Toshiba Intros Cheap 1080p HD DVD Player

In hindsight, Toshiba's recent price moves, to shave bucks off the cost of its entry level HD-A2 and high-end HD-XA2 players, were not just a response to aggressive Blu-ray marketing and pricing tactics. Instead, Toshiba was making room for the latest HD DVD player in its line, the HD-A20, which just began shipping to stores. It's in stock already from several resellers.

Most notable about the HD-A20: At $499, it matches Sony's PlayStation 3 (20GB hard drive version) for least expensive 1080p player. In our tests of nine high-def players, including the two Toshiba models introduced late last year and the Sony PS3, we found that we could see a difference in image quality between the two players that output images at 1080i (Toshiba's HD-A2 and Microsoft's Xbox 360) and those that output at 1080p (as all Blu-ray Disc players do). One scene that repeatedly showcased these differences: chapter 7 of Mission: Impossible 3, in which the wall that Tom Cruise scales had a moire pattern and shimmering bricks on the 1080i players we tested, and had a natural appearing wall on the 1080p players.

Like all HD DVD players, the Toshiba HD-A20 has an ethernet port for firmware updates and future content downloads; and it will support interactive features like on-demand picture-in-picture. The early release Toshiba issued did not discuss the audio output capabilities of this player.

I, for one, look forward to getting the HD-A20 into our lab to see how it stacks up against its competitors in visual quality and features.

I also look forward to seeing Blu-ray player manufacturers' answering serve. (Yes, my neck is getting sore from all this tennis-like back and forth between the camps over the past year). Sony has already announced a $599 player in Feburary, But now that the sub-$500 barrier has been breached by a product that's not PlayStation 3, the big question is: Which Blu-ray player is going match the HD-A20's price first?

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