Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player
Excellent quality for the price
Not sure about the review mentioning lock ups, I have not experienced any lock ups. However I believe the lock up the prior review stated, probably runs the cables through an incompatible 3rd party hdmi switcher of sorts which causes handshake problems. i have mine directly connected to an HD projector and I have no such problems. <br /> <br />First of all, this unit is solid. Its about 20 pounds and built like a tank. its style is very similar to what youd find with the new amplifiers, plasmas and hd tuners out there. So aesthetically it should match well with your other hd equipment. The feels like a real high end product, heavy metal chasis, built like a tank and very classy looking. A minimalistic and pleasing look IMO. <br /> <br />My HD DVD library consists of about 20 titles so far, and the HD DVD format has proven to be consistant in quality transfers. Bordering on exemplorary. The unit also outputs at 1080i, which is what most HDTVs output now. Chances are if you own an HDTV it wont be supporting 1080p. Guess what? the sammy bd1000 is not true 1080p as sales people keep reciting. It actually pulls a 1080i video from the disc and uses an internal scaler to reconvert to 1080p within the unit, so the source material is actually 1080i. You WILL get the same effect if not better results just having the display innately scale the material to 1080p instead of the sammys internal scaler. So this whole 1080p nonsense is just marketing mumbo jumbo with the bd1000 unit currently out. <br /> <br />Now heres the thing and truth that you should probably be aware of before deciding between the bd1000 and the hda1. HD DVD currently uses 30 gig mpeg 4 vc1 codecs, while ALL current gen Blu Ray discs use 25gig mpeg 2(standard dvd codec), Blu Ray discs do not use 50 gigs, at least not yet. So make sure you do some research about it before deciding on anything blu ray yet. <br /> <br />regarding the HD DVD, it includes an ethernet port to update firmware, or you can send in a registeration card and Toshiba sends you them on disc via snail mail. Current out of box firmware is 1.0, and there have been several new updates already. Newest firmware as of today is 1.4 which should fix any bugs at launch. <br /> <br />The video is crystal clear and the audio is a big step up over anything Ive heard on standard dvds. But where this unit shines most is in the video department. Home theater magazine, and sound and vision have both given the player very high marks in terms of fidelity in both video and audiol. If you own an hdtv, you should pick one of these units up and see what youve been missing. Once you watch an hd movie, its very difficult to go back to standard resolution, regular dvds just look ugly in comparison. <br /> <br />HD DVD, starts bordering closer to the resolution you find at your local cineplex or imax. Edge enhancement is a thing of the past, no longer are compression artifacts plaguing the image and color saturation is bumped up several levels. Contrast and lines are all razor sharp, beads of sweat, facial pores, street signs, all easily discernable. HD DVD is the next level of movie viewing and brings you that much closer to the imax experience. the image is clear, pops out at you and more 3-d like than ever. <br /> <br />For $500, this component is dirt cheap, as regular dvd players of good quality easily surpass that mark. but with this one you get HD DVD. This also plays all your regular dvds! not only does it play them it upconverts them to 1080i resolution and has already proven to be one of the best upconversion players in the biz. <br /> <br />However there are quirks in this player, i.e. sensitivity to added components in the hdmi chain like switchers(this is what firmware is for), the remote is very nice, but pretty much useless in the dark, I just use my universal remote, and boot times are equal to something like a PC. Reason being the BD and HD DVD machines are similar architecture to PCs. <br /> <br />the quirkshowever are quickly forgotten the moment you watch a movie in high definition. and then you wonder how you couldve ever thought how those standard dvds in the past were ever considered remotely decent looking. <br /> <br />This is just whole different ball park.