May 30, 2007

Review: Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player

Looking to ease into an HD DVD player without breaking the bank? Then you'll want to check out the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player is now available for less than $300. CNET has a review of the HD-A2 that's pretty positive:

The HD-A2's performance on HD DVDs is excellent. Both HD DVD and Blu-ray offer superior image quality to DVD, and the HD-A2 does a fine job with HD DVD discs. That's not to say it's better than its competitors; we've found that nearly all high-def disc players offer virtually identical image quality. Movies like Aeon Flux, Mission Impossible: III, and The Hulk showed off the HD-A2's image quality prowess and we saw very little difference between the picture of the HD-A2 and the step-up HD-XA2 when both were in 1080i mode.

The biggest drawback of the HD-A2 is the lack of 1080p:

Many people in the market for an HD DVD player are probably wondering whether it's worth spending the extra money to step up to either the HD-A20 or HD-XA2--both which offer 1080p output. To be sure, both 1080i and 1080p offer exactly the same amount of detail, the only difference is that with a 1080i signal, your HDTV will need to de-interlace the signal. So the only reason you'd want 1080p over 1080i is if the HD DVD player offered better de-interlacing than your HDTV.

Even though the HD-A2 has been out for a few months now, this is still one of the best entry level HD DVD choices out there.

At CNET.com

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