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

I had the XBOX 360 HD DVD add on and it performed well. My only complaint was that with the component connections, the best resolution anyone can possibly get for standard DVDs is 480p. HD DVDs were displayed on my Pioneer plasma @ 1080p. I waited a while for the newer generations of HD DVD players to come out before taking the dive into Toshiba. I can recommend the HD-A35 without ANY reservations. HD DVDs are displayed @ 1080p as are standard DVDs...and they look GREAT! Boot up time for the machine is a little slower than for the XBOX, but with the quality and max resolution (1080P), it's more than worth it! Go out and get it!

HD-DVD A-35 player hook up was very easy to my Toshiba 42HL167 TV. Plugged in the HDMI plugs, TV to Player and then plugged in AC plug. I made sure per the Toshiba support person instructions that TV was on and correct Input was clicked on before I turned on the player. It did fire up and I ran the setup which was easy and put 1st HD-DVD and all appeared good. Since I am using this as a 2nd player and just as a DVD movie player there was not much to do on setup. I am using a Yamaha YSP 800 sound bar and the YSP FSW-100 subwoofer. With an optical sound hookup from TV to Soundbar and all appears to be working fine with a minimum of hookup and setup work. I wanted something with a good picture and a beefier sound than regular TV speakers offered. The A-35 does has a 35 second boot up time more than other players I have used but not a big deal. On 1080p/24 I watched AVP (Predator/Alien Movie standard DVD) it looked great. I then watched The King Kong standard DVD and it was super. I really like the upscaling as it appears that all my standard DVDs are looking good. I have read other reviews that also said there is not much difference Between the HD and Standard DVD viewing. This was true as the Bourne Identity HD Promo disc that came with player and my Bourne Identity standard DVD had the same clarity, This will save me replacement money. It also played my DVD-R copied movies recorded and finalized with a Panasonic recorder.

Straddling the HD vs Blu-Ray fence was getting a bit painful; I'd made the plunge; bought an upconverting Sony DVD player, upgraded my television to a 1080p LCD, migrated my cable DVR to HD and bought a new upconverting receiver which supported HDMI...but I couldn't get off the fence on which hi-def format to buy. Unlike many a PS3 gamers who had the choice ready made for them - my concern was not so much quality or quantity - but video selection. What good did moving one way or another mean if my videos were not going to be available on the format I chose.

So, while many are waiting out Lucas to see if he'll push Star Wars out on Blu-Ray only....my decision on format centered around two words: Star Trek. ...and for good measure one more word: Serenity.

With the decision on format made, the easier choice seemed to be which player to buy. Armed with a list of the top web-based reviews and customer comments - I did some visual inspections at local stores and settled quickly on the Toshiba series of players; I was fortunate in that the A3, A30 and A35 were being sold at all the major stores - with a variety of display setups. So with my wife and children distracting the ever so annoying salespersons - I could power on/off, adjust, control and in general manipulate the players until caught or someone bigger took the remote away.

With the visuals still fresh in my mind, I again searched the web and against my normal practise - decided on the Toshiba A35 at Amazon. I usually don't buy electronics on-line - I like having store to return my product to if it's DOA. However, Amazon's special, including price, free S/H and 10 free DVDs was too good to pass up (saved over $150 off of local prices).

Once I received the player, as recommended by various posts - I checked the firmware version (1.1), connected my ethernet cable and easily updated my firmware (3.1); took about 35 minutes - with no problems...though the extra 15 minutes while the unit flashed red lights and stayed on step 4/4 paused my heart until if found the note about that being normal. Why temp fate - upgrades are there for a reason.

Having ran the gambit of disks (HD and SD) at the local stores, remind me to buy my kids some ice cream for the distractions they created, I knew how good the unit handled both upconversion and produces true HD quality pictures...however, setting it up on my own system was the real test.

Out of the box (and afore mentioned firmware update) the A35 came through. Amazing really how much better it looked - while not a true side-by-side comparison, I switched between both the HD 300 and Bourne Identity that came in the box and the standard DVDs I had on hand of those movies and could easily tell the difference between upconverting and HD. If you sit 3 feet away while setting the unit up, you too can see every tone change, smudged detail and loss of focus.

Since my receiver only passes-through 1080i, I even went so far as to hook the A35 directly to my LCD (1080p) and could, especially in the action shots, could pick out details different between "i" and "p."

Having never seen the XA2 I can't comment on the loss of the Reon HQV Chip, but since the upconverting of A35 matched or exceeded the older Sony I was using - it's not a point worth pursuing.

I also don't see the "wait" problem, mentioned by other reviewers as that big of a problem either - Yes, it's a bit longer than a standard DVD player...but not so long that it would cause me to return the player.

So, after an easy initial setup, and having run the unit through both HD and SD DVD for picture - I sat down and listened. While video quality is paramount...I also like to hear the bullets (or birds if that's your preference) wiz by over head - and the A35 came through again. Sound quality is OUTSTANDING. DTS, 5.1 sound and the Dialog Enhancement features really perform and add to the over all quality of the A35.

Though only recently having received the player, I've found the move to HD has been made rather painless by the Toshiba HD A35 and Amazon.com.

After having sat on the fence trying to decide on a blu-ray or HD-DVD player, I finally took the plunge.....and certainly believe i have made the right choice.....for me.

There will be those who are pro blu-ray and pro hd-dvd, but I entered into this impartially and with an open mind. I have no interest in a PC based burner or using the devide on a PC, so it came down to which standalone player would be the best choice.....the winner was HD-DVD.

From day one, the specification for HD-DVD has been set in concrete, and any changes MUST be backward compatible...not so with blu-ray of which recent changes have made gen 1 players unable to play content on newer discs. Technically, both offer the same - 1080p and super-high bitrate uncompressed digital audio. Studio support is at this point still better for blu-ray, but I think that will change.

As for the player itself, it is amazing! Very lightweight compared to previous models, as now most of the custom boards and buckets of IC's are now built into a handful of custom ICs that do the lot. The transport is smooth and fast, with most discs booting up into menu in around 30 seconds from the moment the tray is closed. Picture and sound are superb, and the remote layout is excellent - although a backlight on the remote would have been a welcome addition.

There are plenty of connections available to the user - including a HDMI 1.3, component, analog stereo and analog 5.1 ch outputs as well as s-video and composite and digtal audio outputs.

I am now hooked on HD video - very hard to go back to standard dvd - even when used in upscaling mode, the quality of standard definition is now so poor in comparison.

If you have been sitting on the fence - jump off and get one - you'll love it :)

HD-DVD dead? Not my collection of 45 movies. Even if I would have known that the format was dead, I didn't, when i bought it I would still have bought this player. HD-DVD movies are cheap, the good ones are released in both formats anyway, and there is a good selection of exclusives (Heroes, Transformers, BSG, Bourne Trilogy, Matrix Trilogy, The Island (gotta get it from amazon.uk) Knocked Up, Star Trek, and many others).

Also HD-DVD got it right from the start when it comes to next gen HD movies. Firmware update capable players via ethernet (Blu-Ray can't until Profile 2.0 not out until X-Mas), PIP special features or U-Control, HD-DVD/DVD combo discs, bitstream audio capable players. Blu-Ray could take a page from HD-DVD's book. If it weren't for all the movie studios switching and the PS3 and left up to the consumer; HD-DVD is far superior.

Enough venting cuz i'm upset. I will continue to enjoy my fairly large collection of movies in all the glory of 1080p and Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. PS get Pan's Labyrinth for 7.1 DTS-HD MA!