Toshiba HD A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player
Normal Price:$149.99
Our Price:$249.99
Availability:Usually ships in 1-3 weeks
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Manufacturer: Toshiba
Model: HD-A3
Binding: Electronics
Publisher: Toshiba
Label: Toshiba
Features for Toshiba HD A3 720p/1080i HD DVD Player:
- HD DVD Playback
- DVD/CD Playback. Does not support MP3/WMA
- Upconversion for SD
- 720p/1080i resolution
- Includes Warner Bros' 300 HD DVD and Universal's The Bourne Identity HD DVD (packaged inside)
Small Picture
Medium Picture
Customer Reviews
Excelent Purchase 
2008-06-16
I know HD DVD no longer is going to be produced but the HD DVD player suports dvd as well and it does have a better image quality over other DVD players.
Great! 2008-05-31
I bought this as used (refurbished) and it's absolutely great! Very easy to hookup. And beautiful clarity, we absolutely love it and highly recommend it!
works great with my 720p/1080i TV 
2008-05-29
excellent value, bought for sub $100 from CC. upconverts and plays HD DVD. playing regular DVD's look awesome on my 1080i screen. still waiting for sub $100 blu-ray player and then maybe i will consider getting 1080p TV
Hate The Game, Not The Player... 2008-05-22
Yes, i know HDDVD lost the format war, blah blah. if you're looking for a nice 'upconverting' player though, this is a great deal. $75 with two free HDDVDs to boot. amazing images, even with standard DVDs. this machine is a steal, even if it's 'old tech.'
Crippled playback, Noisy MPEG decoding 
2008-05-20
I purchased the HD-A3 mainly as a replacement for my existing 480p DVD player. The unit was attached to a 34" 1080i HDTV via a high-quality component cable.
Playback of regular DVD video discs could best be described as poor. There was a large amount of MPEG macro-block noise (especially with near-black scenes) and quantization noise (especially around on-screen text).
Additionally, if a DVD video disc was marked as copy protected (CSS encrypted), the HD-A3 would bypass the built-in 480->1080i upscaler unless you utilized the HDMI digital output. Since my HDTV lacks an HDMI input, there was no way around the issue. Also, by bypassing the upscaler, the HD-A3 also disables the inverse-telecine and de-interlacing circuitry. As such, 480p component output looked horrible due to all of the "zebra stripes" during high-motion video.
HD-DVD output was a mixed bag. Some movies would downscale because of the lack of HDMI input on my television. The movies that did play in native 1080i seemed to suffer from the same noise issue as regular DVDs.
Lastly, the unit uses a new Toshiba DVD remote control standard that is incompatible with most of the universal remotes in my collection. The only option with older remotes is if they include a learn function.
I would not recommend this player even if it didn't have the HDMI-less crippled functionality.
Good solution until Blu-Ray technology gets cheaper 2008-07-25
Great price for a high-definition DVD player that upsamples well. I have no interest at this time in paying five times as much for Blu-Ray!
one fantastic hddvd/upconverter 2008-07-23
I have had this Toshiba HD DVD player for over six months now. When I want to show off my Samsung HDTV, I always choose the Toshiba over Comcast HD cable. The amazing thing is that the player is worth what I paid for it just for the upconversion of standards dvds. They look incredible and are more often than not difficult to distinguish from HD DVD's. The only downside is that the thing has to boot up like a computer, which takes about a minute or less.
I think this HD DVD player truly deserves a five star rating with its outstanding picture, and it doesn't hurt that I paid $79.99 for it, got 10 free HD DVD's, and then received a $50 gift certificate from Amazon after Blu-ray won the format war, which was an outstanding deal. At this stage in the game if I were buying I would go with a Blu-ray, but I am happy and confident that I went when this HD player from Toshiba.
Very good product for this price. 2008-07-21
I never knew my plasma had this much potential for a great picture, untill I plugged in this player.
Well worth it 2008-07-12
I just got this today so I can't comment on the long term reliability but I will say that the picture quality is awesome. I watched the included "300" hd dvd and I am thoroughly impressed with this player. I also tested out the upconverting feature on a regular dvd and that too looks very nice but not even close to hd dvd. Even though HD DVDs will no longer be produced, the existing library is more than enough to justify purchasing this player at this low price especially considering that it comes bundled with 2 movies. Even bad movies can be enjoyable when the picture is this good. I also ordered the Planet Earth collection which I fully expect to to blow my mind in HD. I definately would recommend this player to anybody considering it.
alex 2008-06-18
the hd dvd player came wit box, instruction booklet.
sealed everything was in it.
