So what do you think of your $98 HD DVD player?

[MichaelC]

I wouldn't of bought a HD DVD player this soon if it wasn't for the price. I have HD from Dish and off the air, but the quality of the picture impresses me. The thing I didn't expect is the sound. The sound coming from my 5 channel Harmon/Kardon never sounded so good. I'm very happy with it.

 

[dfergie]

Check out the Eagles Farewell Tour for sound

 

[riffjim4069]

Still sitting in the box unopened so far...waiting to buy our 5-year old Shrek the Third next week. Offhand, I will continue to purchase BD when given a choice.

 

[jcrandall]

I look at it like this - the HD DVDs are great when I rent/buy them.

But - the HD upconversion of standard DVD would be $79 in a regular DVD player anyway - so it is great!

 

[VinceT3]

I love it.. installed it yesterday, replaced the existing dvd that was in the bedroom.. just got everything setup for the freebie hd-dvds..

 

[gadgtfreek]

I think transformers looks great.

 

[haertig]

Haven't gotten my hands on any HD DVDs yet, but it's been very nice on SD DVDs. Firmware upgrade was a piece of cake. Very impressed by that. The disk tray seems a little less solid and smooth than I'm used to on other players, but acceptable. The remote ... well ... pretty much sucks. Little black buttons on a non-lit black body, all shaped similarly so you can't tell what's what by feel. In other words ... a pretty standard sucky OEM remote. I'm replacing that with a Sony VL600 I just ordered direct from Sony for $14.95 (refurb, free shipping). No backlight on the RL600 either, but can operate by feel, which is what I'm after. Composite cables included in the box are a joke. Useless for HD.

But for $98, I couldn't be happier. I'd have been happy at $200!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Haven't gotten my hands on any HD DVDs yet, but it's been very nice on SD DVDs. Firmware upgrade was a piece of cake. Very impressed by that. The disk tray seems a little less solid and smooth than I'm used to on other players, but acceptable. The remote ... well ... pretty much sucks. Little black buttons on a non-lit black body, all shaped similarly so you can't tell what's what by feel. In other words ... a pretty standard sucky OEM remote. I'm replacing that with a Sony VL600 I just ordered direct from Sony for $14.95 (refurb, free shipping). No backlight on the RL600 either, but can operate by feel, which is what I'm after. Composite cables included in the box are a joke. Useless for HD.

But for $98, I couldn't be happier. I'd have been happy at $200!

I agree on the tray.

Ive owned 2 BD players and now this A2, all had crappy remotes. Whats up with that?

 

[SatinKzo]

I liked it so much, I bought 3 of them! Can't beat the price even if HD-DVD does falter.

 

[ripnbigc]

Like many others I wasn't really ready to jump off the fence, but the $98. price pushed me right off. Watched Transformers, bought it at the same time, awesome picture and sound, loved the menu interfaces. I had planned on watiting for a combo player, but now I'll wait for a comparable deal on BD.

 

[luckycat]

I love it for HD DVD movies. However, I tried to watch some SD DVDs, and while I can see that they are "sharper" I see a lot of added "graininess"..maybe that's just what the upconverting does... I need to try a few other sd dvds.

I had an HD-DVD 360 add-on (well, still have it, trying to sell it), but it didn't upconvert, so I have no basis for comparison.


Again, though, for HD-DVDs...GREAT. I love it. The firmware update was easy.

 

[Digital Dude]

It's freakin beautiful! Amazing picture and sound, AND consumer friendly! I hope the Venturer and A3's hit $99 during the holidays and we can put this foolish war behind us.

 

[cummingsje]

I love it for HD DVD movies. However, I tried to watch some SD DVDs, and while I can see that they are "sharper" I see a lot of added "graininess"..maybe that's just what the upconverting does... I need to try a few other sd dvds.

I had an HD-DVD 360 add-on (well, still have it, trying to sell it), but it didn't upconvert, so I have no basis for comparison.


Again, though, for HD-DVDs...GREAT. I love it. The firmware update was easy.

Do you have it upconverting SD-DVD to 1080i or 720P? I have heard that the player does a much better job of scaling 1080i. That's where mine is set and it does a fantastic job of upconverting. Makes SD-DVD's look close to HD. Of course I agree that HD-DVD's look absolutely amazing!!

 

[gadgtfreek]

Ive had a Sony upconvert before, my PS3 and A2 blow it away. Both the PS3 and A2 score very high on the SD HQV test.

 

[tigerfan33]

All I can say is "wow". The pq is awesome. It does make you appreciate your hdtv on what it really can do. I feel like I just launched another hd channel at a very good price.

 

[ONUOsFan]

I love it for HD DVD movies. However, I tried to watch some SD DVDs, and while I can see that they are "sharper" I see a lot of added "graininess"..maybe that's just what the upconverting does... I need to try a few other sd dvds.

I had an HD-DVD 360 add-on (well, still have it, trying to sell it), but it didn't upconvert, so I have no basis for comparison.


Again, though, for HD-DVDs...GREAT. I love it. The firmware update was easy.

Check the settings on your TV also. I noticed a lot more graininess, etc. on upconverts when I first started doing them until I played with the settings, and now the upconverts are much better with no noticable grain, although still nowhere near the quality of HD-DVD or BD, obviously.

 

[69Mustang]

Very pleased so far.

It's still taking some time adjusting to the cost of the HD movies. Not much of a movie buyer before

We'll see. Either going with Netflix or upgrading my PC to HD DVD capability. Either way it was the best $98 spent on my equipment so far. Thanks to all who posted the deals last Friday.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I buy many of my movies off Amazon.

 

[ozzy1028]

Just to reiterate a few of the past replys, YES, does a great job on upconverting sd dvds. If you ask me borderline hd quality. Watched sd 1408 the other night as was like "wow". Blows my samsung upconvert player away. Also have already watched transformers hd twice. Love it! Really am glad i bought this player.

 

[snidely_44]

free hd-dvd's

I bought the A-2 at Walmart last weekend. I have had issuses with playback on Transformers and Smoking Aces. I called Toshiba customer support and they told me that the discs were defective. Anyone else been told this. Also where do you get the form for the free movies. I printed one from Walmart.com but it has expired.