- HD DVD, DVD, and CD Playback
- Supports next-generation formats: Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD, and Dolby TrueHD
- High definition 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolution
For the last two years, I have made do with my Denon 1920 upscaling DVD player, on a Pioneer 436 43" Plasma TV. The upscaling provided on normal DVDs from this player is very good, indeed. However, I was now ready to take the step to an HD player proper.
I have watched the Blue Ray vs HD DVD struggle from the sidelines. At the moment, Blue Ray seems to be out in front. However, I would summarise my doubts about that format into as follows:
There are some very poor reports about the quality and playback of some early Blue Ray machines so far. What I have seen in reviews is pretty poor to put it mildly.... HD DVD on the other hand seems to be getting the thumbs up from both professional reviewers and consumers. That said I have viewed playback on both formats and would struggle to find a difference.
Blue Ray has more storage data space on its disks than HD and has been labelled the superior format as a result. However, this also makes it the more expensive format, and despite recent price cutting, is still more expensive than HD price wise for both machines and disks. Despite having a slightly smaller storage capacity than Blue Ray, the HD disk can still store much more data than a normal DVD and being a cheaper format than Blue Ray, will give it one hell of an advantage as prices are slashed. Indeed, this is now starting to happen. In a price cutting war, these cheaper overheads could well be the difference between success and failure.
Blue Ray disks do not seem to have the "extras" that you can find on HD Disks. Blue Ray will apparently have this problem until problems with the format are ironed out.
It would seem that Walmart have signalled their intention to back HD by Christmas this year in their stores and with up to 40% of the US DVD market, this has devasting implications for Blu-Ray. Linking with the above, Toshiba have licenced the HD DVD format to Chinese producers who will it would seem be making 2 million HD DVD players for Walmart.
Lastly while the major studios are either split on each format or like Warner Bros, backing both formats, a certain company called Microsoft has backed HD against Blue Ray. Indeed, the latest Xbox machines all have HD DVD player capability.
I have waited for the next generation HD players before making a move for one and have elected to go for the Toshiba EP10 (A20). This is a mid range player in between the Toshiba E1 and the Toshiba XE1, and has been available here in the UK since May 2007. The EP10 (A20) has an all important advantage over the Toshiba E1, it has a 1080p facility whereas its smaller brother only goes up to 720p. Therefore, having an EP10 (A20) will give you the ability to play 1080p if you have a TV that supports that format, or are planning to get one in future.
My current TV supports up to 720p and 1080i. I therefore set the EP10 to playback at 1080i... and the result is a simply superb picture. Just look at the Universal logo in true HD instead of an upscaled picture and you will see what I mean. The 1080i picture in true HD is simply superb and is better full stop than upscaled 1080i, even from a machine as good as the Denon 1920. The picture that I get from the Toshiba EP10 (A20) when playing an HD DVD is the best picture that I have ever achieved on my 43" Plasma TV. There is no blurring or distortion, focus is pin sharp and light and black are both superbly realised. King Kong, The Chronicles Of Riddick, and Pitch Black are simply superb, and I am seeing detail on them that simply was not there before.
The EP10(A20)upscales normal DVDs well but is only slightly ahead of the Denon 1920 when it comes to upscaling though.
The machine is easy to operate and set up. A tip if you are plugging it into a home cinema, remember to set the Input Jack to Bitmap on the player's Sound Menu during set up. Otherwise you will not get multichannel sound. If your AV amp supports HDMI then you can simply plug an HDMI cable between that and your machine. If your AV Amp does not have an HDMI connection, then it will be via a Digital Optical cable. Strangely the Toshiba EP10 (A20) does not have a Coaxial Digital Input plug and you can only use an Optical cable to link up to a non HDMI AV amp.
My only moans about the EP10 (A20)is firstly the approximately 30 seconds that it takes to load up a DVD. Secondly, while HD DVDs are Region free, the EP10 will only play Region 2 normal DVDs. So a multi Region code will be needed if you have normal DVDs from other regions.
To sum up though this is a superb machine which gives pictures of incredible clarity and this is on 1080i. I can only wonder how much better 1080p will look on this machine, albeit you will need a screen size of 40" plus to be able to notice the difference, I would think.
It is great to be able to keep the old DVD collection and just add new HD DVDs where necessary.
On the strength of this mid range HD player, I think that HD seems to be proving itself the better format and once prices really fall, should start to pull the rug from underneath Blue Ray.
Buy Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD Player Now
I'm very happy with this in all respects. I had returned an HD-A2 already, as it would hang sometimes when changing layers on dual layer SD (standard) DVDs. The A20 does sometimes have a perceptible "glitch" when changing layers, but no more than that. My impression is that the 1080p picture looks better than the A2's 1080i did, but that might just be wishful thinking. Obviously, as with and HD-DVD player, you'll get a little better ("lossless") audio if you have an HDMI-equipped receiver, but I'm happy to use optical digital cables for now and upgrade in a couple years.One thing I strongly suggest, though, is that you attach this to the internet using the ethernet port in the back. If you aren't wired for ethernet, consider setting up a wireless bridge (or "gaming adapter"). Updates for the player AND for some of the HDDVD titles (!) are available for automatic download if you're hooked up.
Read Best Reviews of Toshiba HD-A20 1080p HD DVD Player Here
This is my second HD DVD player. When I saw the 8 free hd dvd deal, I decided to get the better version and use the other one for the bedroom. The quality is still as great, if not better for 1080p. The process to firmware upgrade (menu selection and agreement screens) seems to load faster than the HD-A2. Overall, it still promises the great image and sound for HD DVD for a low price!Note of caution. If you own a 720p/1080i TV, do not bother with the HD-A20 unless you plan to upgrade your TV to 1080p within 1-2 years. Why? Because the HD-A2 does as great a job for a 720p/1080i TV for even lower cost! If you have a 1080p TV that does great interlacing, and you want to go for the low cost alternative, this will do a great job considering the next firmware upgrade will allow 1080p24. But if you still think it's expensive, then go with the HD-A2. Even though it outputs 1080i at most, your 1080p TV should be able to turn the 1080i signal into near 1080p imaging so you cannot really tell the difference between to two. Either way, HD-A2 or HD-A20 is the way to go for low budget, high value, high definition enjoyment!
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I recently purchased the A20 through Amazon. Even though I took the super savings shipping, it arrived in 3 days. The packaging was done well, and inside was heavy brown paper for additional safety.With all HD products, setup is extremely important. For the most benefit of this product, you MUST use an HDMI cable and a 1080P television. Toshiba makes another product for the 720P/1080I televisions that is a bit cheaper.
For my setup, I am using a monster HDMI cable connected to a 46" Sony Bravia XBR2 HDTV (1080P). I am also using an optical cable connected to a Dennon receiver for 7.1 surround sound. As a side note, the sound will play through both the HDMI and optical output at the same time, so no switching is necessary. However if you are playing through your receiver, turn the TV volume off so as to not interfere with you higher quality surround sound system.
High Def Disks: I will start of the review by saying "WOW". The picture is simply outstanding. I am extremely pleased by the quality of the image. The HD is truly superior to standard dvds. From color to depth to sound, all areas are dramatically increased in quality. For the people that say their $33 dvd players are just as good, I just shake my head. They either have the wrong TV or connections or glasses. The difference is amazing, and can only be appreciated by actually viewing it. The sound quality in particular is really demonstrated on high def. With the increased storage space, there is more room for surround encoding, and if your receiver can accept dolby plus or DTS or TrueHD, then you are in for a spectacular treat. The "turn that down" fights have already started at my house.
Comparison to Blu-Ray: I also own a Playstation 3. I have compared the A20 to it. Both units produce extremely high quality images and sound. And if you can afford both, you owe it to yourself to do so. I can say that there is a very small difference between their quality, and this is more based on the discs rather than the players. Some movies are made with higher quality masters or better transference methods, or have a higher quality sound encoding. This is true for both systems, so each will have a couple of movies that look better on it, than the other. There really is no going wrong here!
Standard Def: This is the real reason that I purchased the system. I wanted to get an upscaling dvd player for my 500+ dvd collection. I had originally decided on the Oppo 841 (an excellent player and reviewed as one of the best upscalers in the mass market category). Those $100 dollar upscalers give an ok picture, certainly better than regular dvd progressive scan, but they are limited. The Oppo player comes in at $230 (worth every penny), but the A20 was for sale on Amazon for $310. The A20 also has a special offer for 5 free HD-DVDs (about $100 if purchased). Since the A20 got good reviews for its upscaling, it was a no brainer. Good upscaling, opening up the ability for HD, and free movies to offset the price of a quality upscaling dvd player, I was hooked. How happy I am too! The quality of the upscale is so good, I am watching movies I don't even like because of how great they look. Although the upscaling can't achieve true HD, it is amazingly close. Sounds great also.
Comparison to other players. In addition to having a PS3 and the Toshiba HD-A20 hooked up to my TV, I also have a gaming computer attached (3.4 gHertz HT with 2g ram and 512mb g-force 7850 graphics set at 1920 X 1080 resolution). Now here, the A20 really shines. Although the PS3 is an amazing machine, it currently does not upconvert. So it was no comparison. Where I was suprized, was that my 4K worth of gaming computer did not look as good as the A20. I really expected that with the power of a computer and graphics card, that they would have been closer, however I was wrong. The A20 looked much better, and seemed more vibrant. The A20's sound was far superior to the computers (playing through the same denon receiver). Over all, the A20 wins hands down.
The downside. The machine has one flaw. It is slow. It takes about 30-45 seconds from power up to disc menu. Really not a problem because you have to get the popcorn anyhow, but needs to be mentioned. It is also slow for upgrading. If you attach it to a LAN, you can get firmware upgrades (and also online contect about the program your watching). This feature is great and was easy to set up. However, it was very slow, and there is little indication that it is working. It took about 30 minutes for the firmware upgrade (this was its first one though) and the last step took so long, I thought it had encoutered an error. It did not, but it made me nervous. Just set it to go, and leave for a while, it will be done when you come back.
I can heartily recommend the Toshiba HD-A20 1080P HD-DVD/Upconverting player. HD-DVD looks great, and your DVD collection will be brought back to life.
Thank you for reading my review
Several weeks later:
Just wanted to update my review in saying that the PS3 now does upscaling with the version 1.93 update.
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