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

I should have no regret after purchasing this excellent product although it was fallen through in the format war! Both the video and audio quality were stunning especially for the DVD side which was more than expected. Highly recommended!

I just got this one from Amazon today,it got here in 3 days. I ordered it monday night and I chose the free shipping too,so how cool is that for it to come so fast? I immediately did the firmware update which was easy to set up and do. Then proceded to hook it up to my receiver.I chose this model especially for the Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, and Dolby Digital Plus audio decoding through the 5.1 analog outputs that are in the back of the player(not all HD DVD players have these). I just got a new receiver that doesn't decode those formats(the ones that do through HDMI are very expensive),so it's great that I can hear them through the analog inputs to the receiver.

If you want to hear these great audio options,this is easily the least expensive way to go.Make sure your receiver is set to the 5.1 analog option for this to work. You need to do a little homework when getting into these new players and formats for home theater cause nothings worse than spending good money and not getting what you want out of it.So make sure you know how your gonna get your HD audio(by way of HDMI or 5.1 analog) for your 5.1 surround sound system,cause when you do get it hooked up and pop in your first movie,It'll knock your socks off. By the way, it's normal for the Dolby TrueHD audio option to sound not as loud as the regular Dolby Digital your used to. No worries,just turn up your system a little higher and you'll definitely hear the difference.

The video is beautiful and the upconverting of regular dvd's works very well, better than my Sony upconverting player. I like the instruction manual this player comes with too. All the sections are nicely set up and easy to read and understand. It was no problem,as it takes you from the very beginning with a step by step process while explaining what all your options are depending on the set up you have.

Any downsides you ask? Well,it's a little slower than a regular dvd player. It loads up when you first turn it on and when you put in a disc. It has a slight delay when you skip a chapter or pause and play,but this stuff is so minor and insignificant that you start not to notice it at all. And what's with reviewers lowering the scores on dvd players cause the remotes aren't backlit? Who cares? You memorize your buttons in no time anyway so what's the big deal. I only mention this here cause alot of people see this as a downside, but I couldn't care less about a lit remote.

Anyway,this is a great HD DVD player that's got everything you'll ever want or need.It's practically future proofed for the duration of HD DVD.Like I said,it decodes ALL the HD audio formats available and has any number of ways to hook up to your system.And with the unbelievable price that Amazon is offering(it just dropped $10 lower than when I bought it 4 days ago),you can't go wrong with this one.

Update:The same week I bought this player,Amazon began to offer 12 free HD DVD's (5 from Amazon's pre-selected titles,5 from the Toshiba mail in offer and The Bourne Identity and 300 packed in) with this one and a few others.I may have missed it when I bought mine or it began just after but I contacted Amazon's customer service to find out and they decided that I was qualified for their 5 free HD DVD's offer!!! They allowed me to choose them and then reduced the price to nothing.They would otherwise require me to send mine back,refund it,then re-order with the offer but they were cool enough to let me have them this way.Amazon's customer service rocks!!! They are quick to respond and are so good at really listening and trying to help you solve any problem as quickly and easily as possible.I'll never shop anywhere else online. P.S. No,I am not, nor do I know anyone who is affiliated with Amazon.I'm just giving them the credit they deserve.

Ok so I finally took the HD plunge. I decided to pick the HD-A35 up since the price was right and with the 10 free movies how could I go wrong. Well it came today and I was very upset when I picked up my package. The Amazon box looked like a 400lb gorilla had it as a play toy. It was smashed, crushed and looked like a 4 year-old taped it back together. Fearing the worst I opened up the Amazon box and the Toshiba box appeared intact. Pretty sad though, the Amazon box was approximately 3-4 inches too large and thier answer was to crumple up some paper to fill the space. Now, I have ordered DVD's from Amazon and they are bubble wrapped in an appropriate sized box. One could toos it off a high-rise and it would be ok. But a high dollar item like this? Guess not....Pretty Piss Poor if you ask me. Player works fine just a small scratch on the face of the player. If I didn't love the player so much I would send it back for replacement. Oh well!

Well onto the player. After I made sure it was in one piece I hooked it up to the 'net via the Ethernet cable and downloaded the 1.3 Firmware update. That was flawless and only took a few minutes. I have an older Samsung 1080i Tube HD Tv and I popped in movie 300 that was included with the HD-A35. WOW!!! Jaw dropping is all I can say. So, I threw in Blackhawk Down (SD) to check out the upconversion. Well, here is the deal. I was uninformed that you can only upconvert with HDMI and not component. So, it looks like I get to buy a new TV. AWESOME for me!!! Still, I played a few minutes with the Toshiba and then rehooked up my Sony SD DVD player to compare and the picture is still far better on the Toshiba. So I can only wait to see the full upconversion.
Bottom Line!!! This player rocks!! Money well spent and with the current offer you can't go wrong. Just an added note. I have seen more than one reviewer complaining about the blue lighted HD-DVD on the front of the unit being "distracting". If you hit the dimmer button on the remote it goes away. Simple fix, LOL. So, other than the lackluster shipping from Amazon the Toshiba HD-A35 is awesome.

****UPDATE**** 12/22/07. Ok so I have had the player for a few days and have had ZERO regrets!!!! Only one glitch to speak of so far. About 3/4 through Departed the voice tracking was off. I paused, rewound back a few frames and hit play. Problem fixed. I still am not fully upconverting yet but that is my fault not the players. I am still impressed with my SD-DVD at 480p. There is a huge difference over playing them in my Sony DVD player. I am saving my pennies for a new TV so I can fully upconvert. ZERO PROBLEMS, ZERO REGRETS!!!! And I have received over $45.00 in prive protection refunds. Thank you Amazon!

1080P with 24 frames per second is just what my Sanyo PLVZ2000 needed and this player delivers in spades. Playback is smooth & detailed, much sharper than my PS3 and it passes through the high definition audio formats of Dolby True HD and Dolby Digital Plus giving me the clearest sound I have ever had!!! Unfortunately, great values mean less in this world than great profits so hddvd is on its last leg. I will support it till the bitter end and snap up as many hddvd titles as I can afford and just rent blurays. Also upconverts better than my 200 dollar upconverting only dvd player. This is the best that a 1080p/24 capable display can look!!

All the collusion between Sony and the movie studios can't cover up that the upconversion of standard DVD's to 1080p on the HD-A35 is soooo far beyond even the best and newest Blu-Ray player. And the PIP - sweet!

Now that I have this machine, it's clear to me that HD-DVD is by far the superior technology for the consumer. The upconversion the machine performs on my existing DVD library alone is worth twice what it cost!