Customer Reviews:
 BEST STANDARD DVD UPSCALING AVAILABLE March 2, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The format war is over. Sadly, its outcome had nothing to do with consumer preference- HD was cheaper all around with picture quality comparable to Blu Ray. The format war was a textbook example of corporate manipulation overriding the free market.
Still, most of us still rent standard definition DVDs, and there will be more standard definition DVDs than any other format for a long time to come. For that, the XA2 is an amazing bargain. I've owned Oppos. I've got the Panasonic BD 30, which has the best Blu Ray image available. The XA2 upscales standard DVDs better than any other DVD player, even making the 7' by 11' image from my Epson Home Cinema 1080 projector look as good as HD.
 DO NOT BUY February 25, 2008
0 out of 38 found this review helpful
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 February 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 February 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 February 20, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
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.
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