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Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player
Not what I expected. I must say that the picture and sound are really outstanding. (On Samsung 50" 1080p DLP via HDMI and Sony 5.1 DTS receiver via toslink). That said, the operation of the player is very slow (eg. start up and "play"ing of movies as well as forwarding and replaying of scenes). Also had a problem with some DVDs sticking about 3/4 of the way through. I upgraded the software via internet which solved the sticking problem but it seems to be even slower now on "play" starting. The next problem that comes up is the availability of HD DVDs. BBuster store doesnt sell them and neither carries a large rental selection or gets any new movies, although theyre still available in online subscriptions. Wal-mart has decided not to carry also. Bad news! The bottom line is you may have to spend more to get a better device. And the quality difference between either HD format and a good quality regular dvd player (EG upconverting progressive scan), while noticeable when you pay attention to the picture, is lost if you pay attention to the content. I'm glad I got this player for a reasonible price, otherwise I would consider it a complete waste.

i was ver disappointed in the fact that this player doesnt pass the audio in bitstream form for the reciever to decode. perhaps there will be a firmware update for this player that will allow this like a recent one for a previous generation player. picture quality is good however the player is very slow! i own a ps3 and use it as a blu ray player as well as play games. there is no comparison for me as to which player is better. there have been times when the toshiba player froze on me for no apparent reason, so when i grow impatient for the movie to start i have to glance at the player to see if its still alive. the controls fast forward and reverse seem jittery compared to the ps3 blu ray player and the remote feels cheap.
this is the second hd player i owned, the first being an xbox 360 add on pre hdmi. i got rid of it due to the horrific faliure rates of the console before the warranty was extended the first time and went through 3 consoles in 6 months. still im not impressed with the hd dvd player compared to ps3 as a blu ray player.
hopefully toshiba will fix the playback issues as well as the audio output in the near future. if not, i wont be buying another hddvd player. if a movie is available on both formats i will grab the blu version.

It's a very good product if you want to play old dvds.It will upgrade the picture quality. But HD dvds lost the battle to Blue-ray. They are being phased out. Buy one of the new Blue-rays that is upgradable.

Just after watching my favorite program (Nihongo dekimasu) this morning, NHK Newsline started and I was about to turn off the TV when I saw this on the screen: "Toshiba drops HD DVD format". NHK is the most reputable Japanese broadcaster, something like the Japanese equivalent of the BBC, but I still found this hard to believe. So I went online and checked that Reuters, PCWorld, and all reputable sources are reporting the same thing: Toshiba has stopped development of HD DVD. Even Keisuke Ohmori, a spokesman from Toshiba, could not deny this fact.

This is a sad day for me because I was rooting for HD DVD. Until yesterday, I really hoped it would survive as a niche format, just like the Mac has done. I was even planning to buy the XBOX-360 add-on and connect it to my PC. However, I feel relieved that I didn't do it.

I know this is NOT a review of the product. It is just a sad warning that right now, you should avoid buying ANY next-gen format player, even Blu-ray players, which become partly obsolete each time $ony releases a new version of the technology.

People read reviews not only to get more info about a certain product, but to know more about its underlying technology, compatibility, future development, etc. From what I've found, only a very small fraction of the population have a clue about what's going on. Most still think that DVD is the latest technology, and that any 12cm optical drive should play any 12cm optical disk. They simply can't figure out what's the difference between formats, and there is simply no other way they could be informed about this except reading a warning in a conspicuous place. CNET acted with responsibility by posting a warning on their HD DVD player reviews, but Amazon hasn't followed suit. So, I felt it was my responsibility to post this breaking news right here, in the review section.

It is sad that HD DVD, which was more affordable, and had more complete specs, is now officially dead. I hate Sony for winning this time... I'm sure they must have used their deep pockets to bribe Warner. Now, prepare for a complete takeover of draconian DRM (that is, not being able to make backups), courtesy of Sony, over all your new movie discs, and for repeated double-dipping as they release and re-release their movies time and again in order to take advantage of the latest "profile". In fact, "The Fifth Element" has already had two Blu-ray releases. Yes, you read it right, it has already been released in an updated form, less than 2 years after the original release. This has happened to regular DVD before and is happening again in Hi-Def.

I'll give you one more example of the importance of waiting and carefully studying the situation before jumping into a new technology: Right now there are DVD discs out there which have surround sound only in DTS, and use Dolby for the 2.1 "mandatory" track. Those of us who bought "Home Theater in a box" systems back in 2004, a time when DTS was not integrated into most players, are now left with partly obsolete systems, and which are not upgradeable as they have no digital audio inputs. Don't let this happen to you with new formats. Wait a little bit.

By the way, I don't own any console (I play on the PC) or next-gen format player/discs: My projector is only 480p, and all of my movie collection is in good old standard DVD. Don't believe me? Check my reviews and my recent purchases.

I hope this post was helpful. Remember, patience pays off.

>> Update: Amazon has finally posted a "product alert" on this issue.

We are not sure if this is a defective product, or if the lack of responsiveness and annoying delays in function selection is normal. We only can say time will tell on this one, but it looks like it will be off to the shop soon.