hd-a1
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The RCA HDV5000 appears on Circuit City's website.
Toshiba's HD DVD player, the HD-A1, has been alone on the market for about 2 weeks now. The units seem to be selling well, but they are 'bout to get some competition from Circuit City and RCA. You can't find the Toshiba model in any Circuit City store but they are still going to carry HD DVD players. The first one is from RCA and is currently up for pre-order at CirucitCity.com. Looks a bit like the HD-A1 you say. Well, we hear that it is the same inner workings as Toshiba's model. The HDV5000 is going to retail for the same price and include the HDMI cable just like the Toshiba.
CNET: 10 ways HD DVD fails short
People ether love HD DVD or they don't. CNET is the latest in the HD DVD hating club with Ten ways HD DVD falls short. David Carnoy goes through a great list of why HD DVD didn't impress him. Truthfully, he has some good points. But in defense of Toshiba, they just released the player. Most of his complaints are about the player itself, HD-A1, rather then the format itself. Most first generation products have never been flawless. (i.e. PSP, Xbox 360, MacBook Pro) The best point on the list though? #10: A death of discs. HD DVD was supposed to launch with 30 titles but only three was available on the launch date.
HD-DVD reviews: They like, not like, LOVE it
That's what Reuters is saying and if the poll Ken pointed out in AVS Forums is any indication, they are correct. Toshiba's HD-XA1 has, despite limited content, poor demos, massive size and little public awareness, found acceptance with initial buyers and reviewers. I know many of our readers will be shocked to hear this, but apparently there is a considerable audience waiting for high definition content free from nasty compression artifacts and limited television broadcast schedules. More interesting to note is that some buyers are expressing hesitance towards Blu-ray, with its players starting at $1000 and going up from there. Did they just interview some HD-DVD fanboys (Odds are high they did, with only 10,000 units in stores.), or is there a possibility even the early adopting home theater community won't spend that much on movies? Whatever the case may be, we know two things for sure. HD-DVD is currently the absolute best format with <7 titles available on the planet; and Blu-ray, the clock is ticking, better get in the game.[Updated (working) link]
Warner to release first hybrid HD-DVD May 9th
Those early adopters who've already picked up a Toshiba HD-A1 but don't want to buy duplicate copies of each movie for use on their current car and portable DVD players have gotten a reprieve from Warner Home Video, who just announced that the first hybrid HD-DVD/standard DVD will be available on May 9th. However, folks looking for a Matrix-like title to put their new toy through its paces will probably be disappointed with Warner's choice: the critically-panned 2005 Kevin Costner/Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy "Rumor Has It." Plus, don't think that the 480p content on the flip side of the disc is just a bonus, as these hybrid offerings are debuting for eleven dollars more than their single-copy counterparts. Still, if these discs enable you to create a backup of the flicks you buy on HD-DVD, even at non-HD resolutions, the extra dough might be worth it in order to get maximum utility from your purchased content.[Via eHomeUpgrade]
Another look at the inside of Toshiba's HD-A1
Some people are just so curious. Take Lorin for example. He ran out and bought Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player and documented him opening the thing up. The six minute clip includes everything from him removing it from the box to installing the HD DVD drive in a PC. No, Windows does not recognize it silly, but BIOS did. He did indicate that purhaps Vista would...It is differently worth watching if those internal pics of the player was not enough to satisfy you.
Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player review roundup
Now that Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player is finally available in stores -- and there are even some discs out to play on it -- reviews are starting to trickle in, mainly from dedicated early adopters, who've braved confused sales clerks, cumbersome boxes, and a remote with more options than Windows Vista, to try the player themselves. We saw one of the first such reviews, from The Man Room, yesterday. Now, we've had a chance to check out a few more (props to PC World's Martyn Williams, who not only got one of Toshiba's Japanese HD-XA1 players to review, but even checked out the bundled Japanese films "Biohazard" and "Moonlight Jellyfish"). If there's a consensus opinion, it's that HD DVD may be great for early adopters and HD connoisseurs, but less discerning viewers may not see what the big deal is. As Ben Drawbaugh puts it on HDBeat: "Bottom line is that HD-DVD is great, but will you notice? If you can't tell the difference between DVD's and HBO HD than you might be just as well off with a upconverting DVD player. If you never noticed HBO-HD's cropped movies, non-dynamic sound and compression artifacts you may be better off sticking with HBO-HD. If you do notice these annoyances you won't be disappointed with HD-DVD or Blu-Ray." HDBeat DVD Town PC World High Def DVD Digest CNET AVSForum (long thread of user reviews and reports)
Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player gets hands-on treatment
As the first HD DVD players finally make their way to stores, The Man Room wasted no time in going out and buying one to test it out. Well, actually, it looks like the reviewer wasted a little time, since he had to call no fewer than four Best Buy outlets to find one that actually had a Toshiba HD-A1 in stock -- or even knew what he was talking about (one clerk's comment was a simple "What is it?"). But by last Friday, when each Best Buy was supposed to have three of the units in stock, he was able to set out and make the purchase. So, what did he find? Well, besides the massive player we've already seen, he discovered an equally bulked-up remote, the HDMI cable and a pitch from NetFlix (hey, you've gotta get those discs somewhere, right?). Of course, all of that is incidental to the real question: how did the video look? Well, we're not sure we're going to get a straight answer here, since this early reviewer didn't have any HD DVD discs, and ended up using the player to watch upscaled standard DVDs. We'll cut him some slack, given the paucity of HD DVD offerings out so far. So, is it worth $500 to rush out and buy one of these? If you've been waiting for the chance to watch, er, "The Last Samurai" in true HD, you already know the answer. If not, you've probably already missed your chance to pick up one of those three HD-A1s from your local Best Buy, so kick back with your over-the-air, cable or satellite HD, and let someone else fight the format war for you.
Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player goes topless
Although not the complete screw-by-screw disassembly that we're accustomed to, here's your first chance to get a glimpse inside Toshiba's new HD-A1 HD-DVD player and check out the magic circuitry delivering all that 1080p goodness. As we learned yesterday, a few retailers (we're looking at you, Best Buy) jumped the gun on Tuesday's scheduled rollout and began selling some of their stock early, much to the delight/frustration of early adopters who got the latest tech but no HD content to play on them. Luckily for us, one of those foolish trailblazing souls was kind enough to remove the lid from his unit's case (gently, we hope) and snap some photos of the guts for all Internetland to peep. Nothing really exciting here -- like the VCRs and DVD players before it, most of the content is air -- but there is a nice closeup of the rather imposing heat sink, along with the obligatory CPU and RAM shots. Click on for another pic, or hit the "Read" link for the entire set...[Via HD Beat, thanks Dave Z.]
Internal pics of Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player
There is a bit of curiosity in all of us. Even if you don't know how the heck it works, you still would love to see the insides of one of the new Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD players. AVS Forum user Zerokills just got his hands on his player and cracked it open as soon as he could. (original AVS Forum thread) There are some sweet pics. Got to tell you that we learned somethings from these pics. First off, it seems to be very well built. The HD-A1 also has 1 gig of DDR2700 and the main processor has a heat piped cooling system. Check 'em out. Let us know your first impression.[Thanks for the tip Mark]
Toshiba's HD DVD now on sale! (in Japan)
The day is finally here! High definition DVDs are moving in and those ol' DVDs are gettin' kicked to the curb. (just joking) Toshiba has officially started selling their first HD DVD player...too bad it is only in Japan. The HD-XA1 is selling for 93,436 yen ($795) but it comes packaged with high-def copies of Resident Evil and Moonlight Jellyfish (an extra star goes to anyone that has seen this.) Unfortunately, the cheaper HD-A1 is no where to be seen.
Toshiba HD-A1 HD-DVD player - CNET's take
Toshiba's HD-A1 HD-DVD player arrives in a few weeks for those that pre-ordered it and CNET is providing their early take on the $499 device. On the upside, it shouldn't matter what format the first batch of HD-DVDs will use, since the HD-A1 provides support for MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and VC-1, which is actually a superset of the Windows Media 9 codec. On the downside, this whole HD-DVD and Blu-Ray battle isn't quite over, so CNET (and many of you) are holding off to see how it shakes out. At $500, the HD-A1 isn't a bad entry level player provided you have an HDCP-capable HDTV, you're willing to deal with 1080i movies in lieu of true 1080p discs, and there's enough content for you.Our take is that the studios are watching and waiting to see how well these first Toshiba HD-DVD units actually sell. If the sales momentum builds, you can bet more studios will suddenly publish in the format.
