HD-A35 Build Quality and Setup

The Toshiba HD-A35 is a fairly standard looking disc player. It is the standard 17-inch width and has a proportional depth. It doesn't feel too short or too tall and seems about right. The silver stripe and angled front edges do give it a classier look than the average player. The included remote is functional and has a decent layout. It is identical to the remote that comes with the Toshiba HD-A2 that was reviewed a few months ago. I still have the same complaint about the Stop and Pause buttons needing to be swapped. Also, there still isn't a backlight on it, so memorizing the key positions will be essential in a dark room. Many of you will just as likely turn to your universal remote controls instead. :-) The general usage of the player is fairly normal, as well. It is slow to boot up (about 45 seconds) and then takes another 15 to 25 seconds to start the movie, depending on if it's a DVD or HD DVD. Fast Forward, Rewind, and Skip are a little sluggish, too. It seems that the new generation of HD video has too much data flowing and not enough hardware power thrown in to make the instant transitions we are used to. These boxes are basically mini-computers if you look inside. Nonetheless, it seems to be an acceptable compromise for the quality of audio and video that can be had.

A quick examination of the backside will reveal a plethora of connections. Of course, the most important is HDMI which allows up to 1080p/24 video. The player will also output Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD audio, or it can convert the audio streams to uncompressed PCM via the HDMI port, as well. Component video is of course present for older TVs that may not have HDMI or DVI ports. According to the manual, it is possible to get 720p and 1080i video from this port while using HD DVDs, but not standard definition DVDs. The reason is because the player has the capability to diable them at will some time down the road for future software releases. Gotta love those wacky DRM restrictions, right? I didn't personally test the component video port, sticking to the dominant HDMI which a large majority of consumer will be utilizing with this player. There always seems to be a composite video port on all of the new players and it still mystifies me as to why. It just seems a little far-fetched to own an HD player and not own an HD display. Perhaps one person in 10,000 will use this port. For all I know, it only costs an extra 5 cents to slap that on there, but I digress.

In case your receiver or processor doesn't support HDMI, the HD-A35 has an optical port for Dolby Digital and DTS support. In addition, there is a 6-channel discrete analogue output for full bandwidth audio. This is a great addition if you have an older receiver but still want the full potential of uncompressed sound. I did give the 6-channel output a try on an older receiver and found that it had more detail and nuance than using Dolby Digital through the optical port. The Denon AVR-3805 receiver I used applied sound correction on the digital inputs only, and not the analog ports. So, even though I could hear more detail with the discrete inputs, I didn't get the same full sound I was used to. I guess there is something to be said for room correction, at least in my particular situation. Analog audio outputs are certainly a great way to make sure that you don't have to upgrade your whole system simply to enjoy high-resolution audio.

Setup

The setup menu is as straightforward as it gets, with only a few exceptions. The setup menu is accessed by hitting the Setup button on the remote when there is no disc in the player, or while the disc is fully stopped or ejected. There are options for video resolution / shape, audio formats, and network settings. The manual will guide the novice user through the setup with ease. Experienced audioholics will also enjoy the easy setup but still be able to configure the player in a more advanced installation.

On to the exceptions… Be sure to set the Dynamic Range Control to Off, if you are wanting full-range audio. Some HD DVDs, Transformers for example, get confused when this is set to Auto and don't output the sound correctly. Of course, if you want to compress the audio for night time movie watching, then you can leave this on, but it may be easier to access your receiver's night time mode instead. Also, the Enhanced Black Level should be Off and the RGB Output Range should be set to Standard. Altering these settings may have the side effect of clipping the blacks and whites and giving a more washed out look to the video.

Yes, Jimmy, the power does flow through the ether. Well, the Ethernet, anyway… And by power, we mean the power of updated software! I was happy when the firmware update worked on the first try. I wasn't so lucky with the older HD-A2, and had to update it manually. However, the HD-A35 grabbed an IP address from my router and hopped onto the Internet just fine. It took about 30 minutes to download and update the player. Thus far, only one update has been available for this particular player, and the player will perform a version check before trying to download the same update again. If an active Internet connection isn't available, updates can be downloaded from Toshiba and burned onto a CD.

http://tacp.toshiba.com/tacpassets-images/notices/hddvd-downloadingfirmware.asp

Lastly, I'd like to talk about the video resolution. Options are available from 480i all the way up to 1080p. Not only can you select 1080p, but you can chose 1080p/24Hz. Now, this setting shouldn't be used lightly, as there are some unpleasant side effects. Basically, if the display can output in a true 24 frames per second (at 96Hz or 120Hz), then this setting can be used. The side effect is that video will ONLY play at 24fps, and will not kick back to 60i/30p when viewing 30fps material (commonly found in DVD Special Features). I personally used this player with a Panasonic OT-AE2000U projector, and in the Color1 mode, it will kick into 96Hz and play the video at a true 24fps. All of the 30fps material I tested seemed to drop frames and just looked bad, in general. The following benchmarks will detail some of the findings.