Customer Reviews
Superb 
2008-07-05
Just got my refurbised XA2, which I plan to use for watching mostly SD DVD's. I don't want to buy duplicates of HD DVD's or Blu Rays ( I have Sony BDP SE1) of DVD's that I own. I popped in my Crimson Tide DVD (which I bought 10 years ago). All I can say is WOW! I compared the PQ to my old DVD player and the XA2 just blows it away. More detail, richer colors and more contrast. Also the sound is unbelievable. More bass and the surround effect is amazing. As for HD DVD's this is the best player out there, hands down. I have an XBOX 360 with add on drive but the XA2 smokes the XBOX in both the PQ and sound areas. It's a shame that Toshiba lost the format war, because this is much better HD player than my Sony BDP SE1. Long live HD DVD!!!
PS. The Onkyo HD 305 is a rebadged version of the XA2, and you can find it for around the same price as XA2. But don't buy a refurbed one. My one just died. See my review of the 305
Random Power-Off, Eventual Failure of Audio 
2008-05-21
I bought one of these expensive units, in part for its great Reon processors, which do a wonderful job of upsampling regular DVDs.
But my unit stopped being able to play HD DVD's soon after I got it. It just turns itself off randomly after 5 to 30 minutes. It still played regular DVDs, but then a few weeks later, the audio failed. It just blasts noise and is completely useless now.
STILL a great player. You won't be disappointed. 2008-05-02
I'm not going to go too much into the end of HD DVD and the format war. I'm just glad that Toshiba was able to get such a great product out. The REON chip can allow you to customize your settings to make all of your existing DVD collection look great. It's built like a tank and is just an all around attractive player. Do yourself a favor - if you can get one at a reasonable price, go ahead and grab one and scoop up some fire-sale HD DVDs in the process. @~10-15 bucks each, they are cheaper than DVDs and the same quality as Blu. However, no Blu (standalone) player even comes close to matching this player. It supports all of the Hi-def audio codecs as well. What's not to love?
Toshiba xa2 2008-03-28
This is truly the best dvd player out there. I also have a Sony Blue Ray dvd player, but it lacks the sound and punch of the XA2, especially for upconverting standard dvds. the Silicon Optix Reon is just a super high end scaler. Please update firmware to 2.7, or 2.8 if you have a tv that is hdmi 1.3 that supports deep color 1080p/24. This player will not be outdated for many years to come. It is a jewel, and the price now is a steal.
The "BOMB" 2008-03-15
I purchased this after HD DVD died, brand new (in Australia) with 11 HD DVD movies for $300.
I purchased this unit, the XE1 it's called here, primarily as an upscaling DVD player and I am astounded how good this is playing DVD's.
Having said that, because HD DVD movies are now so cheap, I have recently purchased many HD DVD movies and now have a small library, they are cheaper in Australia now than on Amazon!
The plan was to buy this machine and wait until blu ray makes a good quality spec 2 player cheap enough, but that might be a long wait, the current blu ray players are a joke compared to this machine!
Also, I have now realised that some DVD movies video and audio qualities are so good, especially recent and new ones, that the need for HD movies is all most redundant.
It all depends on the original transfer, some HD movies are brilliant, some are rubbish, it is the same with DVD.
I watched 'Apocolypto' on DVD today on this machine, and it was staggering! It looked as good as most HD movies it was brilliant, it all most looked 3D in parts, it was spectacular!
In summary, the XA2 is such a terrific quality player of DVDs and HD DVDs, that I will stick with DVD and not bother with the overpriced niche format that is blu ray.
The quality of recent DVDs is so good, that I don't see the need to down spec my player and outlay a bundle of cash in the process and the blu ray movies are so expensive also.
Do yourself a favor, buy one of these at the right price and give blu ray the bird, you will be glad you did.
Also, I love the back lit remote, the icing on a brilliant cake!
BEST STANDARD DVD UPSCALING AVAILABLE 2008-03-02
Although many DVD discs on the market offer widescreen display, they are not necessarily high-definition. If you want to get optimal video results from DVD on your HDTV set, HD-DVD is the format that's set to deliver resolutions up to 1080p for top visuals. High Definition video requires a tremendous amount of space on a disc, thus a new Blue laser (versus a Red Laser for DVD) is utilized for HD DVD. The blue laser, with its shorter wave length, allows for information to be stored more densely on the disc, thus improving storage capacity by about over 3 times compared to that of a red laser technology. Additionally, more accurate and efficient video compression like MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1. (based on Microsoft Windows Media) compress information to achieve file sizes that are less than half of those of the current standard DVD's MPEG2. Enjoy backwards compatibility and play your collection of standard DVDs on the player. In addition, via the HDMI interface, the HD-XA2 scales the standard definition DVD output to a resolution of 720p, 1080i or 1080p to match your HDTV's performance. Not only does this output the video in HD standard resolution, but because the conversion takes place in the player, the signal remains free from excessive digital-to-analog conversion artifacts. The HD-XA2 has built-in processors to handle the multi-channel decoders for Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS and DTS HD (core only). Move up to High Definition play with HD-DVD and upgrade your home for true home-theater enjoyment. Includes backlit remote control Unit Dimensions 17.2? x 13.58? x 2.91? - Home-theater component stackable Many movies are now available in HD-DVD format
DO NOT BUY 2008-02-25
Do not buy any Toshiba HD DVD players. Press releases state that they are no longer in the HD DVD business. They have quit making them.
EXCELLENT PLAYER FOR STANDARD/HD-DVD 2008-02-21
I GOT THIS PLAYER ON AMAZON AT $550.
WELL WORTH THE PRICE AS MY 1,600 + SD DVD'S LOOK GREAT.
I'VE HAD UPCONVERSION PLAYERS BUT THIS IS THE BEST ONE OUT THERE.
THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE WAS VERY EASY VIA THE ETHERNET AND TOSHIBA VERY HELPFUL OVER THE PHONE.
I'VE RECENTLY PURCHASED THE PANASONIC BD30 WHICH IS A FINE BLUE RAY PLAYER BUT CANNOT COMPARE THE PICTURE OF SD TO THIS PLAYER.
IF THE PRICE COMES DOWN AND YOUR LOOKING FOR A PLAYER THAT WILL MAKE YOUR SD LIBRARY BETTER.THIS IS THE PLAYER TO BUY. GET THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE AS DOLBY TRUE HD AND DTS MASTER HAS NO PROBLEM INPUTTING TO MY ONKYO 650 AMP
THE BEST 2008-02-21
I love this player. My SD DVDs look near HD and the HD DVDs look amazing. I own a Sony blu ray player too and the HD picture quality is great but the Toshiba's upconverting capabilities are outstanding. This thing is built like a tank as one reviewer noted. I own two of these players. After I bought and started using the first one I bought another one just to keep as a spare because once they're gone they're gone.
Requiem for one of the best consumer products of 2007 2008-02-20
Toshiba just announced today that it's pulling the plug on HD-DVD. This is very disappointing, primarily because Toshiba did such a great job on the HD-XA2. I have had mine for about six months. HD-DVD program content is stunning when played on our Optoma HD-80 1080P front projector on an eight foot wide screen. But as almost everyone who has had the pleasure to use one of these units has reported, it is its ability to upscale SD DVD that is so amazing. Even at 8 feet wide, SD DVDs look great (unless they've been mastered badly.) I also have a Samsung BD-P1200 Blu Ray player. HD images look good on it, but just not quite as good as on HD DVD. SD DVDs don't look nearly as good on the Samsung even though it also uses the Reon processor. Toshiba has also been great to send updates on a regular basis, via a CD in the mail. I continue to get updates on the HD-XA2 as well as my HD-XA1 which I still use with a smaller screen. Compare and contrast Toshiba's excellent customer service with Samsung's repeated delays in issuing updates to fix JAVA problems with its units
Anyway, I just had to add a comment on the day in which consumers chose the wrong technology. Oh, well, at least I have the greatest up-converting DVD player currently available.
