Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player

This HD-DVD player is great. However I don't believe the the 1080p upgrade over the HD-A3 is worth the extra money. If you're debating on which one to buy get the A3 and spend the saved money on your favorite HD-DVD's. Transformers is incredible on this player and the online content is pretty cool.

Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player

I ordered this late Sunday afternoon, it was delivered before noon on Tuesday, and that was with the free "Super Saver" shipping.

The picture provided by this machine is absolutely beautiful on an LG 42" LCD (1080P).
Even regular DVD's have a noticeable improvement due to the up-conversion for standard DVD's.

I have been waiting for a while for HD players to break the $250 pricepoint, and I am glad I waited. I paid $240. The icing on the cake was the included HD DVDs of the movie 300, and Bourne Identity. The additional bonus of 3 HD-DVD's tipped the scales.
I had the chance to get in on a 5 HD-DVD bonus but waited too long. I should have gone ahead with it without my wifes approval, but I waited too long. Oh well, at least is is still peaceful around here.
The extra features on the HD is nice, but I'm not sure I can see a video quality difference between the HD-DVD's and the up converted standard DVDs. (Both are absolutely awesome)

I just purchased the HD-A30 for $153 from amazon. The price was within $25 of the HD-A3 so I figured I'd get the ability to project in 1080P. My tv's are only 720P but I figure I'll upgrade some day and I'll already be prepared. The first thing I did was put in the "Count of Monte Cristo" a dvd that I love but it has a lot of low light scenes and therefore a lot of graininess. Also the color looked a little understated to me when using either my Panasonic S52 upconverting DVD player or my Samsung upconverting DVD player. But when I view this movie with my new HD-A30 it looks like it was shot in HD. The colors are 10 times more vibrant, I can see more texture to object in the movie, and more facial definition and much more natural color. I am so impressed with this dvd player. It really does make your old dvd's look like there HD dvd's. I also but in "Labyrinth" with David Bowie. It's an old 80's movie that I bought at Circuitcity for $5. On my two upconverting DVD players the movie is extremely grainy like it was transferred from an old VHS to dvd. But when I put that same move in my HD-A30 it cleans it up nicely. Most of the graininess is gone and the colors are much improved. It came with the "300" HD dvd in the box. I must confess I was not that impressed. It did look a little better than the standard DVD version that I already have but only a little. I'm much more impressed with this players ability to upconvert standard dvd's. I also put in "Transformers" standard DVD. It looks awesome. I could see details that weren't visible with my other upconverting DVD players. I've order the HD version of "Transformers" from amazon but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm wondering if I've wasted my money. Who needs HD-DVD's(or Blu Ray) when you can upconvert standard DVD's so well that it's hard to tell the difference. I've heard that this isn't even toshiba's best upconverter. The HD-XA2($383 refurbished/$850 new) is supposed to be much better. I can't even imagine it getting better than this. I'm so glad I bought this. I'm thinking of getting another one for my living room. Once my kids seem this there's no way they'll want to watch dvd's with my old upconverting dvd players. In my opinion even if you already have an upconverting dvd player this is worth the investment. It's like getting one of those expensive Denon dvd players for the price of a regular dvd player.

This is such an amazing player. I don't know a whole lot about this HD DVD, Blu Ray battle, but I am impressed with HD DVD so far. I gave this 4 stars because I bought this player right before they lowered the price but it was too late to get the difference in price from Amazon. I paid nearly double what it is currently going for and I'm thinking about buying another one. A great player for $160 with 7 free HD DVDs. If you're in the market for an HD system, this is the player to get. I am using it with a new Toshiba Regza 32" HD TV and I am shocked and amazed at the quality. I don't see any difference between the 720p and 1080p TVs so this is an ideal starter system. Get it!

Despite the reviews about lengthly 'loading' time, I purchased the DVD player. I LOVE IT. I agree that it takes a while to load up a DVD, but when you compare the picture from an HD DVD against a regular DVD on a regluar player, It's worth the extra 15 seconds to load it.