Toshiba's HD-E1 and HD-XE1: 2nd-gen HD DVD action for Europe

The official announcement is still due for Saturday, but the word is out on the new set of HD DVD players Toshiba has planned for Europe this holiday season. Currently on display at the IFA, the new HD-E1 and HD-XE1 are a considerable step up from from the HD-A1 and HD-XA1 we've been kicking around North America, and we should be getting something similar to the E1s to replace the A1 series before long. Along with both new players slimming down considerably, the HD-XE1 goes for the gold with full 1080p resolution and an HDMI 1.3 port which supports 48-bit color and lots of other niceties made possible by the improved bandwidth. The HD-E1 is due to drop this November for €599 ($769 US) and the HD-XE1 should be out in December for €899 ($1154 US). Luckily for us, the Euro prices shouldn't be translating directly to US prices whenever these players do make it over here, so we probably won't have to sell as many kidneys as our friends across the pond to be privy to some 1080p action.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2006 11:24AM]

So here’s what we know so far. Toshiba will announce two HD DVD players for the European market, at the IFA 2006 - World of Consumer Electronics show in Berlin. Both models are expected to be similar to the planned replacements for the HD-A1 and HD-XA1 for North America.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2006 11:49AM]

Nice design.

With that player (which reminds me of the uber-successful Toshiba DVD players in Europe), and with Microsoft having the exclusivity of big soccer games (which means Sony will sell about 5 PS3s in Europe this year), the Blu-Ray will have a really difficult start in the Old Continent.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2006 12:39PM]

I mean how big of an upgrade is this, is it just PAL, or is there something more to this model. I know there is HDMI 1.3, but that doesn't really change very much.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2006 12:44PM]

I ask because this has already been annouced a while ago, so I am wondering if I am missing something.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2006 12:58PM]

Does anyone know if european HD DVD-s are in 24p or in 25p. And whether this device can play 24p material over 50p or 50i (with PAL speedup). Smooth motion is what I'm looking for.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 1st 2006 1:49PM]

um, I think Jungle Murphy's comment was a joke. Not sure though. It made me laugh anyway.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 2nd 2006 10:23AM]

Sep: European HD DVDs are all expected to be in 24p. A distributor could choose 25p if they wanted to, but there's no reason to and 24 should become the standard.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2006 12:45AM]

Films in Europe are sometimes shot at 25 frames / sec for post production purposes. It depends where post production is scheduled to be done. The first cut (offline) is mostly done in a standard definition environment where the 25 and 29.97fps 3:2 pull down issues are still in place. This will change slowly.

It depends on how they source the HD content, but due to the above, there may be a variation in frame rates which consumer HD content will be distributed. However, switching from 25 to 24 fps at point of origination would be a lot easier than to complicate things for the consumer.

As for 48 bit colour, it all sounds great. There are means of getting higher bit rates by scanning film at higher bit rates, but nowhere near 48 bit though. Most films are finalised in a 10 or sometimes 16 bit environment, so...

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2006 10:34PM]

wow. looks great!
def. an improvment over the current model.

Cant wait to get it...