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Toshiba HD-EP10: Cheapest 1080p high-definition player yet

Hold on to your hi-def cash for a few more months -- Tosh is bringing a new 1080p HD DVD player to the UK in May for under £500

Jason Jenkins Director of content / EMEA
Jason Jenkins is the director of content for CNET in EMEA. Based in London, he has been writing about technology since 1999 and was once thrown out of Regent's Park for testing the UK's first Segway.
Jason Jenkins

Crave hopes you haven't just rushed out and bought Toshiba's top-end HD DVD player -- there's a new one that's basically the same, but cheaper.

The HD-EP10, unveiled at CeBIT, has a similar look to its bigger brother but is made of standard DVD player plastic rather than the HD-XE1's bullet-proof, shiny metal. Crucially, it can output video at 1080p for the very best HD DVD picture quality.

Its release follows recent price drops for rival Blu-ray players.

The HD-EP10 has a network point so that, in the future, the player will be able to download extra content related to the disc, such as up-to-date movie trailers.

It supports the latest Dolby True HD and DTS HD audio formats for the highest quality surround sound, and has all the connections you'd expect, from HDMI to optical digital out. Unlike the top-end HD-XE1, there are no analogue 5.1 audio-out connections, but you can't have everything.

Arriving in May, the HD-EP10 will cost about £480. - JJ