Toshiba to unveil Blu-ray killer

30 May 2008 15:01 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

If you are a little nostalgic for the red versus blue mud-slinging days of the next-gen disc format war then take heart with this news out of Japan - Toshiba is prepping Blu-ray killing tech for launch later this year.

The company is working on "an extension to the DVD format" which will offer video quality comparable to that produced by Blu-ray and the now defunt HD DVD discs, a Japanese newspaper reports.

Toshiba will start to offer a DVD player based on the new technology within 6 months, the "Yomiuri Shimbun" paper said, quoting unnamed sources within the company.

Following the price war strategy of the HD DVD format, the new "enhanced" DVD players will be cheaper than Blu-ray players, an obvious move considering that the high cost of Blu-ray is one reason consumers have yet to mass adopt the format.

The new DVD player will be backwards-compatible with ordinary DVDs. No information has been provided on the technology behind these players - Toshiba already offers upscaling DVD products, so its unclear at this stage how this "extension" tech will work.

Full tags

Home Cinema, Blu-ray, HD DVD, Toshiba, Rumours