Does the Toshiba HD-A3 do a good job of upscaling DVDs?

Question

Does the Toshiba HD-A3 do a good job of upscaling DVDs?

My current progressive scan DVD player plays movies just fine, but I plan on getting an HD DVD player for my birthday, so does the upscaling on the HD-A3 do a good job? Does it really make the picture look any better (I noticed on some darker scenes, even on movies that got perfect reviews online, there tends to be a little grain but that may be my TV since it is an LCD), or at least just as good as a high quality DVD player?

Answer 1

You might want to research what's going on in this realm.  HD-DVD has all but thrown in the towel in their battle with BLuRay.  It appears that BLuRay is the clear cut leader and likely winner.

Answer 2

Yes, it is almost as good an upconverter as the Oppo 981 -- which is considered among the best.

That said, be aware that while the format war isn't over, there are more movies on Blu-ray than HD DVD and the gap will widen over coming months.

Nevertheless, an A3 is a good DVD upconverter and since (at least in North America) Toshiba has reduced the price to LESS than a good DVD only upconverter AND still provides 5-7 free HD DVD disks, it's a very good deal.

Obviously an upconverted DVD can't provide the same detail as an HD DVD or Blu-ray, but unless you have a fairly large (~40"+) 1080p display I don't think you will see much difference. That said, everyone sees things a bit differently.

I have an HD-A2 that I use primarily as an upconverter on my 720p projector. I get an excellent picture and am not tempted to switch to HD disks (at least not until/unless prices come down to DVD level).

It's a bit of a dilemma right now should you want to go to Blu-ray rather than HD DVD. The only reasonable choice is the PS3 ... and it's 3 times the price of the HD-A3. Some of the stand alone Blu-ray players are less capable upconverters, more expensive and/or not yet mature technology.