Toshiba launches HD DVD lite with new XDE DVD player

18 August 2008 10:04 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Toshiba has launched a new upscaling technology and put it straight into a new DVD player that promises to improve your current DVD collection beyond what is currently available in the market.

Called the XD-E500, the new technology, announced in the US today stands for XDE, or "eXtended Detail Enhancement", is, claim Toshiba, more than just DVD upconversion.

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.

"Consumers have embraced the DVD format like no other technology and invested in large libraries of their favorite movies. As the market moves towards high definition, XDE lets them experience their existing DVD library and the tens of thousands of DVD titles in a whole new way", said Louis Masses, Director of Product Planning seemingly forgetting that it tried and failed to launch a next generation format in the guise of HD DVD.

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.

The XD-E500 is shipping this month in the US with a $149.99 price point, no UK date has been set for the XD-E500 as yet, although with IFA at the end of the month, we would expect an announcement then.

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.

Full tags

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