Toshiba launches HD DVD lite with new XDE technology in UK

28 August 2008 10:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Following on from the US launch eariler in the month, Toshiba has announced details of its new upscaling technology DVD player in the UK.

The new DVD player promises to improve your current DVD collection beyond what is currently available in the market.

Possibly smarting from the HD DVD debacle at the beginning of the year, the new player, the XD-E500 will be able to upscale content to 1080p and come with the usual array of connections including HDMI as well as supporting file formats such as DivX, MP3 and JPEG.

Hoping to capture those not looking to upgrade to Blu-ray, the DVD player will be over half the price of the current range of Blu-ray players on the market and cost £119.99 when it launches at the end of September.

According to Toshiba, while many commentators are likely to believe the launch of the technology is a kneejerk reaction to the loss of the HD battle, it says it's been working on the technology for over 2 years, way ahead of the end of the format war with the aim of using the XDE technology in other devices besides DVD players.

Earlier in the year Pocket-lint was shown a prototype of a television by Toshiba with upscaling capabilities suggesting that using this new technology, Toshiba could be about to launch an upscaling TV as well.

We will keep you posted.