|
Amazon.com Product Description The Toshiba HD-A30 HD DVD Player stands less than two-and-a-half inches tall but packs a long list of cutting edge features. The HD-A30 sells at a very reasonable price but has top-end features such as support for 1080p/24-frame video and HDMI-CEC compatibility. 
The Toshiba HD-A30 stands less than two-and-a-half inches high but has support for 1080p/24-frame video. View larger. | 
The HD-A30 upconverts standard DVDs for display on an 1080p HD screen. View larger. | A Refined, Slimmer Look
The HD-A30's refined design--with rounded edges, a slim chassis, and a high-gloss black face plate--looks sleek and elegant in your home theater system without taking up too much real estate. Outstanding Performance
All of Toshiba's HD DVD players support the enhanced features of the HD DVD format, including picture-in-picture video, audio commentary, and Web-enabled network capabilities. With an Ethernet port, the A30 can connect to the Internet for firmware updates to keep the player up to date on new features, and to support the growing number of HD DVD titles with interactive online features and bonus content. The HD-A30 uses the latest HDMI 1.3 interface to connect to your HD television, providing large bandwidth to eliminate any data bottlenecks and to support new technologies for the utmost in viewing experience. The HD-A30 can output video at 1080p, the highest resolution available, and includes support for 24-frame video, which maintains the native 24-frames-per-second rate of films, thereby delivering an experience more similar to one in theaters. If you have a large collection of standard definition DVDs, the HD-A30 will upconvert them to near-HD quality for display on your HD television. Progressive scan output means the scan-lines of interlaced video are eliminated and the result is a clean image that has no motion distortion or artifacts. In addition to 1080p, the HD-A30 also outputs at 720p and 1080i if desired. Sparkling Surround Sound
The HD-A30 supports most surround sound audio standards, with built-in decoding for Dolby TrueHD 5.1ch, Dolby Digital Plus 5.1ch, DTS 5.1, and DTS HD (core only). One-Touch Convenience
You can use the CE-Link (HDMI-CEC) to connect the HD-A30 with other CEC-capable devices for unsurpassed simplicity and convenience. For example, if the HD-A35 is connected to a compatible HDTV, you can turn on both the HD DVD player and the TV and start playing a movie with a single touch of a button on the remote. The HD-A30 is backed by a limited 1-year warranty.
Six times the resolution of regular DVD (up to 1080p). | 
Upconverts standard DVDs to the output resolution. | 
Tons of new interactive features and bonus content. | What's in the Box
HD-A30 HD DVD player, remote control, and power cable.
|
 An excellent effort by Toshiba |
| Review Date: October 11, 2007 |
| Reviewer: J. Orr, Cedar Rapids, IA United States |
I didn't buy this from Amazon, but since reviews of the player are scarce, I thought I'd share some thoughts.
A few short months ago I bought the Xbox add-on to try the HD-DVD waters, and have been nothing but impressed, so when my standard DVD player died (my 7th one in 8 years, I'm a very heavy DVD watcher), I decided to invest in a player that will (hopefully) last (I also purchased a 4 year warranty this time).
The player itself is beautiful, both in appearance and on screen (watching on 1080p Samsung LCD). Picture quality of HD-DVD is, as expected, superb, and DVD upscaling is the best I have ever seen (easily destroying my 1 year old Sony).
A very few negatives. Boot times are still a bit slow, it takes about 40 seconds before the HD-DVD logo appears on screen, with another 20 seconds to load the disc, it's around 60 seconds total from power on to actually start watching the disc. Discs also don't resume play, which is odd as it seems to be a feature. If you don't power off the unit and stop a disc, it will resume where you left off, but if you power off the player, it restarts from the beginning, very odd, but Toshiba could easily fix in a firmware update.
All in all I am very, very pleased, the unit feels sold, looks amazing on your shelf and features some of the best video quality I have ever seen. The few, "problems" don't really bother me, but I wanted to mention them as it could turn off some people. Thanks for reading! |
Movie Bliss
|
| Review Date: October 7, 2007 |
| Reviewer: T. Smock, Ohio, USA |
| I just watched my first HD DVD, and all I can say is WOW! The picture quality of 1080p/24 is amazing. This player also does a nice job on SD DVD,the upconversion to 1080i looks great too. I have this player connected to a Samsung DLP 1080p TV and an Onkyo receiver, all interconnected via HDMI. This is the finest picture and sound combination I have ever owned. I am looking forward to more releases on HD DVD, Amazon has a great selection at great prices. |
Toshiba HD-A30
|
| Review Date: January 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: M. Webb, CA |
Toshiba HD-A30 1080p HD DVD Player
I own a Toshiba HD-A20 and just purchased a HD-A30 for the following reasons:
I have no plans to purchase Blu-Ray hardware or discs for many years, if ever. In this sense I'm going to sit this round out and wait for the next big thing. Blu-Ray is simply too expensive and will always be too customer unfriendly for me to stomach. If you don't know what I mean by Blu-Ray being "consumer unfriendly" - I can only suggest more research.
I never intended to purchase/repurchase a zillion titles in either Hi-def format. Most titles are just fine when played with an excellent up-scaling player such as the HD-A30. Blu-Ray players also do up-scaling but at twice the price. Not being able to enjoy a handful of (worthy) titles in Hi-def isn't going to ruin my life.
If HD does survive, for me, that will simply be a welcome bonus. Meantime, the HD-A30 is a first-class product from a company with excellent customer support.
One final thought - HD and Blu-Ray are already doomed to replacement. Replacement possibilities include broadband on-demand and very high capacity non-volatile memory media. Movies on memory cards rather than discs - no moving parts, no lasers, just a card/stick slot in the TV. Could be.
|
Simply outstanding
|
| Review Date: December 24, 2007 |
| Reviewer: W. W. Lowrey IV, Allen, TX USA |
I sat on the sidelines for a long while, waiting for the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war to come to some conclusion, but I am extraordinarily happy that I've finally jumped it. With the great price that Amazon had on this player, and the bundled movies that came with it, I couldn't see waiting any longer.
I replaced an Onkyo 6 disc changer with this Toshiba. The Onkyo was connected with component cables, while the Toshiba is connected with HDMI. The picture quality is outstanding with HD-DVDs and at very good with the one normal DVD that I tried. My TV is an older 720p Samsung DLP TV, and the difference is still noticeable. I can't WAIT until I get a 1080p TV.
The only potential negatives: It takes a while to start up. It's about twice as long as my old Onkyo, but there's a lot going on in there.
I've greatly enjoyed Blade Runner, Serenity, Mission Impossible III and The Bourne Identity on HD-DVD so far, as well as Battlestar Galactica on regular DVD. The only thing better than the picture quality is the sound quality. I've paired this with an outstanding Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver, and the sound is good enough to make your jaw drop!
Highly recommended. I see no reason to buy Blu-Ray. I can suffer along with upconverted DVDs for those movies until the world becomes more sane. And Netflix rocks with their support for HD-DVD. |
Outstanding purchase
|
| Review Date: December 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Marcus Hebert, Great Falls MT |
| This is a great HD DVD player, I have this one along with the external one for the Xbox 360. I also have a Blu ray player with the PS3. I think that the picture looks just the same as the Blu ray if not better. This player also came with the latest updates so I did not have to update anything on this player. The player worked fine right away out of the box no issues at all. The player also came with 10 free HD DVDs you cant beat that. This player is a win, win situation because it also does a great job of upscaling your regular DVDs. Plus at this price it does not matter who wins the HD DVD vs Blu ray war. If HD DVD loses you still have a great upscaling DVD player for less then $200. I dont see either side giving up in the near future so you might as well enjoy hd dvds on this player and upscaling your old ones for the time. I have bought more HD DVDs then Blu ray movies because I feel they look just as good or if not better and they have more features. This player has tons of great features that I am still learning about. I would recommend this player to anyone who has a HD TV. I also bought one of these players for my dad and he loves it as well. I also rent all HD DVDs from netflix, so I have seen just about all of them on this player they look incredible. The one con to this player is the fact that it will be hard for you to watch movies or television that is not in HD. |
|
No video reviews found for this product.