Wayne (NJ) – Toshiba today announced its “near HD” DVD player, which effectively succeeds the company’s HD DVD players that were removed from the market earlier this year. Toshiba’s first XDE player will debut later this month, are promised to offer better image quality than standard DVD players for a price that is twice that of other 1080p upconverting DVD players, but only half the price of Blu-ray players.
The XD-E500 player will shed light on Toshiba’s high-definition strategy, which is described as "eXtended Detail Enhancement." Promised to be more than “just DVD upconversion”, the company admits that the detail level will not be as high as what a Blu-ray player can deliver, but enough to tale “DVD picture quality to a whole new level”. In addition to 480i-1080p upconversion capability, XDE will offer “user selectable picture enhancement modes that allow for greater detail, more vivid colors and stronger contrast that bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience.”
These enhancements include a “sharp mode” to improve the visualization of details. Toshiba says that “XDE technology analyzes the entire picture and adds edge enhancement precisely where it's needed.’ Then there is a color mode that makes “the colors of nature stand out with improved richness”, as well as a contrast mode that is designed “to make darker scenes or foregrounds more clearly visible without the typical washing out that can occur with traditional contrast adjustment.”
While XDE has replaced the HD DVD section on Toshiba’s website, no further details about the player were released at the time of announcement. It was widely expected that Toshiba would leverage a stripped down version of the Cell processor to increase the processing power of its new DVD players. At this time, there is no confirmation whether this is the case or not.
With a price of $150, this new XDE player is more expensive than Toshiba’s entry-level HD DVD players at their time of cancellation, about twice as expensive as typical 1080p upconverting DVD players and half as expensive as entry-level Blu-ray players. We will have to wait for first reviews to get any idea whether this player is a good deal. If the XD-E500 is as good as Toshiba claims, the device could buy undecided HD buyers more time until they switch to cheaper Blu-ray players or devices that entirely rely on Internet movie streaming.
Toshiba’s XDE, however, does not change the fact that Blu-ray discs contain six times the image detail and information than DVDs, which means that this new XD-E500 will not be able to achieve the image quality a Blu-ray player can. But it you currently own a mid-size 720p or 1080i HDTV that cannot take advantage of 1080p and you do not plan on upgrading to a 1080p TV anytime soon, XDE may be a new option.
Just don’t bet on XDE having any impact on the HD battle. DVDs are generally expected to remain the dominant video format until 2012, which would give such a player several years of life, but high-definition will certainly take another direction with Blu-ray representing the online/offline option and Internet movie streaming, which is promoted by companies such as Microsoft, the pure online choice.
The XD-E500 player will shed light on Toshiba’s high-definition strategy, which is described as "eXtended Detail Enhancement." Promised to be more than “just DVD upconversion”, the company admits that the detail level will not be as high as what a Blu-ray player can deliver, but enough to tale “DVD picture quality to a whole new level”. In addition to 480i-1080p upconversion capability, XDE will offer “user selectable picture enhancement modes that allow for greater detail, more vivid colors and stronger contrast that bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience.”
These enhancements include a “sharp mode” to improve the visualization of details. Toshiba says that “XDE technology analyzes the entire picture and adds edge enhancement precisely where it's needed.’ Then there is a color mode that makes “the colors of nature stand out with improved richness”, as well as a contrast mode that is designed “to make darker scenes or foregrounds more clearly visible without the typical washing out that can occur with traditional contrast adjustment.”
While XDE has replaced the HD DVD section on Toshiba’s website, no further details about the player were released at the time of announcement. It was widely expected that Toshiba would leverage a stripped down version of the Cell processor to increase the processing power of its new DVD players. At this time, there is no confirmation whether this is the case or not.
With a price of $150, this new XDE player is more expensive than Toshiba’s entry-level HD DVD players at their time of cancellation, about twice as expensive as typical 1080p upconverting DVD players and half as expensive as entry-level Blu-ray players. We will have to wait for first reviews to get any idea whether this player is a good deal. If the XD-E500 is as good as Toshiba claims, the device could buy undecided HD buyers more time until they switch to cheaper Blu-ray players or devices that entirely rely on Internet movie streaming.
Toshiba’s XDE, however, does not change the fact that Blu-ray discs contain six times the image detail and information than DVDs, which means that this new XD-E500 will not be able to achieve the image quality a Blu-ray player can. But it you currently own a mid-size 720p or 1080i HDTV that cannot take advantage of 1080p and you do not plan on upgrading to a 1080p TV anytime soon, XDE may be a new option.
Just don’t bet on XDE having any impact on the HD battle. DVDs are generally expected to remain the dominant video format until 2012, which would give such a player several years of life, but high-definition will certainly take another direction with Blu-ray representing the online/offline option and Internet movie streaming, which is promoted by companies such as Microsoft, the pure online choice.