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| $65.40 | Used
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| $71.64 | Used
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| $75.00 | Used
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| $75.00 | Used
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| $86.95 | Used
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| $89.96 | Used
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| $99.99 | Used
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| $199.99 | Used
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| $200.00 | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $299.99 | Used
- Mint | | |
| $550.00 | Used
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| Used | |
| $65.40 | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $71.64 | Used
- Mint | | |
| $75.00 | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $75.00 | Used
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| $86.95 | Used
- Mint | | |
| $89.96 | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $99.99 | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $199.99 | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $200.00 | Used
- VeryGood | | |
| $299.99 | Used
- Mint | | |
| $550.00 | Used
- Mint | | |
| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 371 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
78 of 87 found the following review helpful:
 Fantastic Hi Def player for a great price. Nov 02, 2007
By D. A. Lembree
"dlembree"
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 found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Sleek Player! Nov 04, 2007
By Jonathan
"Jonathan"
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.
39 of 43 found the following review helpful:
Excellent player for first time HD-DVD Nov 19, 2007
By Adam Miarka
This is my first HD-DVD purchase and an excellent player for the price, features, and free HD-DVDs!
First, the reason for a four star rating is the initial boot-up / load time for the player. Although the start up time is slower than regular DVD players, I found that once you are actually watching a movie or jumping around menus during a movie, those actions are definitely faster than a standard DVD player.
Okay, now that that's out of the way, I can get to the good stuff. I ended up purchasing the A3 two weeks ago at BestBuy for $175. They were also running the 10 free HD-DVDs promotion and I had a 12% rewards zone coupon. I had been on the fence about Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, but couldn't resist this price. I had missed out on the $99 Walmart deal for the A2, but I think this is a better deal in the end with the extra HD-DVDs you get.
Setup was easy. Just plug in the HDMI for video to my TV and plug in the optical audio out to my receiver. I needed to set the audio out on the A3 to bitstream to get correct 5.1 sound to my Sony receiver. Eventually, I will purchase a receiver that will decode lossless audio (I'm looking at you Onkyo 605!!), and allow me to have the audio and video connection both through HDMI.
There have been 2 updates for this player so far and I would suggest updating to the latest firmware. This can be done in the setup menu by plugging in your A3 into your home network and grabbing a dynamic IP. Be sure to reboot your A3 so that it picks up the new settings. The A3 will contact Toshiba's servers and download and install the latest firmware. Each update took about 30 mins to complete. The current firmware is 1.3/1.1.
Our current HDTV in the house is the Samsung 56" DLP (HL-T5689S) which supports 1080p resolution. Although the A3 can only output up to 1080i, the TV does an excellent job reconstructing the 1080p signal. I have read the debates about 1080i/1080p and in the end, the picture quality from the Samsung and the A3 look amazing! There are some moments when you are watching a movie and it almost seems 3D because of the clarity in the picture!
The A3 also supports up converting of my old DVDs so I do not need to worry about purchasing HD-DVD version of those any time soon (at least until this silly format war is over with). Up converting works really well and I have no complaints. If I had to compare HD-DVD to DVD picture quality, it would be like putting on a pair of new glasses. Everything is much clearer and visible.
I recently purchased refurbished Harman Kardon HKTS 18 speakers for $280. These provide the best sound for a low price for my audio setup. The 200 watt subwoofer that comes with these speakers creates intense sound for action movies, but also provides the mids I need for music.
So, back to the player. The physical dimensions keep getting smaller with every generation. The A3 is about the same width and depth as my DVR from Insight cable. The A3 is slimmer overall than the DVR. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't worry about the size.
As far as additional features of the HD-DVD spec, I am happy with the ability to browse menus while the movie is still playing, something that regular DVDs will not allow. The ability to play back additional commentaries is nice too. You basically watch two movies at once (picture in picture). One video is the actual movie, the other is the commentary. Another cool feature is the ability to download additional content from the web. This content will download and play during a movie (a la Transformers GPS featurette). Very cool!
This is what I like about HD-DVD over Blu-Ray, a completed spec for each system that is made and sold to consumers. When you purchase an HD-DVD player, you will be able to play older and newer HD-DVDs and not have to worry about "does my player support this or that feature?" No fussing with Blu-Ray profile 1.0, 1.1. 2.0, etc. Blu-Ray is still meddling with their specs and not all players are equal. There will be a lot of PO'ed people when they realize their 1.0 player can not take advantage of 1.1 or 2.0 features. With HD-DVD, I don't worry about that.
In the end, I would recommend purchasing this player for anyone that wants to start the HD movie collection. Especially with the 10 free HD-DVDs, you can't go wrong. Amazing features, completed specs, excellent up-conversion of older DVDs.
42 of 47 found the following review helpful:
Exceptional Player. Great Value. Highest Quality Out There Jan 23, 2008
By Paul Mendes
I'm not an early adopter, but I do know quite alot about High Def and all the technology involved. I have been on the fence for so long, waiting for the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray war to be over, so I wouldn't buy into the losing format. But, after recently getting an Plasma HDTV, I felt it was time to jump in.
I purchased this on 12/27/07, which was right before Warner Bros defected over to the Blu-ray side, producing movies exclusively for Blu-Ray. My first thought was to return the player. But the more and more I thought about it, there was no reason to return this. Here are some reasons why, and why you should NOT believe all the hype about Blu-Ray:
It is a fantastic player. Very very well-built, great features, high quality, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice a player this is. I look at details, finish work, etc. For example: take a look at the many lower cost DVD players, and when their trays open up. Many are flimsy, open fast then slow down, or even open up shaky. Not the Toshiba A3. When the tray opens, it pushes the front door down as it slides open. No flimsyness, the tray speed is consistent from open to close, doesn't clunk, etc. Fit and finish is tight. The metal cabinet and the front panel are nearly seamless and very consistent.
As with all HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players, the HD-A3 does take some time to "boot up". These devices are not mearly "fancy DVD players". Rather, they're more like computers, so they do take some time to come up. From the time you press the power button, and the movie starts playing, is about a minute or so. The slowness is way over-hyped. Turn it on, pop the movie in, and go grab your popcorn. Before you even get back, the movie is all set. It's really not much slower than regular DVD; just takes a little bit to get accustomed to.
Toshiba is now touting the Upconvert ability this player has to upconvert all of your existing DVD movies to near HD quality. Well, no HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray) player will make ANY DVD look like HD, but depending on the type of player you have, the quality of the upconvert varies greatly. The HD-A3 upconverts DVDs EXCEPTIONALLY. It is truly amazing the difference. The only one superior to these (the A3, A30, A35) is Toshiba's own HD-XA2, which has a different chip inside, and, as such, is far more expensive.
To see the difference, I compared my Daewoo DVD player to a Panasonic DVD-S53K I had (before returning it), to the Toshiba HD-A3. I used "Finding Nemo" and "The Wild". On the Daewoo, both movies looked fine, which means it was what I've been used to seeing on my TV for months now. Nice. The Panasonic is a dedicated upconvert DVD player, and I definitely noticed an improvement. But when I tried it on the HD-A3, the difference was phenomenal. Both movies were so so close to looking like they were HD movies, that I was shocked!! Keep this in mind as Blu-ray players don't upconvert nearly as well as HD-DVD players.
As for actual HD-DVD movies, the picture and audio quality are nothing short of stunning!!! The tiniest of details are shown in such great detail, its like you're watching the movie for the first time again. Do yourself a favor and purchase the Planet Earth series on HD-DVD, and watch you and all your friends/family's jaws drop !!! The same can be said with all the other HD-DVD's I've purchased so far...with Transformers also being a totally stunning viewing.
Toshiba HD-DVD players are FAR less expensive than Blu-ray players. Currently, the cheapest Blu-ray is more than twice the price of the HD-A3. To some, they might perceive this as proving that HD-DVD is less quality. This is not true for the general consumer. True...the HD-A3 is only 720p/1080i, but if you really want a 1080p player, then get the HD-A30 or HD-A35. Most people have a 720p/1080i HDTV, so you won't get any benefit in purchasing a 1080p player, but if you do have a 1080p HDTV, then the A30 or A35 will be your better option. Either way, only a diehard Video junkie will ever notice the difference. Trust me on this one. I can go into audio codecs and Dolby Digital/DTS, audio sampling rates, bit rate conversion, etc, but honestly the general consumer will never notice the difference.
Also don't believe the hype about Blu-ray discs having more capacity than HD-DVD. OK...currently they do: Blu-ray has 50Gb discs where HD-DVD has 30Gb. However, Toshiba and the HD-DVD group recently approved a triple-layer 51Gb disc. These will work flawlessly in any HD-DVD player, and upcoming movies will take full advantage of this extra space. And to me, isn't 51 > 50?
Speaking about compatibility, what the Blu-ray group and Sony "forgot" to mention to the consumer is that Blu-Ray has 3 different formats/profiles/specs. Yes, they released their technology before it was completed in order to compete with HD-DVD, and as such, they have 1.0 players, 1.1 players, and eventually, 2.0 players. Well guess what...if you just went out and bought a Blu-ray player, and it's a version 1.0, you are pretty much out of luck when it comes time to play the bonus features available on 1.1 discs (and eventually, when they come out, 2.0 discs). This means, many of the bonus features like extra scenes, menu interactivity, additional footage, picture-in-picture commentary, multiple viewing angles, raw footage, and web-enabled features won't be accessible to you. And 1.0 players can NOT be upgraded. To some people, they can care less about the bonus features. But why buy a movie that when you put it in your profile 1.0 or 1.1 player, 1/2 the menu options are greyed out and not accessible? Did Sony tell you about that?
As for HD-DVD, they had a finished spec since Day 1. All HD-DVD players have USB and Ethernet ports. Upgrading is as simple as connecting your Cat-5 cable to the back of the player. When I got my HD-A3, I needed to upgrade the firmware to version 1.3. I plugged the Cat-5 cable, went into the settings, and the player did the rest. The upgrade was flawless and simple. In addition, only HD-DVD players can take advantage of this internet connection, and download new content, movie trailers, and tons of additional features. All something that Blu-ray can't do currently, and won't be able to until profile 2.0 comes out for them (late Fall 2008).
Another feature only available for HD-DVD players are the COMBO movies. These are movies that have HD-DVD on one side of the disc and standard DVD on the other side. What better way to move into the HD world by having both formats on 1 disc. Advantages of this? You can watch the HD-DVD version on your TV, and if your friend/relative wants to borrow the movie to watch it on their standard DVD player, they can do so. Or think about the typical American family road trip. The kids can watch Shrek the Third at home on their stunning HDTV, and when it comes time to pack up, they can bring the movie with them and watch it in the car. No need to buy both versions. And your right....Sony and Blu-ray can NOT do this.
Add to the fact that when buying this player you get 2 free movies (Bourne Identity and 300) right in the box, as well as 5 free movies by mail, and you can not beat this deal.
To those worried about this being a dying format, here's a few things to think about: If HD-DVD were to die, it's not like these HD-DVD players will all of a sudden stop working. There are well over 600 HD-DVD movies currently out, with many more to come. HD-DVD is region-free encoding, meaning, you can purchase HD-DVDs anywhere in the world, and they will work fine on your player. Not so with Blu-Ray. HD-DVD has the exclusive support of Paramount, Dreamworks SKG, and Universal, all major movie studios. Plus you can play ALL of your regular DVD's in stunning near HD upconvertability. Finally, with the recent price drop on all the Toshiba players, many many more people are jumping on the bandwagon. Do you honestly think all the other Blu-ray exclusive studios are going to continue supporting only Blu-ray with such a large number of HD-DVD players out there? As for sales, just look at Amazon's consistent ranking of the HD-A3 player in the top 10 in ALL of Electronics. The closest Blu-ray player? A paltry #68.
Do yourself a favor and puchase this player. You will not have any regrets.
My apologies for this review being so long, but I hope I have provided you with a wealth of information, and that you now have the facts between what you hear about Blu-ray being superior, and what's actually true.
15 of 15 found the following review helpful:
This is a must have! Jan 26, 2008
By Peter Johngren
I have owned and thoroughly enjoyed the Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player for a full year now. It was and continues to be worth every penny of the $400 I paid for it. With its successor, the HD-A3, now selling for only $125 on Amazon, I couldn't resist. I was in the market for a second DVD player - one that would equal the HD-A2 in playing standard DVD's and at the same time provide the novelty of the occasional full HD experience.
I am happy to report that the HD-A3 is every bit as good as the phenomenal HD-A2. In fact, it just struck me tonight in watching a standard DVD why Sony and Warner Brothers have conspired to tank HD-DVD and specifically the incredible players from Toshiba. Both the HD-A2 and A3 produce a picture from standard DVD that surpasses anything you will see at your local multiplex - a picture extremely close to full HD. When you think of the number of standard DVD movies available though Netflix, movies that will never be transferred to HD, especially Blu-Ray given its extra production costs, then getting a Toshiba HD-A3 is the way to go. Based on everything I have read, absolutely no Blu-Ray player can upscale standard DVD's like these Toshiba machines. Is this perhaps because Blu-Ray is so radically different from DVD that the players are at a disadvantage in even playing DVD's let alone upscaling them?
HD-DVD players from Toshiba upscale standard DVD movies effortlessly. I am using an Optoma projector and seven foot wide screen and getting spectacular results. The sound is also amazing. So if you like movies - I mean really like movies - then what are you waiting for? Get a Toshiba HD-DVD player for its ability to bring you the over 90,000 movie titles at Netflix with virtual HD quality. It is certainly a great way to wait out the format wars and growing pains of HD and the ever changing specifications of Blu-Ray, giving you time to see if even Blu-Ray makes it in the market place. After all, whatever happened to DVD-Audio and SACD which were supposed to replace the CD? They both failed, and even the CD is being replaced by MP3 files and the Ipod. It is very likely that both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will go the same way. In the meantime, you can enjoy the HD-A3 and send a message to Warner and Sony in the process.
See all 371 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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