Washington, D.C. (September 29, 2006)
--
Toshiba's new HD-DVD player
offers sparkling high-def images, but has too many kinks
to be worthy of purchase.
That's the conclusion of a review published this week by The Associated Press' Ron Harris.
Harris writes that the Toshiba HD-A1 player (retail: $499) "is a beast. It was twice as tall and heavy as my trusty Panasonic five-disc DVD player (and) it had some mechanical problems.
"Each time, I put a disc in the machine, the speakers emitted a high-pitched whine for about five seconds before the intro and menu screens kicked in. It was so loud it sent me scrambling for the remote control to turn down the volume."
Harris also says the player's startup time is "woefully slow." taking a full minute to open the disc tray after turning on the power.
However, once the HD-DVD is loaded, the reporter says all is forgiven.
That's the conclusion of a review published this week by The Associated Press' Ron Harris.
Harris writes that the Toshiba HD-A1 player (retail: $499) "is a beast. It was twice as tall and heavy as my trusty Panasonic five-disc DVD player (and) it had some mechanical problems.
"Each time, I put a disc in the machine, the speakers emitted a high-pitched whine for about five seconds before the intro and menu screens kicked in. It was so loud it sent me scrambling for the remote control to turn down the volume."
Harris also says the player's startup time is "woefully slow." taking a full minute to open the disc tray after turning on the power.
However, once the HD-DVD is loaded, the reporter says all is forgiven.
"The
picture clarity is great. With HD DVD,
you'll see nose hairs, folds in clothing
and other details that weren't visible
with standard DVDs. On the HD DVD
version of Training Day, Denzel
Washington's police cruiser gleams. On
Million Dollar Baby, the sweat on
Hilary Swank's forehead glistens," he
writes.
However, the AP writes cautions that some discs do not improve on the picture offered by standard DVDs.
"Toshiba's HD DVD player needs some fine-tuning. It's too slow, too noisy and too big to be worthy of space on my entertainment rack, and the number of available titles needs to increase. But based on the image quality alone, the format shows promise," Harris writes.
The reporter says Samsung, which makes a rival Blu-ray high-def DVD player, refused to provide one for a head-to-head test.
However, the AP writes cautions that some discs do not improve on the picture offered by standard DVDs.
"Toshiba's HD DVD player needs some fine-tuning. It's too slow, too noisy and too big to be worthy of space on my entertainment rack, and the number of available titles needs to increase. But based on the image quality alone, the format shows promise," Harris writes.
The reporter says Samsung, which makes a rival Blu-ray high-def DVD player, refused to provide one for a head-to-head test.