Some events tend to change your life forever. I'm thinking about stuff like getting a driver's license, having kids, winning the lottery (never personally experienced that one). About a year ago, something that permanently changed my life for the better was getting hold of Toshiba's HD-XA1 HD DVD player along with a 1080p HDTV. Since then, watching movies on disc in pristine high-def has been nothing short of a godsend — but playing them on Toshiba's big, slow, and buggy first-generation machine has been a bit of a drag. Which is why I was thrilled to finally receive one of the company's second-generation models, the Toshiba HD-A20 HD DVD players.
The HD-A20 (street price around $420) sits right in the middle of Toshiba's current HD DVD player lineup, flanked by the HD-XA2 ($800; reviewed May 2007) and the HD-A2 (street price around $350). So how does the HD-A20 stack up against Toshiba's other models? Like the HD-XA2, it delivers 1080p video output over an HDMI connection (the HD-A2's resolution, meanwhile, maxes out at 1080i). But unlike that machine, it lacks six-channel analog audio outputs for multichannel soundtracks — an issue of some concern if your current A/V receiver or processor lacks HDMI inputs. The HD-A20 also omits the well-regarded Silicon Optix Reon video-processing chip found in the more expensive HD-XA2. Depending on your TV's capabilities, this could be a deal breaker (more on that subject later).
For second-gen players such as the HD-A20, Toshiba managed to port the PC guts of its first machines over to compact silicon chips. The benefits of this are twofold: The HD-A20 is a lightweight machine with the same slim exterior as that of a standard DVD player, and it's whisper-quiet during playback. (Compared with the HD-A20, the HD-XA1's large internal fan emits considerable noise.) With a glossy black front panel accented by a horizontal metal-tone strip, the HD-A20 also looks pretty sweet. A flip-up door covers a set of basic control buttons to play, stop, and pause discs, as well as skip through chapters. There's also a pair of USB "extension" ports, though I'm not exactly sure what uses the HD DVD camp has in store for these.
Video jacks on the HD-A20's back panel include HDMI (version 1.2 as opposed to the 1.3 connection found on the more expensive HD-XA2), component-video, and one each for composite- and S-video. Other connectors include optical digital and stereo analog audio. Like all other HD DVD players, the HD-A20 has an Ethernet jack for plugging into a home network to enable interactive features on discs as well as to receive firmware updates.
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The Short Form
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| Price: $420 ($499 list) / tacp.toshiba.com / 800-319-6684 |
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Snapshot
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| Toshiba's affordable midline HD DVD player provides solid performance but with a few picture-quality compromises. |
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Plus
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•Much-improved startup-and-load time over first-generation players •Good-quality DVD upconversion |
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Minus
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| •Occasional artifacts visible on 1080p output |
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Key Features
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•1080p high-def output •Upscales DVDs to 1080p resolution via HDMI •Onboard Dolby TrueHD decoding •Outputs HDMI; component-, composite-, and S-video; optical digital and stereo analog audio; Ethernet •17x 13.5 x 2.5 in; 9 lbs |
SETUP Toshiba kept the HD-A20's setup options mercifully simple (all the better to prevent alienating HD DVD newbies). The player sends simultaneous high-def signals to both its component-video and HDMI output jacks, although 1080p is available only via the HDMI connection. A Picture setup menu lets you choose the appropriate maximum resolution for your TV, with options ranging from 480i up to 1080p (at 60 frames per second); it also allows you to select Film, Video, or Auto mode for deinterlacing DVDs. In addition, there's an Enhanced Black level setting that's supposed to set black for 0 IRE when switched on and 7.5 IRE when off. From what I observed, both settings remained fixed at 0 IRE when a component-video or HDMI connection was used.
The HD-A20's audio options let you set its optical digital output to PCM (stereo) or bitstream (when connected to a receiver that can decode Dolby Digital or DTS). The player passes conventional Dolby Digital or DTS bitstreams from regular DVDs to your receiver as is, and despite claims to the contrary in the HD-A20's manual, it also converts Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD soundtracks on HD DVDs to standard 5.1-channel Dolby Digital. When using the player's HDMI connection, you get the choice of two settings: Auto (outputs DD and DTS bitstreams and converts Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD soundtracks to multichannel PCM) or PCM (decodes and delivers all multichannel soundtracks as PCM).
PERFORMANCE Another benefit to owning a second-gen Toshiba HD DVD player is reduced startup-and-load time. The HD-A20 clocked a little over a minute to power up, load, and display a disc — about half the time taken by the HD-XA1. And I experienced no regular incidence of playback glitches or freeze-ups. One thing I did find irritating was that the player didn't return to the last scene viewed after stopping playback: I had to sit through the FBI logo once more, jaws clenched in frustration. But this apparently is a limitation of HD DVD discs with advanced content (according to Toshiba) and doesn't apply to regular DVDs.
Speaking of regular DVDs, the HD-A20's upconversion of those discs to 1080p looked surprisingly clean and solid for a machine that isn't hot-rodded with the likes of Silicon Optix video processing. There was a slightly crispy and "enhanced" look to the discs I watched but no objectionable line-twitter or other artifacts. Even so, I should note that the player failed most of the deinterlacing tests on the DVD version of the Silicon Optix HQV test disc, showing considerable "jaggy" artifacts on most patterns.
The HD-A20 didn't fare much better on the two high-def test discs that I spun: Silicon Optix HD HQV and the new Digital Video Essentials HD DVD. In both cases, test patterns indicated that less-than-perfect 1080i-to-1080p deinterlacing was going on inside the A20. Deinterlacing? Hmm ... I thought that movies were encoded on HD DVD in 1080p format! As it turns out, HD DVD player manufacturers get the option to pull video from the disc in 1080i (interlaced) format and let the player then perform deinterlacing to get back to 1080p. As the tests indicate, Toshiba opted to employ this roundabout technique in the HD-A20.
Watching Mission: Impossible III on HD DVD, two key scenes revealed the limitations of the player's deinterlacer. The first was a shot outside the Vatican City perimeter where Tom Cruise, dressed as a DHL deliveryman, scales a stone wall to gain entry. As the camera panned across the wall, moiré patterns caused its finely textured surface to vibrate. The second scene was a shot of a grand staircase inside the Vatican. As the camera tilted and pulled back over the scene, interference patterns similar to those in the exterior shots were visible. For comparison, I switched the player's output to 1080i and watched these scenes again on a 1080p HDTV with built-in Silicon Optix HQV processing. In both cases, the image looked solid and clear, with no visible moiré.
Despite these issues, which cropped up only infrequently, the HD-A20's 1080p picture was mostly solid and crisp. Ornate architectural details in the Vatican building's exterior from M:I III came through clear and sharp, and close-ups of faces displayed plenty of fine lines, pores, and creases. Watching the same sequences via the Toshiba's component-video output, the picture looked a bit softer — a subjective impression that I confirmed by checking resolution test patterns on the DVE HD DVD.
BOTTOM LINE Compared with Toshiba's top-of-the-line HD-XA2 — which received our Certified and Recommended stamp in the May issue — the company's midline HD-A20 offers, well, middling performance. If you have a 1080p display and demand no-compromise picture quality, you'll be better off splurging for the HD-XA2. But if you plan to watch movies on an older 720p or 1080i- display, or you have a 1080p TV that offers high-quality video upconversion, Toshiba's less expensive HD-A2 might be a better option than the HD-A20. With the money you save, you could head out and buy yourself a few new HD DVDs.
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