We will see only time will tell how would it go.

So I could not resist having Toshiba HD Player "A3" for $99.99 from CC I might have joined the format loser of HD but who know.

Exactly and the thing is that it isn't over until all movie studios cease production. Keep in mind you have exclusive support from the following:

Universal Studios
NBC
Focus Pictures
Rogue Pictures
The Sci-Fi Channel
USA Films

Paramount
Dreamworks/Dreamworks Animation
MTV Films
Nickelodeon Films
Comedy Central DVD
CBS
PBS

Also you have the independent film studio that is on the rise. The Wienstien Company (including Dimension Films)

http://www.weinsteinco.com/

That and until June you still have support from Warner Bros. and will probably be able to get some amazing deals on their HD-DVD library in the next few months. Outside of Warner Bros. You have that ATM cannot be had in high-def on Blu-Ray on your player that set you back a whopping $100. You are correct that you cannot possibly lose. Also be sure that you don't break the seal on the movies that you don't really want that you got as freebees as you will be able to get more for them on ebay. Just sold my free copy of 300 for $11.50. So if you don't want ANY of the 7 free movies that you get you could potentially knock an additional $60-$70 off of the purchase price of your player. I know for a fact that this works as I sold off 4 of the 5 of the freebees that I got from Toshiba the first time around and I averaged about $10 a piece for them since I didn't break the seal. Just something to keep in mind, although it will take no less than 8 weeks to receive your 5 free titles via mail so don't expect them right away.

Weinstein, as the url also suggests.

Yeah, typing when I was half asleep again.

I also read that the A30/35 is being sold for $145 at CC? Very tempting.

A35 for 145 is a steal.

Haven't heard that, I've heard of the A30 going for that price. Cheapest I have seen on the A35 is the current pricetag on them from Amazon.com ($236.99 shipped). Either way not bad considering the A35 can compete with the $400-$500 Blu-Ray standalone players in every respect and then some.

The only reason I did not go for A30 or A35 is because the native resolution of my Samsung 5054 plasma is 1365X763P. Therefore having HD player with capability of 1920X1080P resolution is not worth extra money when I can’t display it in my TV without down converting it.

That and if you pick up a decent 1080p set with good de-interlacing there will be absolutely no difference between it and the A30. The A35 does have the deep color technology but good luck getting one of those for less than the price that I mentioned AND you would need a set that supports 1080p/24p with HDMI V1.3 to take advantage of that. For the money you absolutely cannot beat the A3 in terms of what it offers.

Try to update the "A3" firmware by downloading the latest version (1.3) from Toshiba Customer Support then burnt it into both CD-R & DVD-R inserted into player but player refuse to read the boot format disc for the reason not being normal format disc. Question:

1) How do you verify what version of firmware your "A3" has before updating it?
2) Why the A3 Player refuse to read any CD-R or DVD-R data disc (ISO burnt data)?

3) I do not see any menu that read format disc to be set for CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW as Toshiba Manual claims the player is cable to read and play thse formats.

There is only Twin Format set either DVD or HD DVD.

Edit: Answer to Q(1): According to Toshiba the verification for firmware version is under "Maintenance/update/1.3/1.1" which is supose to be version 1.3 and the latest version of firmware.

put the zip in a folder then unzip and look for the ISO file. The go to Nero and burn it as an ISO file.

I am kinda confused about the A-30 HDMI 1.3 this spec sheet (Under detailed specs) says it does have deep colour abilty. So unless it's a typo the only difference for the A-35 would be the 5.1 analog outputs. Still learning but I think all version 1.3 support deep colour but I could be wrong

No the issue go way beyond these preliminary steps, the problem is the player refuse to read any CD-R or DVD-R.

You are right if the difference between "A3, A30, A35" is deep color which both A3 and A30 are lacking then why "Firmware Version 1.3" is applicable to all three(3) models/.

Make sure that the disc is finalized. I went to the ISO and right clicked then selected Nero Burning Rom, slowed the burn speed a bit (32x) and burned it, works fine. Img Burn doesn't work for some reason with the Tosihba ISO. Also before you try the disc go to the players menu and hit initialize ( under maintenance, might help.) It takes a while for these players to read discs so patience is a virtue. Good luck.

Edit: Just saw post #191 "Maintenance/update/1.3/1.1" If your player says that then you already have the latest FW and the player will not update or reinstall the FW. Says so somewhere in the manual.

Yes I do have 1.3/1.1 latest FW version , also I did used the ISO file of 1.3 which is been recognized by A3 player, but then in general A3 fails to read any other CD-R or DVD-R data.

I had the same problem so I just update via ethernet. Much easier, at least for me it was.

After the upgrade does your "A3" read CD-R, CD-RW or DVD-R without any trouble?.

Your asking Jesterrace but I will chime in and say my D3 (Same FW as the A-3) and A-30 both have no isuues reading CD-R or DVD-R. Haven't tried a CD-RW so far.