Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player Reviews

NewsHound · #1 (**permalink**) 06-05-2006, 12:47 AM

Not sure if you are thinking about buying an HD-DVD player just yet - but if you are, here are a few places to find reviews of the only currently available HD-DVD player - the Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player.

From DVDTown:

Quote:

It would be irresponsible of me right now to make a blanket recommendation for either HD-DVD or Blu-ray (or to recommend high definition in general, for that matter), given the format war going on and the hardware expense. What I can say for sure, though, is that for the most part, the Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player works as advertised

Click here for the DVDTown review.

From TheManRoom:

Quote:

So should you rush out and buy an HD-A1? With a looming format war on the horizon the best bet is always to wait on the sidelines until a clear-cut winner emerges. I encourage ManRoom owners with deep pockets and urges to own the latest and greatest to at least wait until we spin a real HD-DVD before taking the $500+ plunge into an unproven format. With no real in-store promotion underway and full-blown marketing yet to commence, finding a player shouldnâ€™t be too difficult for the foreseeable future. What will be harder is finding a store employee who knows what youâ€™re asking for...

Get the whole scoop here.

There is also a pretty huge discussion going on HERE about this HD-DVD player over at the AVSForum.

The very first high-definition DVD players are hitting the market, and the Toshiba is currently the cheapest model. However, reviews say you should pass on this model for now. Although it can play high-definition DVDs, which have vastly better image quality that regular DVDs, there are only a handful of HD-DVDs even available. Although image quality for the Toshiba is good, reviews say it is quirky and very slow. HD-DVD competes with the Blu-ray high-def format. Unless you are a patient early adopter, reviews say that you should just hold off entirely on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray players for now.

alra111 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-14-2006, 01:05 AM

I have heard that it takes almost two minutes to start watching a movie on this machine, from the moment you hit eject to get the tray out until the movie starts playing on your screen. It takes less than half this delay to start a Blu-ray movie on the Samsung Blu-ray player.

PlayerOne · #3 (**permalink**) 07-14-2006, 01:10 AM

As far I am concerned there should be NO delay on these things when you consider the price...

2 minutes is outrageous. This is why I am not buying one of these things yet. They've got to get the kinks out of the system...

hd-dvd-uk · #4 (**permalink**) 08-14-2006, 12:46 PM

Is this out in the UK?

Thx

HTdude · #5 (**permalink**) 10-19-2006, 04:49 PM

I have heard that Blu-ray will be first to land in Europe, is this true??

species8472 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-20-2006, 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HTdude

I have heard that Blu-ray will be first to land in Europe, is this true??

I heard the same thing... Very strange... We shall see very soon..

Later..

mrkrispy · #7 (**permalink**) 10-21-2006, 02:56 PM

I have a Toshiba XA1 and my friend has an A1. Neither of has any problems with the startup times. We both have the newest firmware and I think that fixed it. It still takes a bit to "boot up" but it is no different than my upconverting SD DVD player with HDMI. I think it is HDMI handshake stuff.

species8472 · #8 (**permalink**) 10-23-2006, 06:36 AM

Yes, the HDCP handshake stuff does take a bit longer than it should.. Hopefully this is resolved in the future.

Later..

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