IFA 2006: Toshiba HD DVD Hitting Europe – at long last September 04, 2006

Read more DVRs , Gadgets , Home Entertainment , Storage

Long after they arrived in the US, Toshiba has finally released some concrete details at IFA 2006 for the first HD DVD players for the UK and Europe.

There will be two models: the low-end HD-E1 and the high-end HD-XE1. The HD-E1 will arrive in November capable of outputting 720p and 1080i high definition content. It will carry a price tag of €599 – just over £400 and support audio formats including Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD.

The €899 - £600 - HD-XE1 sports full high-def 1080p support and the much improved HDMI 1.3 interface. Compared to the existing HDMI 1.2 input, 1.3 more than doubles the bandwidth speed to 340 MHz (10.2 GBps) as well as boosting colour support from 24-bit to 30-bit, 36-bit and 48-bit. Due in time for Christmas.

As expected they cost a lot more than those on sale in the US but what’s new there? Expect them to sell-out like hot cakes. – Martin Lynch

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