Toshiba HD-A3 Player HD-DVD Player

I paid $179.99, which included 10 HD DVDs, AN HDMI Cable, and Free shipping (7 days delivery!). I have used it alot since I received it (three HD movies and two regular DVDs) The picture quality is outstanding. The most impressive part is the upconverting of regular DVDs. This is the biggest draw since I have a lot of old DVDs and these are probably the ones that I will buy the most. I am not sure I will be buying HD format DVDs until they come down in price or they become much more affordable. If an HD DVD is $25 to $30 and a regular DVD is $9.99 and the picture quality is VERY CLOSE guess which one I will be buying? I have been to the stores many many times and even when I compared my Television purchase a year ago, 1080P or 720P? , it all comes down to the source. I had a very hard time seeing the differences between 1080P and 720P at least not enough to justify spending the extra $400 to $500 for a set (as of last year). The same can be said about HD and regular DVDs. I am not seeing any difference between the two formats or at least not enough to pay the $29.99 (HD) vs $9.99 (DVD).

Standard DVD looks obviously better on HD-A3. 1080i is not a concern as you will get identical video image with de-interlace on your 1080p HDTV. The data transport rate at 1080i is more than needed for reassembling back to 1080p at TV end. The end result is exactly the same for 1080p TV set. Set to file mode (1080i/24) should give you better result if your TV supports it.

I highly recommend using HDMI if you have a HDCP compatible HDTV because there are quality issues if you use component cables.

UOPs (User Operation Prohibition) are enabled, prohibiting the viewer from Fast Forwarding during sections of a DVD that are protected by this universally loathed feature, meaning that you may be FORCED to watch certain content (previews, long introductions) that you have no interest in.

I Updated the firmware to 1.3 (it came from the factory at 1.1, )
and could see a difference immediately brighter and clearer picture and faster load time Internet connection takes about 40 minutes. I have to unplug the player and move it to an Ethernet connection when new firmware updates are released. Firmware upgrades will continue to happen with all HD-DVD players becasue they're continually improving performance and features. For anyone who cannot connect the player to the Internet you can either download an ISO of the firmware from Toshiba's website or have Toshiba send you out an update disc free of charge.

The unit locked up on me once after the firmware update and I had to redo it again (another 40 minutes) also You can't just use the stop button and stop the movie in order to come back and pick up where you left off later. Hitting stop means when you hit play again you start from the beginning of the disc.The upgrade to care of that problem.

If your looking for a great player to get full potential out of your 720p/1080i hdtv then this is the player for you just make sure what your TV can support.

In the end I would recommend this player as a second player for the bedroom. If you have a 1080p, 120 Hz capable TV, I would recommend going with the HD-A35 or the HD-XA2 as they can send 1080p@24Hz and can output unencoded high resolution audio. Not to mention the upscaling for DVD is better.

Thank you for taking the time to read this report I hope it helps you.