Toshiba HD-A2

Pros: Affordable, great picture

Cons: Compatability, bugs

Summary: Bought this new online for a very low price ~$300USD, and was happy with it until I unpacked it and noticed I would need a DVI-HDMI cable to connect it to my DVI, but not HDMI, projection Mitsubishi TV.

No problem, got the DVI-HDMI cable and was ready to go. No picture.

Turns out there is a known bug that requires a patch (firmware) from Toshiba if you want to run a DVI-HDMI connection. No problem, called Toshiba to get Firmware - not available for three weeks, I'm told. But I can downloaded into the DVD player direct, the rep tells me. Try multiple times, without effect. Call customer support: "yes, some DVD players have a bug preventing downloads. you will have to wait for the CD firmware to arrive." Ok. Two weeks later I get my CD with the patch. Ready to go. Plays movies great now.

After a few weeks I noticed a consistent tendency of the DVD player to freeze up and turn non-responsive. I am unable to communicate with the DVD in any way. The only option is to turn the unit off. This happens once every 10 discs played.

I also notice the HD-A2 will not play discs that are slightly scratched or dirty, while my other DVD player will play these DVDs. After a good wipe of the disc it plays, but with the scratches it still skips during playback. Perhaps this is a very sensitive DVD player.

Load times are very long. After I turn the power on, it takes a minute or more, but not more than two minutes for the DVD menu to show up. Its a bit disconcerting when you want to show off your new toy. No matter I press on, because the picture is great.

The picture quality is fantastic and the sound is what you would expect.

Connecting the unit is fairly easy and intuitive (providing you have HDMI on your TV).

All in all a good DVD player for the money, but troublesome to own, and a bit dissapointing in reliability.