Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD Player

Half-Baked Still Tastes Pretty Good!

The Toshiba HD-A2 is the less expensive of Toshiba’s two second-generation HD-DVD players. You might be thinking: “Second generation? That was fast”. And you would be right. The HD-A1, this unit’s predecessor, had a pretty short shelf life, on the order of about six months. That unit was actually more of a computer in disguise; oversized, horrendously slow, loud, and plagued by a host of other functional issues. But the important part (for the HD-DVD camp anyway) was that they beat Blu-Ray to market, and with a cheaper, if not quite ready for prime time player. This new quick replacement player is an admission that the first wasn’t quite ready. What about this new model? Let’s find out.

Inside the package are your standard accessories: Remote, Manual, and a set of A/V cables. What kind of cables, you ask? Nothing more than a pair of analog audio cables and a dinky composite video cable. These are great for hooking up your circa 1992 GE VCR, but this is the latest and hottest technology. Where’s the HDMI cable?

I tried plugging in my high-def compatible component cables, but resolution via component video output is limited to 480p for copy protection purposes. Without an HDMI cable, an HD-DVD player is pointless. Of course, the retailers want you to buy one at the store for $90. No thanks. I ordered an excellent HDMI online for $20 shipped. Don’t be fooled, the $90 job at the store is no better. This is blatant consumer fleecing, folks, and an insult. You drop your hard earned cash on a player; the least they can do is give you the cable you need to enjoy it. Why not replace those obsolete and useless analog cables included in the box with one cheapo HDMI cable?

Booting up the unit is a bit slow, taking about 10-15 seconds. Getting the drawer to open isn’t terribly fast either. I find this all pretty curious – what is it about an HD-DVD drive that causes a seemingly simple technology such as a drawer mechanism to regress in such a way? Are there legitimate technical reasons for being so slow, or is it that the HD-A2 is a low budget, rushed product?

There’s a good size fan on the unit makes itself known pretty quickly, with its audible but not terribly loud whirring. Luckily, it is not audible while you’re seated at a normal distance from the unit or watching a film. It’s also very effective – after watching several DVDs in succession, the top of the player was still cool to the touch.

The HD-A2 doesn’t put out a 1080p signal. 1080i is the best it can do. 1080p, of course, is currently the ultimate in HDTV resolution. It doesn’t get any better than that, and probably won’t for quite a while. Since my television only supports 1080i, I’m not missing out here. There’s also some debate as to how much of a visible difference there is between 1080p and 1080i. But the lack of 1080p means that this player is not a completely future-proof solution should you ever upgrade to a 1080p TV.

Also, the HD-A2 supports only HDMI 1.2, which was quickly replaced by HDMI 1.3. They use the same connector type, but HDMI 1.3 sports greater bandwidth for deeper color, Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD audio streams for decoding by compatible receivers as well as other features. For most applications, HDMI 1.2 is perfectly sufficient.

But if you’re looking for the ultimate, you’re going to have to upgrade. Toshiba’s step-up player, the HD-XA2 boasts both 1080p output and HDMI 1.3. The HD-XA2 also boasts a better graphics chip for even better video performance. This is the way to go for those with the absolute latest 1080p HDTV and HD compatible receivers. For my modest set up, the HD-A2 works just fine.

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