Toshiba HD-A3

• Average user rating:
  3.5
  stars out of 29 reviews
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Product summary

CNET editors' take

• Reviewed by:
  Matthew Moskovciak
• Reviewed on: 10/17/2007

Editors' note: Toshiba officially announced it will stop producing HD DVD products, bringing an end to the format war. For that reason, CNET recommends that people avoid buying this player for high-definition movie playback.

The Toshiba HD-A3 is the entry-level model in Toshiba's line of third-generation HD DVD players. We have not reviewed the Toshiba HD-A3, but we have reviewed the step-up model, the Toshiba HD-A30. These models are very similar, with the major difference being that the HD-A30 adds 1080p output and 1080p at 24 frames per second output (also known as 1080p/24) to the HD-A3's feature set. However, as noted in the review, the disappointing image quality of the HD-A30's 1080p output means that many owners would be better off just using 1080i mode--so there's little reason to pay the extra for the HD-A30 over the HD-A3. And while the HD-A30's 1080p/24 output is excellent, it is of little use to most buyers since the vast majority of HDTVs cannot display 1080p/24 signals properly.

Toshiba also offers the HD-A35, which adds support for bitstream output of the new high-resolution soundtrack formats, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Bitstream output of these soundtracks means that the encoded audio can be sent to a compatible AV receiver with onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding.

Lastly, Toshiba continues to sell the Toshiba HD-XA2 as its flagship model. For more information, please refer to our full review of the HD-XA2.

See more CNET content tagged:

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User reviews

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 29 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars Write review

• Showing 3 of 29 user reviewsSee all 29 user reviews

• 4.5 stars

  10 out of 11 people found this review helpful

  "7 - Free-HD-DVD's--Great Value!!"

  by AWF48 on November 21, 2007

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• 5.0 stars

  6 out of 7 people found this review helpful

  "Best Player out there at moment!"

  by AnthonyNYC on December 3, 2007

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• 5.0 stars

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

  "GREAT PRODUCT!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  by life_is2 on December 17, 2007

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• See all 29 user reviews Write review

Where to buy

store	price	in stock?	rating
Amazon.com Marketplace	$399.99	Yes

see prices from 1 store

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Where to buy Toshiba HD-A3

• store price in stock
• Amazon.com Marketplace $399.99 Yes
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