QUICK PICK REVIEW: DECEMBER 12, 2007
Toshiba HD-A30KU HD DVD Player
Toshiba’s HD-A30 HD DVD player provides 1080p/24 playback for $399.
Figure 1. Toshiba’s HD-A30 has a nice high-tech look to it.
The HD-A30 is part of the 3rd-generation family of HD DVD players Toshiba unveiled in early September of 2007 at CEDIA Expo. That family also includes the entry-level HD-A3 ($299) and top-of-the-line HD-A35 ($499). The former is a basic, 1080i-only player, while the latter supports Deep Color and 7.1 channel digital output.
Given how far prices of HD DVD players have fallen in just two years, it’s a fair question why Toshiba feels the need to offer three different models of players that are priced within $200 of each other. (Over in the Blu-ray camp, none of the manufacturers offer more than two models of their players.)
Officially, the HD-A30 competes with Samsung’s BD-P1400 (also $399) for the title of the lowest priced blue laser disc player with 12080p/24 capability. In reality, I’ve seen the HD-A30 heavily discounted at Amazon ($239.98 on 12-11-07), while the PD-P1400 was $30 more at $269.98.
Figure 2. There’s not much going on with the rear panel outputs.
OUT OF THE BOX
We’ve come a long way from the original bulky, boxy HD-A1 player that took forever to boot up – and it’s only been a year and a half! The HD-A30, like its two siblings, is a compact 2.3 inches tall and its footprint is about the same as an upscaling red laser DVD player. The finish is matte black with a gloss black front panel and blue alphanumeric LED indicators.
The real panel connections couldn’t be thriftier. There’s an HDMI jack, component video jacks, and one each composite and S-video connectors. Why the latter two connectors are even included on any blue laser player is a mystery to me — if you want to watch 480i video, buy a red laser player! You’ll also find an optical (Toslink) digital audio jack and stereo analog audio outputs.
A RJ-45 LAN connector is also present, and it’s through this port that you can perform software updates and access Web-enabled content as part of specialty HD DVDs. Note that the LAN interface must be made directly to a router or integrated router/cable modem. You can’t plug in a wireless adapter and make the connection.
REMOTE AND MENUS
The remote control is a shorter version of the baton used on the HD-A2/HD-XA2 players and has a simpler keypad layout. The navigation disk is large and easily located by feel, as it sits atop the remote. Menu, Top menu, Resume Play, and Return buttons are located at four corners surrounding the disc.
The Setup button is at the very lower right of the remote and is needed to access the player menus, which are grouped into five categories — Picture, Audio, Language, Ethernet, and General.
The Picture menu is where you’ll set up aspect ratios (16:9, 4:3, or 4:3 letterbox), choose black levels (0 or 7.5 IRE), set RGB color steps (0-255 or 16-235), and choose the cadence (2:2 or 3:2, or auto). This is also where you’ll set up the player’s output resolution, selecting from 480i, up to 480p, up to 720p, up to 1080i, and up to 1080p.
There’s also an “up to 1080p/24 Hz” setting, which is a little confusing since the normal 1080p setting has a picture refresh rate of 60 Hz. For movies, the best choice would be always be 1080p/24. Note that the component video outputs won’t work with 1080p, only 1080i.
Also, most movies on red laser DVDs will not allow upscaled output (720p or 1080i) through the HD-A30’s component video jacks. You’ll only be able to “scale up” through the HDMI connection. You can, however, watch standard HD DVDs at 720p or 1080i output resolution through those same component video connections. (And if anyone wants to explain the logic behind this, I’m all ears…)
The Audio menu is where you choose between bitstream or PCM playback through the Toslink and HDMI connectors, enable or disable a dynamic audio boost when listening at low levels, and toggle a dialog enhancement feature. Languages can be selected for the disc menus, subtitles, audio tracks (where available), and on-screen displays in the next main menu.
The Ethernet menu is where you configure the player’s IP address for updates and Web content. To activate player updates, go into the General menu under Maintenance. The General menu is where you’ll find parental locks, clock settings, and HDMI consumer electronics control (CEC) functions.
OPERATION
The HD-A30 isn’t measurably faster than my HD-A2 during the boot-up sequence. It still takes the better part of 30 seconds to get going and another 10+ seconds to recognize a valid HD DVD or red laser DVD.
You can jump in and out of the Setup menu and resume playback pretty easily during a movie, unless you change the output resolution between interlaced and progressive modes. In that case, you’ll have to spin up the disc again and navigate your way back to the place where you left off.
I tested the HD-A30 with a variety of 1080p-compatible HDTVs and front projectors, including JVC’s new DLA-RS2 LCoS projector, Mitsubishi’s HC6000 3LCD projector, and Panasonic’s TH-50PZ77U 1080p plasma. The HC6000 incorporates Silicon Optix’ Reon processor, so it doesn’t need 1080p input.
In 1080i output mode, image quality was best on the HC6000. Using the Realta HQV HD DVD test disc, I saw clean test patterns with no jitter and minimal interlaced scan line artifacts on this projector. The Film Resolution test also ran smoothly with no twitter and all multiburst patterns clearly visible.
These patterns weren’t quite as clean on the JVC and Panasonic, but still acceptable when displaying the player’s 1080i output. Things took a decided turn for the worse when I switched to 1080p/60 output, however.
Figure 3. Anchor Bay’s VRS processor handles the scaling and deinterlacing.
The video processing engine in the HD-A30 is Anchor Bay Technologies’ VRS chipset, and it clearly wasn’t up to the task of 1080p/60 playback. The rotating bar “Jaggies” tests on the Realta HQV disc had noticeable scan line artifacts and the video resolution and film resolution tests flickered like crazy, with noticeable banding and filling in the small multiburst charts.
1080p/24 playback from the HD-A30 was smooth when watching clips from Transformers, Batman Begins, and Mission Impossible III, but scan line twitter was apparent in scenes where the camera tiled up or down across power lines and edges of buildings, something I didn’t see when letting the HC6000 handle the de-interlacing process.
It is entirely possible that the VRS processors were not set up correctly at the factory. I have seen better results from stand-alone Anchor Bay scalers that use a similar chipset, so it’s hard to explain all the problems with 1080p conversion on this player.
CONCLUSION
The HD-A30 isn’t for everyone. If you already have a projector or HD monitor equipped with a decent video processor, the HD-A3 may be all you’ll need. 1080p/24 output mode from the HD-A30 is very film-like, but you’ll still see some scan line artifacts from time to time.
The VRS processor does a poor job with interlaced-to-progressive scan conversion. In fact, it seems to be performing half-resolution processing, based on the Realta HQV test results. As a result, I’d recommend staying away from the HD-A30’s 1080p/60 mode entirely. If your HDTV can’t handle 1080p/24 refresh, then go with 1080i/30 output — it may very well give you better image quality.
