Toshiba lowers HD-DVD entry level to $499
Toshiba lowers HD-DVD entry level to $499
The nitty gritty of the two Toshiba players should be familiar to anybody who's followed the next-gen format fracas. The units support a variety of video codecs, including MPEG-2 as well as MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1. The more expensive HD-XA1 has a couple of cosmetic enhancements (a motorized drawer!), a backlit remote, and a selection of three different user interfaces, as well as some improvements to construction. It also has a pair of USB ports "for convenient connection of gaming controllers," according to the press release (no further details were provided). Interestingly, both players--and all forthcoming HD-DVD players--will only output high-definition resolutions via copy-protected HDMI outputs, so people whose HDTVs don't have HDMI or DVI/HDCP inputs won't be able to enjoy the improved image quality of HD-DVD. According to Pioneer and Philips, the competing Blu-ray players may still enable high-def output via analog outputs, but we're skeptical about that. If Blu-ray did allow HD resolutions via analog, it would have one more major advantage over the less expensive HD-DVD players.