Toshiba HD-A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player

Other products by Toshiba

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 16.9 x 2.3 inches ; 7.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000U62N1S
• Item model number: HD-A3
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (381 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,623 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

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• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 6, 2007

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD Player allows everyone into the HD DVD game with a very affordable price tag. Don't let the price fool you, however; it offers many features and an excellent build quality.

A Refined, Slimmer Look
The HD-A3's refined design--with rounded edges, a slim chassis, and a high-gloss black face plate, standing less than two-and-a-half inches tall--looks sleek and elegant in your home theater system without taking up too much real estate.

The Toshiba HD-A3 has an Ethernet port to support HD DVD titles with interactive online features, as well as to keep the player refreshed with firmware updates. View larger.

In addition to HD DVD, the A3 can also play DVDs, DVD-R/Ws, DVD-VRs, CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs. View larger.

Outstanding Performance
All of Toshiba's HD DVD players support the enhanced features of the HD DVD format, including picture-in-picture video, audio commentary, and Web-enabled network capabilities. With an Ethernet port, the HD-A3 can connect to the Internet for firmware updates to keep the player up to date on new features, and to support the growing number of HD DVD titles with interactive online features and bonus content.

The HD-A3 features an HDMI interface that carries both a video and an audio signal in one cable for the highest quality and convenience. The A3 outputs video at 720p and 1080i for a detailed and sharp image. The HD-A3 has progressive scan capability, which means it eliminates the scan-lines of interlaced video and produces a clean image with no motion distortion and artifacts.

Sparkling Surround Sound
The HD-A3's built-in circuitry processes the multi-channel decoding of Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, and DTS-HD (core only).

Plays a Variety of Formats
The HD-A3 is backward-compatible with your DVD collection: It can play and upconvert DVDs to the HD resolution that is being output. It can also play DVD-R/W, DVD-R, DVD-VR, CD, CD-R, and CD-RW formats, so you don't need extra players taking up space.

The HD-A3 is backed by a limited 1-year warranty.

More resolution than regular DVD (up to 1080i).

Upconverts standard DVDs to the output resolution.

Tons of new interactive features and bonus content.

What's in the Box
HD-A3 HD DVD player, remote control, and power cable.

Product Description

With the HD-A3, Toshiba delivers the excellent picture, sound, and interactivity features of HD DVD, and adds a new, sleek, compact chassis. The combination of stellar high-definition picture quality up to 1080i, near high-definition picture quality of upconverted DVDs output through HDMI, leading edge audio (including Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus) and web-enabled capability provides a new level of Home Theater Experience. The HD-A3 includes an abundance of audio/video connections plus an Ethernet connection, so that your HD DVD player can be updated to support future applications and services. Web-enabled capability opens the door to new entertainment experiences that can include access to exciting studio-provided enhanced features such as the option to access the latest trailers of upcoming releases, the opportunity to buy movie-related merchandise, download ringtones, vote in on-line polls, play interactive games, listen to music from the movie, or share a favorite clip with your friends!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

248 of 273 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great player, November 14, 2007

By	Glen R - See all my reviews

Connected to a Sony KD-34XS955 HDTV

What can I say. It works great!
Easy to set up out of the box. Picture and audio quality were great as expected. Now that I've seen both I can honestly say you will not be able to tell the difference

Pros and Cons

Internet setup (DHCP for me) was a little time consuming but that had as much to do with configuring it to work with my cable router and it's fire wall than the player itself. Once connected I uploaded and installed the latest firmware. It takes a while even over high speed so get it going then go do something else for a while. Once done the player will install the firmware and turn off. Turn back on and you're good to go.


Con?- No 1080P output. Since My HD TV's max is 1080i this doesn't matter to me. It may some 6 or 7 years in the future when I replace it but by then who knows where the content delivery world will be? A word to the wise...Most flat panel displays out there right now aren't even a true 1080 by 1920 resolution anyway so before you spend the extra dough on a 1080p player make sure your display has a NATIVE display of 1080X1920. Otherwise it will just downscale your 1080 picture and you will have wasted your money. The Sony 300 does output 1080P but so do like priced HD DVD players. The difference in picture quality is minute since a 1080p display will upscale the 1080i picture anyway. There is no broadcast 1080p.

Since the only other HD player I've looked at was the Sony 300 Blu Ray that's what I'll compare to

Pro- Short boot time (20 seconds) and disc load time (15ish)so far.
The Sony was at least a minute per.

Good response time to remote commands. Still slower than a standard DVD player and the scan is more like windows media player than a standard DVD player. The Sony's reaction time was terrible and it cued commands so you could easily lose track of where you were. The A3 also provides you with a soft beep (can be turned off) so you know your command was received.

Pro/Con Unlike the Sony this deck has zoom and pan however it does not like to play in slow while zoomed. This can be a pain if you like to check out CGI.

Pro-Did a great job upscaling my standard DVDs. Picture was as good as my Sony NS75H upscaling player. The Sony was terrible no matter what settings I used. I found that rather strange since I know they can make a good upscaling chip.

Pro- The afore mentioned internet connection. Simply put the 300 does not have one. I imagine it can be upgraded via disc as can this player.

All and all a great player for a great price! I'm not going to get into the content argument other than to say that I have a problem with a manufacturer trying to force me to pay inflated prices for an inferior product by withholding content. My simple remedy will be not to buy any content from Disney, FOX or any Sony exclusive even on standard DVD. Any releases held exclusive to Blu ray that I want to watch will be rented in standard def via NetFlix. In fact my DVD purchasing has all but stopped anyway. This is not only due to the huge amount of titles for rent at Netflix but also because Hollywood has produced little in the last few years worth owning. I know Toshiba has its partners and exclusives but they are not charging an arm and a leg and their format is much more stable Blu Ray.

When Sony or one of it's manufacturing partners comes out with a WORKING Blu Ray player that won't go obsolete in 6 months for $225 I'll get one. Until then my A3 will remain my only HD player.

75 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Hi Def player for a great price., November 2, 2007

By	D. A. Lembree "dlembree" (Novi, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pros:
Fantastic picture
Great price
1080i/ 720p output great for 720p HDTV's
Fast startup time
Slim design of the unit
Adequate remote
Some reviews of other Toshiba HD players have stated that you can't pause the movie, and come back to it later but I have not found this to be the case. As long as you leave the unit on, you can pause the movie as long as you want and resume it when you want to.
Plays DVD+R discs with no problem even though this is not a stated feature.

Cons:
no 1080p output- not an issue for me since I have a 720p TV.
Haven't come across any.

96 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Sleek Player!, November 4, 2007

By	Jonathan (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I just got my A3 and it's absolutely fantastic. The load times are fast, start-up is fast and it's an aesthetically pleasing device. Sleek new slim design, lightweight and includes non-combo edition of 300 and The Bourne Identity HD DVDs, fully packaged in red elite cases.

I also have the A2, and prefer this third generation unit but the A2 is still a solid, and great machine. The A3 upconverts DVDs beautifully, watching DisneyDVDs is great and they look amazing. Of course HD DVDs also look great, especially Troy Directors Cut, Transformers looks beyond words - just an amazing movie experience, and The Matrix is gorgeous. I also recommend Shrek the Third next week, that will be gorgeous too.

Finally, the A3 is a solid player, better load times than the A2, slightly smaller, a beautiful chassis that really compliments your HT and Toshiba REGZA or any piano finished black TVs, and a great value. I recommend it.