One short note, over component, you will not get any sort of upcoversion for protected media. The most you will get will be 480p, no 720 or 1080 (you need HDMI or DVI for that).
On the HD side, I don't think you will get HD rez for HD-DVDs over component either. Anyone care to correct me on this?
As for over all AV quality through HDMI. Secrets of Home Theater hasn't reviewed the A2 yet but the good news is...
I finally caved. At $107 with tax, I picked up an A2 from Best Buy along with the
Hot Fuzz combo disc and
V for Vendetta. Along with the 5 disc mail in, this was too good a deal to pass up (anyone want to by some HD-DVDs?). So, by extension, The Real HT Info Podcast now has an HD-DVD test platform.
The second piece of good news is that the fine folks over at Silicon Optix sent me an
HQV HD-DVD, so I'll run that through the A2 at some point (maybe this weekend, I need to get another episode recorded).
The answer to your question is forthcoming. Until then, enjoy your new player.