Home > Consumer Reviews > Toshiba HD-A35 1080p HD DVD Player

Toshiba HD-A35 1080p HD DVD Player Yes, startup is a little slow (or I would have given 5 stars), but the quality and performance are flawless on my unit. Even if the HD-DVD format is being dropped by many, I find Toshiba's HD-A35 unit is superior to any Blu-Ray player available today. There is simply no comparison in quality. The disc prices will likely drop soon and I will add more movie titles to my library. In the future, I plan to purchase a Blu-Ray player, but I'll wait until the technology and quality are higher and the pricing is lower.

As far as audio and video quality most 1080p HD players (including Blu-ray) produce exceptional results. This player does indeed produce a spectacular picture (the SD upconversion is pretty amazing) and wonderful sounding audio. However, this player, and HD DVD in general, has many capabilities that are unmatched by Blu-ray and HD DVD players are less expensive to own! The SD DVD upconversion on this player is pretty remarkable and is an improvement over the other HD DVD players and all Blu-ray players, especially over the latest Samsung HD DVD/Blu-ray player.... aweful HD upconversion. In addition, this player has PIP capabilities, dynamic menus, web-enabled ability and is easilly upgradeable. That's something that you can't say about a single Blu-ray player.... and it's a fraction of the cost. It also supports deep color , CEC and direct digital audio output so your DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD receiver can do the audio decoding. This is the most feature rich player on the market and it's cheaper than any less capable Blu-ray player.

Make a smart decision and buy this player or the HD-A30 (if you don't need direct digital audio). Blu-ray has 20GB's of extra storage on a disc... big deal you can always put additional bonus features on another disc. It's much harder to enable Blu-ray players to have the interactive menus, web-enabled features and upgradability that all HD DVD players have and have had since they were first released. With Blu-ray you pay more and get less.

The HD-A35 is outstanding. It starts up relatively quickly for a high definition DVD unit, it offers 1080p and 24 fps options, and most importantly, it is pretty inexpensive compared to Blue-Ray units or even HD-DVD units sold just over a year ago. On a large screen monitor (I project), even standard DVDs play with a clarity not experienced with high end standard DVD players.

I must admit that I bought this unit with a fair amount of concern considering the format wars. With two kids at home, it was no small decision to not buy the Blue-Ray unit and pass up on the access to the Disney library. The overall library for high definition is small, but growing quickly. With the relatively inexpensive price tag, I feel that even if Blue-Ray wins, my investment is not going to be costly.

I am well pleased.

I bought this model from Amazon for under $390, final price. The player came within a week of order even though I took the no cost shipping. My wife who is not the least bit technically skilled, connected it to our audio and video system. I am not using the HDMI as I am still waiting on the Samsung 52in LCD tv (LNT5271F) to fall to my price range of $2500. We used the existing component video cables connected directly to my Toshiba 46 inch rear projection tv with 1080i and 720p. She connected the to the amplifier using the optical audio cable, followed the on-screen prompt and configured the system.

When I got home I played Planet Earth, breathtaking pictures and the quality of the picture was great. The picture quality was better than I have seen on HD cable provided shows but not as I have seen in the stores. This may be due to the fact that I am not at 1080p, this is to be expected as 1080p is only available via the HDMI.

Ease of setup- 10/10

I have one gnawing problem, one is tempted to push in the tray, that is a big NO, NO, one must use the button on the remote or the unit. Still not a big hassle.
Start up time to watch video is just under 30 seconds, but is unnoticeable.
The use of the remote is straight forward but lacks background light. Toshiba needs to fix this.

Ease of use 8/10

Picture quality, audio effectiveness I will put on hold until I complete the build out. Replacing my amplifier for one with an HDMI input and output and the television.

I watched the movies flawlessly. No image drag. I watched standard dvd, improved picture quality, again no ill effects. I watched the HD provided Bourne Supremacy and compared it to the standard version. Upscaling was not noticeable.

All in all I am very pleased with the purchase especially getting the top of the line unit below $400.

I have one major drawback with the unit though. In todays WIFI age, I am disappointed that Toshiba did not provide an internal card or a USB port to readily support wireless internet adapters. I am now hunting down a wireless adapter that I can use instead of an ethernet cable as my audio video equipment is not located near any of my existing internet cable ports.

The price should only fall with the Christmas price push.

I was going back and forth between the XA2 and the A35 after doing some review searching i went for the A35 worth the money think it upconverts just as well as the XA2 and saved some money doing so load times are pretty quick compared to Toshiba`s older HD players picture is crystal clear. Most important thing to look for in any HD equipment these days is to make sure it has a 1.3 HDMI hookup for the best vedio and audio to be passed through a single HDMI cable have it hooked up to a ONKYO TX-SR605 receiver and a Toshiba 65 inch DLP TV only thing i can say is AMAZING