Toshiba to roll out HD-XA1, HD-A1 HD-DVD players in March

Toshiba plans to hit the US market with two HD DVD players this March, targeting both mainstream consumers with the HD-A1 and early adopters with the HD-XA1. Both models will support native HD in 720p and 1080i. The higher-end model, the HD-XA1, will include four DSP engines for audio output, along with two front USB ports, stabilizing feet and multiple user interfaces. The HD-A1 is expected to retail for $499, while the HD-XA1 will be $799.

[Scorp 56 @ Jan 4th 2006 2:51PM]

$499 for a DVD player? Oh h@ll no! Sometimes it hurts to be on the bleeding edge. Me and my checkbook will wait this one out, thanks.

[MuDoggy @ Jan 4th 2006 2:53PM]

Its too bad Lord of the Rings will still have to be on two discs for the extended version in HD-DVD... oh well, I'll just get mine in Blu-ray.

[PJ @ Jan 4th 2006 2:54PM]

That thing is fuggly. Seriously, where is the tray on that bad boy?



I believe HD DVD will beat BluRay out now with Toshiba, NEC, MS, Intel, and HP onboard...

[japhar81 @ Jan 4th 2006 2:55PM]

Yes, its true, for the low low rock-bottom price of $499, you too can own what might turn out to be the next betamax!

[PJ @ Jan 4th 2006 2:57PM]

Scorp,

If you think HDDVD is expensive at $500, just wait till you see the BluRay prices. My guess is nothing cheaper than $899.



Why? It uses all new (and expensive tech) unlike HDDVD.

[2mellow @ Jan 4th 2006 2:58PM]

$499 not to bad not to bad at all

[Jacob @ Jan 4th 2006 3:00PM]

...and no one will buy them but rappers on Pimp My Ride.

[natiahs @ Jan 4th 2006 3:03PM]

That is exactly half as expensive as I expected first-gen HD-DVD players to cost.



The first DVD player I bought was $500 and that was nine months after launch (although only 3 months after the nationwide launch).



PS3's bump to late 06 will certainly hurt Blu-Ray if HD-DVD is debuting in just a few weeks.



Natiahs

[John @ Jan 4th 2006 3:11PM]

What, no 1080p? We heard HDMI for HD, any other outputs?

[Jeff @ Jan 4th 2006 3:15PM]

Scorp - $499 is less than regular DVD players cost when they were first introduced, and that was only a few years ago. Most people were expecting these things to be upwards of $1,000 for some time. (I don't know where anyone got that, but that's what most of the media has been saying for a while now.)



That said, you do sort of get what you pay for. The XA1 will only output 1080i max. Pioneer also introduced a Blu-Ray player today that'll do 1080p. Its MSRP is $1,800. I don't think even the higher-end Toshiba will do 1080p.



I'm more interested in bare HDDVD or BD drives for PC. My PC will output 1080p just fine on its own; if a standalone player only costs $499, I can't imagine a bare PC drive will cost more than a couple hundred bucks.

[Lee88 @ Jan 4th 2006 3:15PM]

I disagree that HD DVD will "win" in the marketplace because makers of end-user devices (Toshiba, HP) and hardware and software components (MSFT, Intel, NEC) support it. Fundamentally, consumers will buy devices for which there is content available and more of the studios have either lined up w/ Blu-ray exclusively or will support both. Sony won the last generation of console wars because there were far more PS2 titles available than Xbox games (in addition to PS2 being 1st to market).



Mass-market consumers will buy a Blu-ray player from Sony or Panasonic or whomever because they can actually buy high-def movies for it. They will not buy an HD DVD player from Toshiba because NEC also makes HD DVD drive transports or because Intel supports it for home theater PCs. Early adopters will of course buy both.

[pixel @ Jan 4th 2006 3:16PM]

Where is 1080p...

[Joe @ Jan 4th 2006 3:18PM]

YES! Stabilizing Feet!!!!!!

[PJ @ Jan 4th 2006 3:19PM]

japhar81...

Way to steal text (almost verbatim) from a competitors site...Gizmodo said "For only $500, you can be among the first to own what may well be the Betamax player of 2007."



Actually, that is not ALL Gizmodo said.



They also said regarding HD DVD: "Despite the almost total lack of support, Toshiba hasn't given up on HD-DVD yet. Blu-Ray be damned, they are introducing two HD-DVD players onto the market this year...



And "They also use some kind of 'advanced' navigation system known as iHD....". Notice the tongue in cheek use of quotes around "advanced".



Too bad Gizmodo is not as open as Engaget...you can't even comment on their site unless you get invited...so much for being held accountable.

[Starkenator @ Jan 4th 2006 3:24PM]

Does this output hd through hdmi/dvi only or does it have component outputs that do hd? No 1080p..hmmm....

[geekinc @ Jan 4th 2006 3:45PM]

Best Buy is taking pre-orders...

[begbie @ Jan 4th 2006 4:30PM]

I can't wait for Cyberhome to sell a knockoff model for $100. Screw BR and its $1000 pricetag.

[Peter @ Jan 4th 2006 6:04PM]

#16, You really need to get your facts straight. Blu-Ray also supports mpeg4 and Blu-Ray players also play DVDs. And the additional space on Blu-ray will EASILY be used with extra content or something like all the HD episodes of Battlestar Galactica on one disc. And if HD-DVD needs more than one disc to fit the season of a TV show, then its alleged cost advantage shrinks or vanishes.



But really, this is just a stupid pissing match. NONE of us know what the real costs of either media are or will be. All I know that a couple studios - Sony, Fox and Disney - have said they will never release any of their movies on HD-DVD. I'm interested in Blu-Ray/HD-DVD primarily for the movies so that's a huge disincentive to buy HD-DVD.

[hmurchison @ Jan 4th 2006 6:05PM]

MuDoggy - Nice attempt at humor.

1. New Line is Universal which means no Blu Ray yet

2. 30GB HD DVD discs hold up to 8 hours of video.



japhar81- Yes but 'tis better than paying $1000 for that same privledge (cough..blu ray)



Let's put it this way. Toshiba/NEC just owned CES 2006 by announcing pricing way better than Blu Ray. Forget the hype about 1080p outputs.



1. You need a 1080p input capable screen and if you have that kind of dough you can afford a good scaler which can take ANY 1080i format and scale it to 1080p better than most players.



This war has officially started may the best format win.

[Luis @ Jan 4th 2006 6:23PM]

As sony did with the launch of the DVD player, and others, the first releases are aimed towards early adopters. That is why their systems are at that price point. the BD players are made out of the top of the line materials. the pioneer player is part of the elite family. Not many people can afford elite products right now. I think that at 1800 dollars, that is a great price for what you get. The samsung player as an example has an all metal top! I mean these things are whats going to make it possible to get Blu Ray out there, and then in 6 months push out mass produced plastic cased blu ray players for 199. don't worry people, prices will come down. and also 1000 dollars is like the suggested retail price, most likely these blu ray players will hit the market at 899.

[kilo113 @ Jan 4th 2006 6:30PM]

yeah i'm interested in the bare computer drives, too. any decent pc with *ok* video card can play h.264 video and output at 1080p resolution.

i hope the bare drives will be reasonably priced.

[Peter @ Jan 4th 2006 6:33PM]

#18, New Line is part of Time Warner. Has been for like 15 years. So yes, Blu-ray. That's why Lord of the Rings, which was made by New Line, is going to come out on Blu-ray (as well as HD-DVD).



You're right that Universal hasn't publicly announced releasing on Blu-ray but it'll be any day now.

[EatingPie @ Jan 4th 2006 7:45PM]

You can take a cheaper player, but the Blu-Ray STBs can record... both HDTV and SDTV. All this whining about DRM, and nobody has noticed that?



-Pie

[Justin @ Jan 4th 2006 7:46PM]

$499 isn't to bad for an HD-DVD player compared to Pioneer's BDP-HD1 Blu-ray player that will retail for $1,800. *****

[Wes Felter @ Jan 4th 2006 8:49PM]

EatingPie, none of the Blu-ray boxes announced today can record.

[K @ Jan 4th 2006 9:13PM]

I was hoping HD-DVD would win, but with the numerous Blu-ray devices slated for release this year, it doesn't look good. I heard the MPA agreed on Blu-ray, too...not sure.

[Raider @ Jan 4th 2006 10:42PM]

#5, maybe you have forgotten that the PS3 will be essentially a Blu-Ray player, which should no doubt be cheaper than $500.

[Mack Swift @ Jan 5th 2006 11:44AM]

Well, again it comes down to what the consumer chooses for early adoption.



But with Blu-Ray being so expensive right out the gate and so heavily DRM-ed, HD-DVD might just win.



Sony really ternished the whole DRM stuff with the XCD fiasco, and when people find out Sony is the one that's truly peddling Blu-Ray, they may head towards HD-DVD.



Blu-Ray is so expensive because, yes, it is using all new and different top of the line materials for the players, lasers, and the discs. Why? Sony owns and patented the Blu-Ray process.

[ZED @ Jan 8th 2006 6:41PM]

Questions for all the 1080p whiners....



A) Do have a tv capable of displaying this resolution?(prolly not.....very few hdtvs can)



b) Can you tell the difference between progressive and interlaced at the same resolution? Or more importantly do you know the difference?



Again prolly not....the naked eye is hard pressed to differentiate between 720p and 1080i in most feeds

[Caleb @ Jan 22nd 2006 12:01PM]

For all the fanatic 1080p fans out there

HARDLY ANY SETS WILL ACCEPT 1080P!!!!! GET OVER IT!

Sony's SXRD set has no input that will accept 1080p
Toshiba's 1080p DLP sets DO NOT accept 1080p singnals
Mitsubishi CLAIMS it can take 1080p over firewire, but nothing else

So unless you have a 1080p set that will accept it, quit whining. If you don't even have an HDTV, you shouldn't be whining anyway. Get a TV that takes 1080p, and then whine about it.

[jim heltemes @ Jan 24th 2006 11:29PM]

Right now regular dvds have more in common with hd-dvds than bluray for one they can use the same prodution setup as dvds. ware as bluray would have to retool the prodution lines which would be exspensive and would add to bluray cost.

[jonny50604 @ Jan 27th 2006 1:28AM]

really people who cares they are basicly ginf to do the same thing, Make movies apear better to the human eye. i mean come on to the untrained eye are you going to be able to tell any difrence in the picture between a blu-ray or hd-dvd seriosly, never mind that a whole hell of a lot of people and probably alot in this forum can even tell the differance in resolution formats. the companys are getting exaclty what they wanted a war of format between us comsumers. please stop giving them what they want it will only increase prices, in the short team of course.

[Ireney Berezniak @ Jan 27th 2006 5:00PM]

I will be waiting to see what comes of the format wars before I put my money anywhere. This format battle is idiotic. I'm leaning more towards HD-DVD, to be honest ... it is a cheaper technology, and I despise Sony, which has a disturbing history of pushing their proprietary technologies.

[northreign @ Jan 27th 2006 6:47PM]

Yes. you can see a difference with 1080p. If you went to CES or read articles on it you would know.

No. you can't see much difference with 720p vs 1080i cause they are both half the resolution of 1080p. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes. Blueray is better as the compression will be less which if you have a big screen (I have 91") there will be a hugh difference. There already is between HD-Tv video and DVD video.

There ARE video devices that can use 1080p. And even if there were not it would be future proof to have a 1080p player not 1080i.