Toshiba HD-A30 Player HD-DVD Player

Pros: Stunning HD picture and sound.
Cons: Long load times, won't accept wireless internet connections; Bluray will win war.

Let me state up front that I'm not going to discuss in detail how good or bad the picture quality of this HD DVD player is because in my experience high definition is high definition, be it from Bluray, HDTV or HD DVD, and it can depend a lot on the ...

Pros: Great audio and video. Great special features.
Cons: Runs a little warm. Hard time downloading/creating firmware update.

I have been telling my wife for months that I wanted to save up and get an HD-DVD player. She really surprised on Christmas morning by having one under the tree for me! Why HD-DVD? I had asked for the HD-DVD instead of the Blu-Ray primarily due the ...

Pros: Lower price than Blu-Ray
Cons: Lackluster 1080P playback, Absolutely needs firmware update from to 1.3 out of the box

The 1080P playback doesn’t quite measure up to Blu-Ray. I'm not a fan of Sony but Blu-Ray is more impressive in 1080P. I'm not sure if this has to do with the player or the format. The picture is still “High def” and really high-quality. ...

Pros: Great Value and comes with seven HD DVDs
Cons: Slow boot time

I've taking a side and I've picked HD-DVD. Don't know anything about the different technicalities between Blu-Ray and HD DVD, but frankly from what I've seen in electronic stores both looks the same - stunning sharpness, clarity and brightness. HD DVD ...

Pros: Great picture and great upconverting DVD player.
Cons: This product and format is no longer supported.

I have wanted an HDDVD player for a while, but have been waiting for the price to drop, and for the Blu-Ray vs. HDDVD war to be over. I decided not to wait any longer. I was going to have both, as both seemed here to stay. I got a Sony PlayStation 3 ...

Pros: It looks nice, it plays ok and it doesn't take up too much space.
Cons: Slow to respond to commands. Remote control has on/off and open/close buttons backwards.

I purchased the HD-A30 on 12/29 for $249. First thing I discovered is that I needed an HDMI cable, which cost $80. I received a 5 movie rebate, but I had to send in the UPC code to get the movies. Then I found out that most of the major movie houses are only going to support Blu-Ray. So I tried to return the HD-DVD player. I was told at Best Buy, that since I didn't have the original UPC, I couldn't return the player. I had a copy of the UPC, but they wouldn't accept that. So I contacted Toshiba Customer Cares. They told me that they couldn't do anything for me. No, UPC, no return. So don't do the 5 movie rebate if you intend to buy the player.

Pros: None
Cons: Lemon of a product. Bad customer service. Very poor repair service

I bought this unit in November 2007 right before Toshiba announced they were abandoning the HD format. It failed to sync right out of the box which caused both HD and regular DVD's to lock up (usually during the interesting part of the movie). After listening to a Toshiba CSR read off cue cards, I updated the firmware (the built-in Internet connection did not work). This did not fix the problem. I returned the unit back to Toshiba a total of 3 times. One of these times, the unit wasn't even opened. It finally works most of the time. I will NEVER buy another Toshiba product. It is my hope this worthless company goes out of business for their bad customer service and even worse repair depot.

Pros: Low cost and high performance.
Cons: HD-DVD discs load in about 28 seconds.

HD DVD is awsome. What is better and unexpected is this players performance upconverting Standard definition discs. I have watched 5 or 6 Sd titles now and they all look much better than they do on my other two upconvering players. My other two players the image was just the same as it is on other players, but on this unit there is a HUGE difference. Connected to a 52" Mitsubishi Diamond.