Anyone own the Toshiba HD-A2?

[samijubal]

What I really want to know is if the upconversion is as good as everyone says it is? Is it better than Oppo? Does the player have zoom and does it work on all discs? I don't really care about how good it is with HD-DVDs so much as SD-DVDs. With the price these are now and 5 free HD-DVDs, it's looking pretty good.

[BJ_M]

not better than oppo for SD DVD - though right now it is not a lot more money

[samijubal]

Do you own both? Everyone else I've seen with both says the Toshiba is better.

[Krispy Kritter]

I've read that they are very similar. If you don't mind spending twice the $ and getting HD support, then the A2 is an easy choice.

[samijubal]

Does anyone here actually have the Toshiba and an Oppo? Everywhere else I read from people who have both, they all say the Toshiba is far better for SD-DVDs. I might be more inclined to believe someone on here than just random posts on the net.

[FulciLives]

If region free and PAL DVD support is a concern then you are better off with the Oppo Digital.

If you care less about all that then go with the Toshiba since you get HD-DVD as a "bonus" if you will.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[BJ_M]

i have both -- i have about 12 players , including both blu-ray and HDDVD players

i would not say the toshiba is better visual quality really - though much better build quality by far .. the difference is minimum really on visual quality...

my favorite SD DVD right now is the NAD 534 (no longer made - and not one like it in their line up, plays anything, superb build quality, upsamples on both component and hdmi, incredible audio quality) , favorite HD player is the pioneer elite BDP-HD1..

in fact i like all the elite dvd range also ....

[MJA]

What I really want to know is if the upconversion is as good as everyone says it is? Is it better than Oppo? Does the player have zoom and does it work on all discs? I don't really care about how good it is with HD-DVDs so much as SD-DVDs. With the price these are now and 5 free HD-DVDs, it's looking pretty good.

The Oppo DV-981HD is $229 and the A2 is $309 ? so both are the same price when you ad the 5 free movies
Toshiba HD-A20 ($459.99) is a better investment if you own a 1080P TV

[BJ_M]

What I really want to know is if the upconversion is as good as everyone says it is? Is it better than Oppo? Does the player have zoom and does it work on all discs? I don't really care about how good it is with HD-DVDs so much as SD-DVDs. With the price these are now and 5 free HD-DVDs, it's looking pretty good.

The Oppo DV-981HD is $229 and the A2 is $309 ? so both are the same price when you ad the 5 free movies
Toshiba HD-A20 ($459.99) is a better investment if you own a 1080P TV

yea - i agree , the diff is a bit more in Canada , but the Toshiba is still the better value , as i mentioned in my first post above

[wewa]

I have Oppo 970, 971 and had the RCA HDV5000 and now have the Toshiba A2.
I view them on a Vizio 50 PDP with HDMI & also DD/DTS 5.1 decoding.

I definitely saw the oppo as better when the first unit came out and had faroujda.
now that toshiba HDDVD is out, SD upscaling is excellent on HDDVD players.

Also because the oppo does poorly with divx/xvid srt, sub, subtitle decoding, i have lost interest as that is also a feature i use. i watch foreign films downloaded.

I would recommend most people with a HDTV get a A2, especially now that its $399 or less.

And while cust service with oppo is good, their product needs better firmware/more work.
for example, if you power off with tray open, it stays open?!
even my $20 memorex sd dvd player will have better logic than that. it even will power on when i press the eject button. oppo will NOT do any basic housekeeping logic like that.
even the sub files will not wordwrap and so they are useless for many movies.
the same sub files work great in my $50 LG HDMI upconvert units.

Good luck.

[samijubal]

Actually I can get an A2 for just over $300, the same price I paid for my first DVD player in 98. With 5 free discs, it's looking pretty tempting.

[samijubal]

Anyone that has one of these, do they have user adjustable picture settings? Contrast, brightness, etc. The recorders have 3 user adjustable settings, I was hoping this would too. I bought one, but from reading the manual, it doesn't look like they do. If not I'll just sell it on ebay. The player I use now has 4 settings, 2 user adjustable, I don't want to give that up.

[Krispy Kritter]

You shouldn't need any presets. Typically, you should calibrate the unit and your TV/display using AVIA or something similar, and then leave it. This will ensure you are getting true video reproduction.