A reason I hate Toshiba and HD DVD

[Chad Varnadore]

Circuit City stopped carrying Toshiba for a time due to something similar. They recently just started carrying Toshiba again, and I'm guessing it's because Toshiba lifted their requirements for them solely to get them to carry HD DVD. Personally, and this has nothing to do with HD DVD, but if I owned or ran a electronics store, I wouldn't carry Toshiba. I've owned a lot of their DVD players, from cheap DVD/VCR combos, to models from their audio grade line, costing 2000.00. I've never been satisfied with the quality or performance of any of their products, except the XA2. But, already I've had operability and reliability issues with that piece as well. I have very little faith in the long term reliability of their products and in most cases the design quality.

I hate to say never, because I have a habit of giving companies a second chance even when they haven't shown they deserve it, but at this point in time, I wouldn't even consider a Toshiba product as a gift or for myself, even if every other brand cost more and had less bells and whistles. I simply don't trust their designs. I wouldn't even have one of their players for HD DVD if any other manufacturer was supporting the format, assuming anothers unit wasn't a rebadged Toshiba. Of course cheap chinese players are an even poorer alternative.