Toshiba's $300 HD DVD Player: Oh So Tempting

I know, I know, the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD is still raging, and placing your bets now with one camp or the other is a foolish proposition. But every time I walk into a TV store and see "Batman Begins" in razor-sharp, high-def glory, I want to throw caution to the wind and bust out my credit card. If your resistance is fading, check out CNET's review of this second-generation Toshiba HD DVD player—great picture, all the features you'll need (save Blu-ray compatibility, of course), and it's just $300. Hand...reaching...for...wallet...

The HD-A2, as CNET notes, is on the low end of Toshiba's latest line of HD DVD players, so you'll be missing out on such features as full 1080p video output (which you probably wouldn't notice anyway, unless you've got a 50-plus inch HDTV and Superman-like vision) and multichannel analog outputs (for surround-sound DVD-Audio and SACD discs), but otherwise you get all the goods, including Dolby Digital and DTS sound decoding, along with support for Dolby TrueHD, the new high-def lossless format. Image quality on the HD-A2 was top-notch, according to CNET's reviewer, both for HD DVD discs standard-definition DVDs upscaled to 1080i. And then there's that $300 price tag, much cheaper than the $500-plus HD players that seem to be the norm.

OK, so the big question: is the HD-A2 worth buying? For most, I'd have to say no—you are, indeed, better off waiting it out to see which high-def format wins the war (with any luck, we'll have a winner within the next 18 months or so). Since the HD-A2 plays only HD DVD discs, you'd be missing out on Sony, Disney and Fox movies, which means no "Casino Royale," no "Pirates of the Caribbean" (fine by me), no "Spider-Man"—then again, the Matrix trilogy just came out on HD DVD, and Universal titles (like "Apollo 13," "Miami Vice" and "The Bourne Supremacy") are currently HD DVD-only.

But if you're sorely tempted by an HD disc player and you're considering laying down serious cash (meaning $200 or more) for an upscaling DVD player to tide yourself over, the HD-A2 just might be worth it. I just spend about $250 on an Oppo player that upscales DVDs to 1080p; it's a great player, mind you, and its image quality is impressive, but in retrospect, I wish I'd spend another $50 for some HD DVD action. And if HD DVD loses the format war, I'm out $50. I can live with that.

So, video fanatics, you willing to shell out $300 to go the HD DVD way, at least temporarily?

Related:
Toshiba HD-A2 review [CNET.com]