Customer Reviews

Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD Player

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

In the UK this player is known as the EP10 just to confuse things but here is my review of it anyway:

For the last two years, I have made do with my Denon 1920 upscaling DVD player, on a Pioneer 436 43" Plasma TV. The upscaling provided on normal DVDs from this player is very good, indeed. However, I was now ready to take the step to an HD player proper.

I have watched the Blue Ray vs HD DVD struggle from the sidelines. At the moment, Blue Ray seems to be out in front. However, I would summarise my doubts about that format into as follows:
- There are some very poor reports about the quality and playback of some early Blue Ray machines so far. What I have seen in reviews is pretty poor to put it mildly.... HD DVD on the other hand seems to be getting the thumbs up from both professional reviewers and consumers. That said I have viewed playback on both formats and would struggle to find a difference.
- Blue Ray has more storage data space on its disks than HD and has been labelled the superior format as a result. However, this also makes it the more expensive format, and despite recent price cutting, is still more expensive than HD price wise for both machines and disks. Despite having a slightly smaller storage capacity than Blue Ray, the HD disk can still store much more data than a normal DVD and being a cheaper format than Blue Ray, will give it one hell of an advantage as prices are slashed. Indeed, this is now starting to happen. In a price cutting war, these cheaper overheads could well be the difference between success and failure.
- Blue Ray disks do not seem to have the "extras" that you can find on HD Disks. Blue Ray will apparently have this problem until problems with the format are ironed out.
- It would seem that Walmart have signalled their intention to back HD by Christmas this year in their stores and with up to 40% of the US DVD market, this has devasting implications for Blu-Ray. Linking with the above, Toshiba have licenced the HD DVD format to Chinese producers who will it would seem be making 2 million HD DVD players for Walmart.
- Lastly while the major studios are either split on each format or like Warner Bros, backing both formats, a certain company called Microsoft has backed HD against Blue Ray. Indeed, the latest Xbox machines all have HD DVD player capability.

I have waited for the next generation HD players before making a move for one and have elected to go for the Toshiba EP10 (A20). This is a mid range player in between the Toshiba E1 and the Toshiba XE1, and has been available here in the UK since May 2007. The EP10 (A20) has an all important advantage over the Toshiba E1, it has a 1080p facility whereas its smaller brother only goes up to 720p. Therefore, having an EP10 (A20) will give you the ability to play 1080p if you have a TV that supports that format, or are planning to get one in future.
My current TV supports up to 720p and 1080i. I therefore set the EP10 to playback at 1080i... and the result is a simply superb picture. Just look at the Universal logo in true HD instead of an upscaled picture and you will see what I mean. The 1080i picture in true HD is simply superb and is better full stop than upscaled 1080i, even from a machine as good as the Denon 1920. The picture that I get from the Toshiba EP10 (A20) when playing an HD DVD is the best picture that I have ever achieved on my 43" Plasma TV. There is no blurring or distortion, focus is pin sharp and light and black are both superbly realised. King Kong, The Chronicles Of Riddick, and Pitch Black are simply superb, and I am seeing detail on them that simply was not there before.
The EP10(A20)upscales normal DVDs well but is only slightly ahead of the Denon 1920 when it comes to upscaling though.

The machine is easy to operate and set up. A tip if you are plugging it into a home cinema, remember to set the Input Jack to Bitmap on the player's Sound Menu during set up. Otherwise you will not get multichannel sound. If your AV amp supports HDMI then you can simply plug an HDMI cable between that and your machine. If your AV Amp does not have an HDMI connection, then it will be via a Digital Optical cable. Strangely the Toshiba EP10 (A20) does not have a Coaxial Digital Input plug and you can only use an Optical cable to link up to a non HDMI AV amp.

My only moans about the EP10 (A20)is firstly the approximately 30 seconds that it takes to load up a DVD. Secondly, while HD DVDs are Region free, the EP10 will only play Region 2 normal DVDs. So a multi Region code will be needed if you have normal DVDs from other regions.

To sum up though this is a superb machine which gives pictures of incredible clarity and this is on 1080i. I can only wonder how much better 1080p will look on this machine, albeit you will need a screen size of 40" plus to be able to notice the difference, I would think.
It is great to be able to keep the old DVD collection and just add new HD DVDs where necessary.
On the strength of this mid range HD player, I think that HD seems to be proving itself the better format and once prices really fall, should start to pull the rug from underneath Blue Ray.

I'm very happy with this in all respects. I had returned an HD-A2 already, as it would hang sometimes when changing layers on dual layer SD (standard) DVDs. The A20 does sometimes have a perceptible "glitch" when changing layers, but no more than that. My impression is that the 1080p picture looks better than the A2's 1080i did, but that might just be wishful thinking. Obviously, as with and HD-DVD player, you'll get a little better ("lossless") audio if you have an HDMI-equipped receiver, but I'm happy to use optical digital cables for now and upgrade in a couple years.

One thing I strongly suggest, though, is that you attach this to the internet using the ethernet port in the back. If you aren't wired for ethernet, consider setting up a wireless bridge (or "gaming adapter"). Updates for the player AND for some of the HDDVD titles (!) are available for automatic download if you're hooked up.

This is my second HD DVD player. When I saw the 8 free hd dvd deal, I decided to get the better version and use the other one for the bedroom. The quality is still as great, if not better for 1080p. The process to firmware upgrade (menu selection and agreement screens) seems to load faster than the HD-A2. Overall, it still promises the great image and sound for HD DVD for a low price!

Note of caution. If you own a 720p/1080i TV, do not bother with the HD-A20 unless you plan to upgrade your TV to 1080p within 1-2 years. Why? Because the HD-A2 does as great a job for a 720p/1080i TV for even lower cost! If you have a 1080p TV that does great interlacing, and you want to go for the low cost alternative, this will do a great job considering the next firmware upgrade will allow 1080p24. But if you still think it's expensive, then go with the HD-A2. Even though it outputs 1080i at most, your 1080p TV should be able to turn the 1080i signal into near 1080p imaging so you cannot really tell the difference between to two. Either way, HD-A2 or HD-A20 is the way to go for low budget, high value, high definition enjoyment!

WOW! I just got this machine plus monster HDMI cables four days ago to accompany my new Sharp Aquos 42" 1080p LCD TV and it is an awesome combination. There is no need for me to ever go back to a movie theater again. Picture quality means everything to me and this machine delivers. Let's start with SD-DVDs. When I bought my Aquos two weeks ago, I began to watch Flags of Our Fathers using a regular DVD player and noticed that the pixels and little squares were very evident on the picture. It was really annoying, to the point that I felt it was better to watch SD DVDs on my regular old tube TV. Then, I figured that I should try this machine. I went and bought it, came home, put in the same Flags of our Fathers SD-DVD in and "poof" it was magic. No pixelation, no squares, just sheer magic. Then, I bought "Unforgiven" in HD-DVD, and I am still recovering from the shocking experience of Clint Eastwood shotting at me. The only comment that I have is that this machine takes a relatively long time to boot up and to open the tray. The first time I tried, I had to wait for so long, that I thought it was broken. But once you understand that this is the way it was meant to work, then it is very easy to dismiss and not worry about it.

I recently purchased the A20 through Amazon. Even though I took the super savings shipping, it arrived in 3 days. The packaging was done well, and inside was heavy brown paper for additional safety.

With all HD products, setup is extremely important. For the most benefit of this product, you MUST use an HDMI cable and a 1080P television. Toshiba makes another product for the 720P/1080I televisions that is a bit cheaper.

For my setup, I am using a monster HDMI cable connected to a 46" Sony Bravia XBR2 HDTV (1080P). I am also using an optical cable connected to a Dennon receiver for 7.1 surround sound. As a side note, the sound will play through both the HDMI and optical output at the same time, so no switching is necessary. However if you are playing through your receiver, turn the TV volume off so as to not interfere with you higher quality surround sound system.

High Def Disks: I will start of the review by saying "WOW". The picture is simply outstanding. I am extremely pleased by the quality of the image. The HD is truly superior to standard dvds. From color to depth to sound, all areas are dramatically increased in quality. For the people that say their $33 dvd players are just as good, I just shake my head. They either have the wrong TV or connections or glasses. The difference is amazing, and can only be appreciated by actually viewing it. The sound quality in particular is really demonstrated on high def. With the increased storage space, there is more room for surround encoding, and if your receiver can accept dolby plus or DTS or TrueHD, then you are in for a spectacular treat. The "turn that down" fights have already started at my house.

Comparison to Blu-Ray: I also own a Playstation 3. I have compared the A20 to it. Both units produce extremely high quality images and sound. And if you can afford both, you owe it to yourself to do so. I can say that there is a very small difference between their quality, and this is more based on the discs rather than the players. Some movies are made with higher quality masters or better transference methods, or have a higher quality sound encoding. This is true for both systems, so each will have a couple of movies that look better on it, than the other. There really is no going wrong here!

Standard Def: This is the real reason that I purchased the system. I wanted to get an upscaling dvd player for my 500+ dvd collection. I had originally decided on the Oppo 841 (an excellent player and reviewed as one of the best upscalers in the mass market category). Those $100 dollar upscalers give an ok picture, certainly better than regular dvd progressive scan, but they are limited. The Oppo player comes in at $230 (worth every penny), but the A20 was for sale on Amazon for $310. The A20 also has a special offer for 5 free HD-DVDs (about $100 if purchased). Since the A20 got good reviews for its upscaling, it was a no brainer. Good upscaling, opening up the ability for HD, and free movies to offset the price of a quality upscaling dvd player, I was hooked. How happy I am too! The quality of the upscale is so good, I am watching movies I don't even like because of how great they look. Although the upscaling can't achieve true HD, it is amazingly close. Sounds great also.

Comparison to other players. In addition to having a PS3 and the Toshiba HD-A20 hooked up to my TV, I also have a gaming computer attached (3.4 gHertz HT with 2g ram and 512mb g-force 7850 graphics set at 1920 X 1080 resolution). Now here, the A20 really shines. Although the PS3 is an amazing machine, it currently does not upconvert. So it was no comparison. Where I was suprized, was that my 4K worth of gaming computer did not look as good as the A20. I really expected that with the power of a computer and graphics card, that they would have been closer, however I was wrong. The A20 looked much better, and seemed more vibrant. The A20's sound was far superior to the computers (playing through the same denon receiver). Over all, the A20 wins hands down.

The downside. The machine has one flaw. It is slow. It takes about 30-45 seconds from power up to disc menu. Really not a problem because you have to get the popcorn anyhow, but needs to be mentioned. It is also slow for upgrading. If you attach it to a LAN, you can get firmware upgrades (and also online contect about the program your watching). This feature is great and was easy to set up. However, it was very slow, and there is little indication that it is working. It took about 30 minutes for the firmware upgrade (this was its first one though) and the last step took so long, I thought it had encoutered an error. It did not, but it made me nervous. Just set it to go, and leave for a while, it will be done when you come back.

I can heartily recommend the Toshiba HD-A20 1080P HD-DVD/Upconverting player. HD-DVD looks great, and your DVD collection will be brought back to life.

Thank you for reading my review

Several weeks later:

Just wanted to update my review in saying that the PS3 now does upscaling with the version 1.93 update.

The A20 did everything I wanted in a HD-DVD player, and at a reasonable price. I know everyone is debating the VHS/BluRay thing, and I finally had to decide how much longer I was going to do without a Hi-Def DVD player. Well, I bet on VHS and won, and this time I'm betting on HD-DVD, we'll see who wins later on. With the announcements of all the studios flocking to HD-DVD and the low entry price for 1080i HD-DVD around 200 bucks, it makes sense that blu-ray is headed down the betamax path.

There was one nice/not so nice thing about my A20. Amazon shipped it with firmware rev 1.0. Toshiba is now releasing rev 2.5. Is this a problem, well, it depends on how you use your player.

I went the direct route (bought a toshiba player with rev 1.0 firmware). I bought the miami vice director's cut disc with tons of extra features just for HD-DVD in it - inside the box was a TSA-style warning slip that said basically this disc makes use of ADVANCED HD-DVD features and may not be fully functional in your player without a firmware upgrade. I followed standard user proceedure and ignored it of course, played the video, got the pip shooting of the show (also in HD) and commentary, and technical specs on the boats, cars, etc, and suddenly pow - my screen displayed "Cannot play this disc - error 4083FD20BC3FF", which seemed more like a nuclear launch code than an error number but sure 'nuf the same number was in the player's VFD display on the front panel - only option was to pull the plug because this thing was dead.

After this I grabbed the nearest blue cat-5 cable on my home network, plugged it in, clicked DHCP in the network setup box, and in a few minutes I was connected to toshiba direct where the new version was 2.5

At 3.0 Mbps the file transferred pretty quick (36 blocks - the display updated 1/36, 2/36, etc. to let you know something was happening - patience is definitely called for during a firmware update I learned) - then the player went through a 5 stage update&burn Stage 1 - Stage 2. Now the most evil stage was Stage 5, which took over an hour to complete (I did finally RTFM and it said firmware updates took 20 minutes - more like 2.0 hours and you should not power off the player, insert a disc, press a button, scratch an itch, etc)

I left it overnight and came back the next day since the "successful" update powers off the player when done. I had Version 2.5 instead of 1.0 of the toshiba firmware. Playing Miami Vice 2006 director's cut again with all the neat HD features worked just fine this time.

Lesson learned - Everyone is shipping with "basic" firmware which lets you press play and turn on languages, but doesn't support all the u-control fetures quite right. Once shipped, the semi-final firmware is installed in the customer's home - by 1 of 3 methods

1 - The way I did - plug it into a broadband network link and go. I guess they figure that the people buying a HD-DVD will have a home network and include the required RJ-45 LAN connector on the back to save yourself some grief.

2 - plug your pc into a broadband link and download it, burn a cd-rom, put the cd-rom in the player, upon which it will do the upgrade. I guess people who don't have a cable stretcher for their cat-5 ethernet will use this option and sneaker-net the firmware into the machine.

3 - If you have HD-DVD but lack any computer skills at all, then call toshiba's 800 number M-F 9-5 EST and ask that they mail you the disk you could burn yourself in step 2, then when the USPS gets around to dropping it in your mailbox, put it in the player and do step 2 above.

I really did consider the option 1 a nice touch - being able to have appliances upgrade themselves over the house internet DHCP server is certainly a valuable addition - yes it took 2 hours instead of the manual's 20 minutes, but I'd be willing to bet the guy who wrote the manual had never done a firmware upgrade in his life so he was guessing in the wind on the 20 minute timeframe and was off by a factor of 6. It still beats burning my own firmware disc or waiting for them to answer the phone and snail-mail me a disc to use.

I have to wonder though. What about firmware rev 2.4 or 2.6? How often does toshiba find a bug and re-relaease the firmware? Should I invest in a UPS for my HD-DVD player to keep it running through a power failure for 2 hours if that happens while doing a firmware upgrade? They do caution you that any disturbance to the machine during the upgrade will leave it in an unusuable state requiring factory service.

Toshiba's thoughtfulness of putting an "instant gratification" port on the back of the player gives it 5 stars. If you've just bought the latest in technology, you won't mind a 2 hour upgrade when it could take two weeks if option 3 is the only one available. Fortunately for me I already had a blue cable in the media room to talk to the HD Projector and control its input selection / get bulb life info, etc. It wasn't alot of greif to upgrade the unit, however the manual is definitely WRONG - it is NOT a 20 minute process. Leave it overnight and UPS your HD-TV player + network and you will probably not have any problems when rev 2.6 comes out.

I just got this last week, and I've been surprised at how easy it's been to deal with. I plugged the HDMI cable (not included in the box, which is a shame, but I bought one with Amazon's deal for a good price) into my Sharp Aquos 42" LCD, and the optical cable into my stereo, and that was pretty much it. The unit fired up, it delivers a gorgeous picture with great sound, and that's really all there is to it. The only trouble I had was trying to connect it to the internet, but that was because I was setting up a wifi connection; if I'd just had an ethernet cable to plug into the back it would've been simple. All in all, it's dead simple to use, delivers exactly as promised, and is at a price point that may just bring it into the reach of a lot of people like me who were on the fence for so long.

The Look and Sound of Perfect is the slogan for HD-DVD, and it couldn't be more true. The Toshiba HD-A20 comes fully equipped with all the hardware needed to play all current and probably future HD-DVDs, though I would HIGHLY reccomend a firmware upgrade before use, which can be done simply by connecting the unit to an internet connection, or calling Toshiba and requesting an upgrade disc.

The player was very easy to set up (HDMI cables make things simple). My older DVD players required component video and audio cables which was what 5 cables? Now its only one! Plus the power cable of course.

The startup time isn't really annoying... it's worth waiting 30 seconds to see a movie in a better-than-movie-theater quality. The quality of HD-DVDs are simply incredible, I constantly ask myself questions like, oh wow there was supposed to be snow in that scene? Or, oh that old trunk was dusty?! Now, some HD-DVDs seem to be better than others in quality (factoring in color and noise)but by enlarge the format is absolutely terrific. The audio even seems to be eons better than the regular DVD format!

My suggestion would be to buy this player, because the lower models only support 1080i... unless of course your tv only supports 1080i too, then don't waste your money because you won't be able to use 1080p. Great technology, at a much cheaper price than blu-ray, and you can finally use 1080p on your HD television!

This player is both an excellent HD DVD player and an up-converting standard DVD player. With standard dvds of movie material, it is much better than my Sony NS75H. The one weakness is that it does not display dvds from video sources--old tv shows that were originally recorded to video tape and not film--as well as the Sony. However, the standard dvds of Casino Royale or Curse of the Golden Flower look as if they are HD material--until you play a true HD DVD! Toshiba has an excellent record at updating all of their players, and in Sept. or Oct. this player will be capable of 1080p 24! If you have a TV capable of that but believe the XA2 to be a bit too expensive, this player offers excellent capabilities. However, if your TV is only capable of 720P or 1080i, I would suggest the A2--if you have no plans to upgrade at this time!

This review is based on my personal experience using it. The player looks good and plays great. I have a LCD HD-TV (Most people feel the need to add what kind of TV they have, the size and all the specs but is completely unnecessary) and look amazing in both HD and Standard. I am not a tech geek, just a casual TV user. They guy that comes home from work and watches some TV and a movie here and there with the wife.
PROS:

1) HD-Playback is outstanding and the up-conversion on the standard DVD is amazing. I had an older Toshiba up-conversion DVD player and was not nearly as good as the Toshiba HD-A20.

2) Easy to use and hook up. Has HDMI (of course) and all the other connections you would need such as composite, optical and standard.

3) Ethernet connection on back. This is for Web Enabled features on some HD-DVD's and for firmware updates. I also have a BD player which does not have a Ethernet connection which I think is a drawback. (NOTE: While installing the firmware my power surged and yes it is hooked up to a surge protector. The player reset. If the DVD player is interrupted while downloading firmware it will NOT work. I brought it to Best Buy who were out of the A20 and they upgraded me to the A30. The only difference I noticed between the two is the look and the remote on the A30 can not control the TV as well. Who cares. That why we have two hands.)

4) Remote can also be programmed to control basic function of your TV. The reason I am adding this is because the HD-A30 remote can not do that.

5) On the front has hidden controls for a sleek look and also has 2 USB connections. The manual says for future use (good thing for the Ethernet connection). (Maybe for thumb drives and what-nots)

Cons:

1) A bit slow at start-up. Maybe a minute to minute and a half. But this is not a big deal. I think people only complain about it because they need something to whine about. Turn it on and by the time you tear through all the plastic and get that frustrating sticker off the dang DVD, the player will be ready to go. It is a form of a computer and they all take time to warm up.

2) Firmware takes a while to download and install. The firmware is not detrimental to watching movies. It is easiest to do it while you are just watching TV and not when you are getting ready to watch a movie.

3) The remote could be set up a bit better. Just awkward.

4) This is more for people with younger kids. The DVD tray is a bit delicate. My 4 year old likes to put his own movies in, the tray is a not sturdy and looks and feels like it could break easy so be careful. It is not delicate like a mouse trap but is not like that of the old school players.

Overall this player is great and I am glad I bought it. I have watched is HD, Transformers, 300 (looked grainy but I read that is done on purpose by the director). In Standard and all looked great, Blood Diamond, The Condemned, Invincible, and the greatest movie ever made National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (never to early to watch that one).
GO NEW YORK ISLANDERS!!!!!!!!!!!