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Toshiba HD-A35 1080p HD DVD Player
See it at Amazon.com for $324.99Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share3 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Not a single HD DVD played without error
(1 out of 5) by J. Prince on Feb 16, 2008 (Atlanta, GA)I recieved this A-35 as an early Christmas gift, it has turned out to be an (almost) complete disappointment. It plays my CDs and regular DVDs well, but freezes up during every HD DVD I have tried (10+). I have the latest firmware, the discs were brand new and I even "cleaned" them upon noticing the problem, but it didn't seem to help. I have tried for almost 2 months now. I should have returned it to the store, but I had already cut off the UPC code to get the 5 free movies.
Toshiba has suggested unplugging it and plugging it back in. That didn't help. Regardless of the format war, etc.. this is a product I would not try again. In an effort to be format neutral, I chose the A-35 over the other models because I have a new AV receiver that will decode the high def audio codecs. When it works, it looks/sounds great. But having it freeze up in the middle of a movie, overshadows any of its good qualities.
From my casual research, Toshiba seems to be plagued with quality control issues when it comes to most of their HD DVD players. If the price of this player falls below the amount of money you would be willing to spend on a potentially faulty piece of AV equipment, then go for it. More specifically, if the price is below an upconverting DVD player, get it. Otherwise, spend your money on a blu ray player.
UPDATE: I would now rate it 4 stars. I have since upgraded to FW 2.0. It fixed the problem and my HD DVDs are now able to play. I have not checked Transformers (an MPEG-4) yet to see if it produces the "jaggies" on my 24 fps TV, but either way I am now pleased with the product now that it plays the discs. I can't give it 5 stars since I had so much trouble with it in the beginning.
Toshiba has suggested unplugging it and plugging it back in. That didn't help. Regardless of the format war, etc.. this is a product I would not try again. In an effort to be format neutral, I chose the A-35 over the other models because I have a new AV receiver that will decode the high def audio codecs. When it works, it looks/sounds great. But having it freeze up in the middle of a movie, overshadows any of its good qualities.
From my casual research, Toshiba seems to be plagued with quality control issues when it comes to most of their HD DVD players. If the price of this player falls below the amount of money you would be willing to spend on a potentially faulty piece of AV equipment, then go for it. More specifically, if the price is below an upconverting DVD player, get it. Otherwise, spend your money on a blu ray player.
UPDATE: I would now rate it 4 stars. I have since upgraded to FW 2.0. It fixed the problem and my HD DVDs are now able to play. I have not checked Transformers (an MPEG-4) yet to see if it produces the "jaggies" on my 24 fps TV, but either way I am now pleased with the product now that it plays the discs. I can't give it 5 stars since I had so much trouble with it in the beginning.
1 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
On the Boulevard of High Def Broken Dreams
(3 out of 5) by Lawrence A. Kurfiss on Feb 18, 2008 (Seattle, WA United States)In late December I bought this player and the 42" Toshiba 1080p Rezga LCD. The TV is absolutely superb, and the HD-A35 plays all DVD's very nicely, although the warmup time is much too long.
Now, however, the HD-DVD format is DEAD, and those of us who bought it are SCREWED. I thought it would all turn out like a replay of Betamax vs VHS, with Sony losing again, but I was WRONG! Oh well, that's what makes horse racing so much fun.
The player does play all DVD's as well as they can possibly be rendered, so I will keep it for that, but I won't be investing in any more new-tech
video stuff untill the format is universal, and the Chinese are cranking out good BluRay players or whatever comes next, for $39.95 or less.
OW!
Now, however, the HD-DVD format is DEAD, and those of us who bought it are SCREWED. I thought it would all turn out like a replay of Betamax vs VHS, with Sony losing again, but I was WRONG! Oh well, that's what makes horse racing so much fun.
The player does play all DVD's as well as they can possibly be rendered, so I will keep it for that, but I won't be investing in any more new-tech
video stuff untill the format is universal, and the Chinese are cranking out good BluRay players or whatever comes next, for $39.95 or less.
OW!
1 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
Great Player, unfortunately a dead format...
(3 out of 5) by A. Northrup on Feb 17, 2008 (Pittsford, NY United States)I bought this in Dec '07. The player works flawlessly on the HD DVDs I have. Color and sound are fantastic (using HDMI 1.3a.) Load times are somewhat slow compared to your standard DVD player - it can take up to 1-2 minutes to start playing the HD DVD. The features on the HD DVDs vary by the group that produced it - some have lots of cool features - while others offer little more than an upgraded movie transfer.
Unfortunately, the format war is over and HD DVD has lost - Warner dropped them and will go Blu-Ray exclusive in the first half of this year. Only two stuidos left in the HD DVD camp... Walmart has also stated they will drop selling HD DVD by June. When Walmart stops selling your product - might as well call it day... Taking two stars off for this reason. There will be some good deals on HD DVD movies coming up.
Unfortunately, the format war is over and HD DVD has lost - Warner dropped them and will go Blu-Ray exclusive in the first half of this year. Only two stuidos left in the HD DVD camp... Walmart has also stated they will drop selling HD DVD by June. When Walmart stops selling your product - might as well call it day... Taking two stars off for this reason. There will be some good deals on HD DVD movies coming up.
0 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
THE BEST PICTURE AND SOUND BUT TOSHIBA RETIRED THEIR PRODUCTION
(1 out of 5) by Maria Isabel Mantilla on Mar 10, 2008 (Bogota, Colombia)I bought this HD-DVD player only a few months ago... and now Toshiba retired their production, so I think there is not chance to get new titles in this format. Also, the promotion was with 10 FREE DISCS and I never received the last FIVE DISCS , and I sent the form with the ups code in the box... so I am really disappointed
Maria Isabel Mantilla
Maria Isabel Mantilla
0 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
As the price drops maybe it will be worth the price
(2 out of 5) by M. Parola on Jan 13, 2008I purchsed this player along with a Blu-Ray as well. The image and sound quality are great with this unit but load times are unbearable. It takes about 20-3 seconds to power on and start playing a disc if there is one in the drive. If not i have to wait the 20 seconds or so it takes to turn on so i can eject the tray to place the disc in. This may not seem like a long time but when you watch a lot of movies like i do it gets very annoying to have to stand next to the player for so long. The image quality is excellent along with sound. The upconversion is sup par compared to my stand along dvd upconverter so if you are looking for a really good upconverter i would look else ware. Overall, as the price drops this might be worth the investment.