Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD Player
Not a bad start
To be honest, I normally wouldn't buy a toshiba DVD player. I've heard of some people having problems with reading DVD+R in some Toshiba DVD players. However, i've owned a Toshiba microwave back in the day and that thing lasted over 10 years! That alone was proof that Toshiba was capable of making a good product. But yes, I know those are completely different things! <br /> <br />Couldn't find it locally so I bought it online and got it overnight. Hooked it up and had no picture. That was easily fixed by pressing a button on the remote to switch to HDMI output.  <br /> <br />I'll admit that with my first playback of a HD-DVD I was not very impressed. I was actually more impressed with the sound compared to my old DVD player more than anything! Yes, the video quality is great, but it just didn't blow me away. Maybe I was expecting to much. It's disappointing that most of the new HD-DVD titles are just re-releases of older movies. To my eyes, Apollo 13 looks only slightly better than the regular DVD version. I guess it helps to point out that I used this player on a Sony KF42WE610 42\\" Grand WEGA that is only 2 years old.  <br /> <br />Strangely, my TV died 3 days later and I've fixed it immediately and upgraded to a 1080p display (the Westinghouse). While my TV was down I hooked this DVD player up to my PC display (the DELL 2405FPW) and it will NOT work with the HDMI output using a HDMI-DVI convertor. It just shows \\"DVI ERROR\\". No big deal for me . Who would use an HD-DVD player on a 24\\" LCD anyway? <br /> <br />I have some minor issues with this DVD player. First, it's too big. It doesn't fit in my Sony stand. Instead it's sitting on a shelf. I bet in two years they'll have one that's half way the size. Second, it takes one minute to start up. Third, I can't change subtitles on HD-DVD movies using the subtitle button. I have to go to the DVDs menu instead. This is a big deal to me.  Fourth, the menus are somewhat slow. Why can't they be faster? Fifth is the remote. It looks nice, but it could be smaller. It's nearly impossible to use it without looking at the text on it unless it's the ones you've remembered. Sometimes the text on the remote is very hard to see. I prefer the soft rubber(?) buttons over the hard plastic/metal ones any day. Sony seems to make the best remotes EVER. <br /> <br />I should also note that I have zero problems playing DVD-R media in this unit. I haven't tried DVD+R or VCDs in it. It will NOT play ANY PAL. This is somewhat disappointing for me. Luckily I have another player for that.  <br /> <br />All these are minor issues. This DVD player seems to be bug free.  It seems most DVD players have some minor bugs in them at first. Surprised this didn't have more. I can recommend this DVD player. Now why aren't more HD-DVDs available?!