Yes, Toshiba seems resigned to some sort of HD disc-free existence, as it continues to mope about HD DVD's loss to Blu-ray and refrains from releasing a player for the once rival format, but let's set all aside for the moment. We got a look at
Toshiba's new XD-E500 in action, and we must say: it does what it sets out to do. Most consumers will see a visible quality improvement when playing their DVDs, particularly in the realm of sharpness. Toshiba's new filters are "intelligent" enough to spice up the grass while leaving the sky and clouds free of noise, and while the contrast and color filters are less necessary, many consumers will enjoy their effect -- even if video purists would scoff at such alterations. As for usability, it couldn't really be much easier to flip on and off the three different enhancements, but there's also no customization of those modes to speak of. This $150 player isn't in any way Toshiba's Blu-ray killer, but thankfully the company actually seems to recognize that, and plans to market to Joe consumer who doesn't want to fork over the dough for a Blu-ray player or doesn't want to invest in a brand new video library, and won't be insulting videophiles' intelligence with claims to the contrary. If you're looking for something to magically make DVDs look like HD, this isn't it, but it bests Toshiba's best upconverter easily, and we'd venture to guess it's probably tops yours as well. All that said, Toshiba will have in store demos of the player at major retailers, and we'd highly recommend taking a gander for yourself before you take the plunge.
posted August 19th 2008 2:44PM
As a follow up: I want to be able to watch content in multiple rooms, and i want to be able to put media on my laptop and take it with me, to a friends house. I'd much rather spend $600 or $800 per location (in my house) for a media computer that also allows me to see my security cameras, browse the web, access my music and video library, than I would buying a $400 piece of equipment that does 1 thing.
Hard drives are cheap. 7200RPM SATA 3.0 750 GB drives are about $100. I can store a DVD for about $0.75, and a BRD for less that $5. My entire DVD collection will cost me less than $200 in storage to store uncompressed with all the navigation, etc.
AnyDVD HD is your friend...
hmm DivX certified. I think Toshiba should throw their HD DVD owners a bone and release DivX firmware updates for their HD players or at least let groups develop 3rd party firmware for the players.
According to phanbouy, people want HD tv's but are too poor to buy HD content, Blu-ray is only good for 1080p tv's which all cost over 3k, and you have to rebuy your entire DVD library for $20 more than what you originally paid. You could not be more wrong if you tried.
glad you corrected me with, uhm, your harsh tone of reason
I don't understand why everybody seems to have such a problem with Toshiba refusing to make Blu-ray players. Would Toshiba's theoretical Blu-ray player be any different than Samsung's or Sony's? What exactly is Toshiba withholding from the world by not manufacturing a Blu-ray player? It would be one thing if Universal and Paramount were refusing to switch to Blu-ray because they would be withholding exclusive content, but one hardware manufacturer hardly makes a major difference in your ability to watch Hi-Def movies.
"If you're looking for something to magically make DVDs look like HD, this isn't it, but it bests Toshiba's best upconverter easily, and we'd venture to guess it's probably tops yours as well."
I seriously doubt it tops my OPPO deck. Suck on THAT, Engadget!
Wow. So much continued disinformation. Decent 42" 1080p sets can be had for $900-1000 now. Yeah they might not have 30k contrast and 120hz motion procesing but they are just as good as the $2500 Samsungs from a year and a half ago. Seriously the new 40" Westinghouse 1080p set is really good for $950.
Just because you get a BluRay player doesn't mean that you have to go and rebuy all of your movies like VHS, my god. In fact that is one good reason for buying BluRay, your DVD collection will still work and you can buy new movies in BluRay or even in DVD if it is a movie you don't care about seeing in HD.
The difference between BluRay and DVD is far greater than DVD and VHS. VHS quality really had more to do with your player than the tape. If you had a really good 4 head player with Quasi S-VHS playback and good autotracking, some movies looked as good as DVD. DVD and VHS both displayed at 480 on your TV. It wasn't until progressive capable displays that DVD started to show better quality. People bought DVD because of the ease of use, no rewinding, smaller size, and the discs didn't degrade like VHS tape if you watched the movie 100 times.
Again nomatter what you do you can't make 480 look like 1080 regardless of the alogorithm you use. Even if you had $100k worth of upconverting and video mastering equipment, an upconverted and resampled 480p image still would not look as good as a single 1080 frame capture. Someone running a true 1080 source through a $199 player on a 1080 display would look better than a $3000 player running a 480 upconvert.
Can DVD look good on a HD display, yes it can. Can DVD match BluRay or straight1080 sources, no it can't. As long as you understand that you can make your decision based on what you think you can live with.
actually, I just a 40" Samsung with 120hz processing for under 1100. If you're willing to spend a few months looking for deals, you can make out like a bandit.
This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Blu-Ray! If people wanted Blu-Ray to watch SD DVDs on they would be buying them for that purpose!
This is for people that want to continue to buy and watch SD DVDs, and make them look as good as technically possible today, period. This is one step beyond simple SD Up-conversion. The next step will potentially come next year.
I think that the Blu-Ray worshippers are worried that J6P might see this and think, Wow I really do not have a need for that "Blue-Ray thingie," and it costs too much. And thus they will somehow be limited or that Blu-Ray will be relegated to niche status like LD was!
Anything is possible in the CE arena, we have all seen that! (Some more than others) So I say, just let this all play out, without the "Blu-Ray is the best", sales pitch propaganda please! It's really redundant, at this point! When people are really ready for Blu-Ray (More importantly, when Blu-Ray is really ready for the people), they will go there. Until then, they will go exactly where their wallet tells them too!
Generally, I do agree with most of this! However, The differences between up-converted SD DVD an HDM (BD or HD DVD) are purely subjective! There are many factors that contribute to this. I would choose to leave that up to the person watching the movies to tell what they prefer in a given situation. Many Double Blind studies, have shown that many of the people surveyed, can not tell the difference between the respective video outputs, in the right conditions, so I'll pass on that idea, thank you!
Would be interesting if the XD-E500 played 3xDVD ...
wow...thats all i can say! you've got to see this to believe it. just got one, and my hv-dvd (i have ps3 too blu fans) will definitely go to my garage. sears has it now.
wow...thats all i can say! you've got to see this to believe it. just
got one, and my hv-dvd (i have ps3 too blu fans) will definitely go to
my garage. sears has it now.
You Blu-Ray fanboys need to get a life. The PS3 is still not the best Blu_Ray player. Actually if you want to spend the money on a good Blu-Ray player, pick up the Panasonic 50, or 30. Heck I'd dump $250 on the Wallymart Magnacrox before I would waste my time with the PS3.
As far as Toshiba little player. It's a DVD player. Not a HD DVD player or Blu-Ray killer. Toshiba's decision not to produce a Blu-Ray machine is their choice. But keep in mind, this player has been receiving great reviews, other than this Sony eating website. One more note to take PS3 owners, your double frame feature on board your PS3 is the Cell chip hard at work. Toshiba's Cell chip is in your PS3's! Before you go all over this post, you helped Toshiba release this DVD player by purchasing your PS3's. Such kind Fanboys!
If anything the Toshiba player may have Sony worrying abit. What happens if Toshiba prodcues a Blu-Ray deck, with Cell. Watch out PS3, your about to be squashed...LOL