a screen larger than 50" or so, you really need to use high-def media to get the most out of your investment, and the XA2 delivers with stunning clarity and color depth. The sound quality delivered by this player is equally top-notch, particularly when playing HD DVDs encoded with TrueHD.

I have observed some oddities that don't affect normal operation watching DVDs, but aren't quite right. 1) Occasionally, about 20 seconds after the initial start-up sequence has completed, the picture will briefly blank and return. I assume this is due to an HDMI handshaking delay. 2) The use of bass management with the analog outputs requires firmware 1.6 or later, and requires that the SPDIF output be set to 'PCM'. 3) Occasionally, the unit will decide that it can't read audio CDs; powering down and back up solves the problem. Each of these quirks really shouldn't be in a product at this level, but do not impact the core functionality in a way that lessens the impact of the incredible quality of the sound and video of HD DVDs.

For reference perspective, I am using the analog 5.1 outputs for audio and the HDMI connection for video; display is a JVC RS-1 projector (1080p) onto a 100" screen.

I got this player a month ago and have been enjoying it very much. The picture and sound quality of this player is great! Complaints about the slow boot-up seems exaggeration to me. The player boot-ups pretty fast (less than a minute). I would give the picture quality of this player a 10 and that of the Sony Blu-ray, which I also own, an 8. If you have a full-HD TV (1080p), this player is worth the money for home entertainment.

I highly reccomend this player. Fantastic picture and sound quality and the 5.1 input are great for hooking up with receivers that don't have HDMI.