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Toshiba's second gen HD DVD players due by year-end in Japan
While the next HD DVD players bearing the Toshiba nameplate may be delayed in the US & Europe, they hadn't been officially announced in Japan yet. AV Watch has the details revealed there, where the lower-end model will be called the HD-XF2, to go along with the HD-XA2 as both will launch in December. The specs appear to be the same as the players due in other parts of the world, the HD-XA2 gets an HDMI 1.3 connection and 1080p output -- deinterlaced 1080i via a Silicon Optix chip in the player itself, no native 1080p/24 here folks -- while the HD-XF2 has an old-school HDMI 1.2a connector and loses the analog 5.1 audio outputs of its predecessor in exchange for an improved slim design. The HD-XA2 is set for 110,000 yen ($934 US) while the HD-XF2 will retail for a paltry 49,800 yen ($423 US). The company also acknowledged the US delays due to an unspecified problematic third party chip, but at this point we can still expect to see the new hardware on store shelves this year. Continue on for a picture of the HD-XA2 with its casing in place and unmentionables hidden away, or to AV Watch for even more pictures.
Toshiba RD-A1 HD DVD recorder launches in Japan
After a slight delay, the Toshiba RD-A1 HD DVD burner is finally available in Japan. This is the first recorder for the format, which besides being the approximate size of an aircraft carrier also has a 1TB hard drive to save broadcast TV via either of its tuners. Once you've got it on the 1000GB HDD, you can burn it in MPEG-2 format to 15GB or 30GB HD DVD-Rs, which your good friends at Mitsubishi and Hitachi/Maxell will be more than happy to provide. If that sounds like too much work you could always stream the content to DLNA compatible equipment like your Qosmio laptop. Finally, this is the first standalone HD DVD player that plays back at full 1080p resolution. At 398,000 yen ($3,407 US, down from $3,466 due to the exchange rate), we'll have to wait and see if this fares well in burner-crazy Japan against Blu-ray recorders that have been on shelves there for several years now but slow to take off so far.
