IFA 2006: Toshiba announce HD-E1 and HD-XE1 HD-DVD players

1 September 2006 14:57 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Toshiba has announced two new HD-DVD models to Europe at IFA in Germany.

The two new players, the HD-E1 and HE-EX1 will cost 599 and 899 euros respectively and feature no regional coding.

Toshiba confirmed that the two players which are "considerably" improved over the players that have launched in the US at a packed press conference in Berlin.

The new high end HD-XE1 will sport 1080p, 1080i and 720p support, DVD video up conversion to 1080p, 1080i and 720p with HDMI terminal, HD 4 x over sampling with DAC 297Mhz, HDMI version 1.3, s-video, composite video terminals, Analog 5.1 ch audio outers and an Ethernet socket.

The HD-E1 will feature 1080, 720p support as well as other features such as HDMI v1.2 analgo 2 ch down mix audio.

Toshiba has said that the UK will get the first batch in Europe along with France and Germany however it will still be 2 months after Samsung launches its Blu-ray player in the UK.

The HD-E1 will be available from November and the HD-EX1 will be available in December.

The players will of course play regular DVDs.

More information when we get it.