Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player
HD DVD IS HERE, AND BLU-RAY TOO???
From the very beginning, even before Blue Ray was announced, It made sense that the name for the next generation DVD would be HD DVD!. When I bought my TOSHIBA HD-A1 player, I was totally convinced I had made the right choice. Having been a part-time film projectionist and film collector before DVD was born, I have always watched my movies on a BIG screen. With the Toshiba HD-A1, and my OPTOMA HD76 projector, I am projecting on a 10x5 foot PANAVISION screen, and the image is comparable to a superb 35mm print and almost reaches 70mm quality. It definetly surpases Super 8mm and 16mm film quality.The sound quality is at least as good if not better than present day DTS. Being the first player of its kind on the market, it is not so overpriced, (Remember the prices of the early DVD players were  $300-$400, ten years ago). All the reviews about how big and heavy it is, and how slow it is in loading the discs, they are insignificant when the projector iluminates the screen, and I forget where I am, other than in a pure CINEMATIC experience!. The TOSHIBA HD-A1 is a heavy-duty DVD player.   I now own a SONY BDP-S1 Bluray player. It was worth the wait. This is a well built machine, very similar to the TOSHIBA in quality and workmanship. It has added features such as customized video controls (color, brightness, hue, etc). The quality of the Blue-ray movies is just as good as the HDDVD discs. The early reports of substandard picture quality may have been due to the first SAMSUNG Blueray players which had some bugs which were resolved with a recent firmare update.I have also tested the SAMSUNG player, and it has excellent picture and sound quality, but I preferred the SONY because of its better built frame and features, and thus, the higher price.Regarding the uncompressed PCM 5.1 channel sound option in the Blueray movies, if you can connect the SONY player to your receiver via 6 channel individual RCA connectors, you will enjoy the most spectacular sound.   Humberto Martrinez, Coral Gables, Florida