Toshiba HD-A2 Build Quality and Setup

The Toshiba HD-A2 is the second generation of Toshiba’s HD DVD players. It is the entry level player and provides output of up to 720p or 1080i. It does NOT however output 1080p. This wasn’t a concern for me as I own a 720p Panasonic projector. I figured that by the time I go for a really great 1080p projector, the next best player will be available. Besides, 1080i/60 is no slouch with a good quality 1080p display anyway and no picture information or resolution is lost or missing from a 1080p/24 source. Of course, the third generation of players is only just a month away, but I have been using this unit for about 4 months now. Hey, I just couldn’t wait! There are numerous other reviews for the A2 floating around the Internet, but sometimes a new perspective is a good thing, especially when this will surely be at a great price point very soon (rumor has it at under $200 by Thanksgiving) when the new A3, A30, and A35 come out the door.

Build Quality

The A2 seems to be a very well built player. The case is very nice looking and certainly more sleek than its predecessor, the A1. It has a quiet fan on the rear of the unit which isn’t noticeable over the sound of my projector’s fan. Also on the back side, you have HDMI, component video, optical audio, and an Ethernet port. There is also a stereo analog output, a composite video and an S-video connector, but who the heck cares about those old connections? It would have been nice if they had included a full 6- or 8-channel analog output, and even used gold plated connectors. Well, you can’t have everything when you only buy the entry level player. Lastly, the detachable power cord was a nice touch. I have seen nicer and better standard DVD players, but this thing seems better built than much of what you'll find on the shelves these days. The one thing that stood out to us was the noise associated with the transport. In one of our reference rooms it could be heard from across the room (over 20 feet away).

Toshiba is network-enabled, but has no analogue 5.1 outputs

Setup

The setup on the A2 is pretty similar to all other DVD players. You set up your audio and video based on the outputs you are using and the kind of audio stream your receiver or processor can handle. You’ll also be able to able to plug this into your home network and download updates or connect to the Internet for some interactive content. This part of the setup was the most frustrating for me. Of course, when setting something like this up, you want the latest firmware so everything works right! I attempted to set the device to automatically acquire an IP address from my router, and first found that it needs to be rebooted in order to get the settings to take effect. I then went back into the Setup menu to update the firmware and let the download begin. About 20 minutes later, I received an error message saying “Cannot find sever” so I played with setting up static IPs, messed with my firewall settings on my home router, and attempted about a dozen other kinds of things. Now, I am a computer programmer, and a fairly well versed network guy, and for the life of me, every 20 minutes into the setup I would get this error.

Firmware Updates
The solution to all of this seemed to lie with a firmware update. I downloaded the firmware from the Toshiba web site, burned it to a disc, and then updated the player manually. Well, that all worked! Now, since the manual update, I have been able to update the firmware from the network port several times. It seems it was a bug in the version of firmware that came loaded on the player. I am fairly certain that I haven’t had any of those update problems since getting version 2.0 on the unit, and I am up to 2.2 as of this review. In any case, the actual process took me about 30 minutes to upgrade to the latest firmware.

One last note on updates: Nearly every HD DVD we have acquired up to this point will include a note telling you that you should update your firmware. Please make sure you check the website first to see if there is an update, because it will let you update the current version over and over again, and you don’t want to blow a half hour or more every time you get a new disc. Ok, now that the hard part is over, just plug in your HDMI or component video cable, add an optical cable if needed, then set the rest of it up like anything else. Oh, and make sure you leave your “Enhanced Black Level” in the Off position so you can get the proper black levels. All in all, the setup was easy, but network troubles could prove to be a pain for some.

Firmware Link: http://www.tacpservice.toshiba.com/ConsumerProductSupport/productupdatesandnotices.asp

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary

Perfect SD Score is 130
Perfect HD Score is 100
Optoma HD80 Benchmark SD Score: 63 (you are going to get a decent picture)
Optoma HD80 Benchmark HD Score: 70 (you are going to get excellent HD performance)

The HD-A2 sent upconverted 720p via HDMI to a Yamaha LPX-510

The HD-A2 sent downconverted 720p (from 1080p/24) via HDMI to a Yamaha LPX-510

Comments on HQV Testing

The Toshiba HD-A2 is a "decent" player, meaning that is not a stand-out performer, nor does it fall so short as to be problematic in most typical scenarios. The important tests such as 2-3 pulldown support pass without difficulty. For HD DVD content, the system is going to perform flawlessly, though we were unable to get a bead on noise reduction as the lack of settings made comparisons near impossible (and yielding a 'fail' mark by default). The Film resolution loss test had some flashing, but not int he critical areas of the test. What we found was that horizontal movements may bring about some concerns with fine vertical lines on displays that aren't fully 1080p-compatible (such as our reference 720p displays). This isn't a major concern for us, nor should it be for the consumer.