The DRX-S77U is a lightweight external slim drive that can burn up to 8X DVD+/-R discs. It can also write to DVD+RW discs and read DVD-RAM discs. It connects to the host PC via USB 2.0 and comes in several colors including black, white, pink, and gold. The drive seems to be aimed at Sony netbook users.

The company has also unveiled a new AD-7260S internal DVD/CD recorder. It has a 24x max burn speed for CDs and DVDs. The drive has buffer under-run technology and offers LightScribe technology for disc labeling using compatible media.

Whichever you preferred when the whole thing was going down might be irrelevant now, who knows. Either way, Toshiba bowed out of the fight last year, saying that they were no longer going to back the defeated high-definition discs, or make HD DVD-players. The result was a huge sale on discs all over the place, and some brand new movies were going for as cheap as $1. But now that Blu-Ray is here to stay, it looks like you need to find a pretty good Blu-Ray player to take the place of that ancient HD DVD player. On a light-hearted note, the press release even adds that the Toshiba Blu-Ray player will not play HD DVDs.

Thankfully, Toshiba has managed to make their presence finally known in the Blu-Ray world, by announcing the BDX2000. Stand-out features include BD Live (Profile 2.0), which allows for users to utilize the interactive features via an Ethernet connection. Using the REGZA-LINK(R) function, the new BDX2000 can connect with a REGZA LCD TV via a HDMI(TM) cable and display full high definition content with a single remote control. So if you haven’t already picked up a Blu-Ray player, you should check out the BDX2000 when it becomes available in November, for an estimated $249.99

WAYNE, N.J., Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ — Toshiba America Consumer Products L.L.C. (“Toshiba”), a market leader in home entertainment products, underscores its commitment to high-definition entertainment with the introduction of its first Blu-ray Disc player. The BDX2000 provides Full HD 1080p digital output that when coupled with a REGZA(R) LCD TV, enables consumers to enjoy the superior quality of high-definition audio & video content.

Supporting BD-Live(TM) (Profile 2.0), the BDX2000 allows users to take advantage of interactive features through an Ethernet connection. With interactive content enabled on select Blu-ray discs and Bonus View(TM) support for picture-in-picture capability, Toshiba’s Blu-ray player offers state-of-the-art home entertainment.

Complementing the player’s stunning picture quality, design is an integral component of Toshiba’s home entertainment products. This new Blu-ray Disc player boasts a faceted design featuring a smoked mirrored front panel. The stylish front panel dropdown door conceals the player’s primary functions, allowing for a smooth, clean facade.

“Toshiba is a technology leader in high definition products,” said Jodi Sally, Vice President of Marketing, Digital A/V Group. “From listening to our consumers we know they demand access to full high definition content. With the introduction of our BDX2000 we are offering consumers what they want with a breath-taking HD viewing experience to meet the needs of today’s home theater.”

Using the REGZA-LINK(R) function, the new BDX2000 can connect with a REGZA LCD TV via a HDMI(TM) cable and display full high definition content with a single remote control. For added convenience, the BDX2000 features a SD card slot, making it an entertainment hub in the home by allowing consumers to showcase photos and videos with ease.

Additional Product Features:

BD-Live(TM) (Profile 2.0)
1080p/ 24 fps Full HD Video Output
AVCHD Playback
Toshiba REGZA-LINK(R) (HDMI-CEC)
Support for enhanced audio formats from Dolby(R) True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio | Essential(TM) Playback
Bonus View
SD Card Slot
ENERGY STAR(R) Certified
Pricing and Availability:

Toshiba Blu-ray Disc Player

BDX2000 (available November, MSRP $249.99)

About Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C.

Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. is owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, a world leader in high technology products with subsidiaries worldwide. Toshiba is a leading manufacturer of a full line of home entertainment products, including flat panel TVs, Hi-Definition Blu-ray Disc players, TV/DVD Combination products and portable devices. Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. is headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey. For additional information, please visit www.tacp.toshiba.com or www.toshibatv.com.

Important Notes:

This product does not play HD DVD discs. Blu-ray discs with high-definition content required for HD viewing.

Viewing high-definition content may require a HDCP capable DVI or HDMI input on your display device.

Performance of interactive and/or network features may vary depending upon disc design or content, and may also require an always-on broadband internet connection. Additionally, firmware update may be required for some interactive and/or network features. Some features may require additional bandwidth.

When using BD-Live(TM), certain content and services may require that you have an SD card or SDHC card with available storage capacity of at least 1GB inserted in the SD card slot of this player. Content and services through BD-Live are provided by third-parties and are subject to change or discontinuation without notice. Toshiba makes no warranties, representations, or assurances about the content, availability or functionality of third-party content or services.

For 1080p / 24 frames output, content that was encoded in 1080p/24 fps is required.

Viewing 1080p/24 fps output requires an HD display capable of accepting a 1080p/24Hz signal.

1080p capable display required for viewing content in 1080p.

Use of REGZA-LINK(R), a feature based on HDMI-CEC, requires an HDMI-CEC compatible display device. Depending on the specifications of your display device, some or all REGZA-LINK(R) functions may not work even if your display device is HDMI-CEC compatible.

Supported card types: SD cards: 8MB?2GB, SDHC cards: 8GB. Supported file types: JPEG, MP3, WMA and AVCHD. Some cards and files may not be supported.

Because Blu-ray is a format that makes use of new technologies, certain disc, digital connection and other compatibility and/or performance issues are possible. If you experience such issues, please refer to www.tacp.toshiba.com for information on the availability of firmware updates that may resolve your problem, or contact Toshiba Customer Solutions.

Some features subject to delayed availability.

While every effort has been made at the time of publication to ensure the accuracy of the information provided herein, product specifications, configurations, system/component/options availability are all subject to change without notice.

BD-Live and Bonus View are registered trademarks of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories.

DTS is a registered trademark & the DTS logos and Symbol are trademarks of DTS, Inc.

ENERGY STAR is a registered mark owned by the U.S. Government

HDMI, the HDMI logo and High-Definition Multimedia Interface are trademarks or registered trademarks of HDMI Licensing, L.L.C.

All others are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Toshiba’s involvement with Blu-ray has been a long time coming, not least because the company was responsible for the rival HD-DVD format.  However HD-DVD failed to find favor with buyers, and so around eighteen months after announcing their format was dead, Toshiba have jumped onto the Blu-ray bandwagon.

In their press release, below, Toshiba highlight both the growth of Blu-ray products and the demand from consumers and retailers for them to produce their own range as key motivators.  Back when HD-DVD collapsed, Toshiba had suggested that it would focus on digital delivery rather than another disc-style format.

Press Release:

Toshiba Applies to Join Blu-ray Disc Association
10 Aug, 2009

Tokyo—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) announced today that the company has applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and plans to introduce products that support the Blu-ray format.

As a market leader in digital technologies, Toshiba provides a wide range of advanced digital products, such as DVD recorders and players, HDTVs and notebook PCs that support a wide range of storage devices, including hard disk drives (HDD), DVD, and SD Cards. In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA.

Toshiba aims to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format, including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year. Details of the products, including the timing of regional launches, are now under consideration. We will make announcements in due course.

Anyone with even the simplest of home theaters today probably has several remote controls lying around. If you do I am betting you are probably the only one capable of working the system in your house. A cool universal remote called the MX-5000 with a haptic touchscreen was unveiled that supports Wi-Fi and RF communication. Sounds cool right up until you get to the part where the price is going to be $1,500. I’ll take a Harmony One thank you. Early this week HP also debuted a new ProBook 4310s notebook that starts at $779.The machine has some nice options and specifications for those looking for more power than a netbook has to offer.

Windows Mobile 6.5.1 ROM was demoed on video this week and the new mobile OS has been tweaked to support touch screens, something we can agree is needed today. Intel launched some very nice new SSDs this week that are cheaper and have better performance than its previous SSDs. A new SSD with 320GB of storage is set to debut at the end of July according to some rumblings we heard. Yeah, it will be expensive.

We got our hot little hands on the Orange Toshiba TG01 for a full review this week. The handset has a nice big screen and runs the Snapdragon platform. In the end the TG01 is hard to live with by our estimations until some fixes are issued. The coolest surge protector ever tipped up Tuesday from TRC called the ElectraShield. The protector is an in-line device that fits between the AC cord and the boxy power supply of your notebook.

Sadly a Foxconn employee committed suicide this week after losing a prototype 4G Apple iPhone. Reports say the employee jumped from his apartment window after being physically abused and illegally detailed by investigators from Hon Hai — Foxconn’s majority stockholder. On a more positive note, the Plastic Logic eReader will be powered by Barnes & Noble. The bookseller will be the exclusive provider for content on the reader when it launches.

LG announced an odd netbook this week called the Xnote Mini X120 in partnership with Levi’s. The netbook has a lid with an image of the back pocket of a pair of jeans on it and it comes with a denim cover. It’s a very odd product tie in to me. Intel’s Core i5 750, i7 860, and i7 870 CPUs may be coming on September 6 according to information we found. The parts will have a price tag of up to $562.

WiMax hit Las Vegas this week and brought the Samsung Mondi with it. Clearwire still has a long way to go before it has service in enough areas to support the nations 4G jones and the Mondi itself is said to be not that great. Intel debuted speedy 34nm X25-M SSDs this week with capacity up to 160GB and prices for lots of 1,000 of $440.

We also got our hands on the dead sexy HTC Hero early this week for a full review. I want this device so badly; too bad I am stuck with AT&T. In the end we reckon Android has come of age with the HTC Hero. Apple posted profits this week that will make other computer makers green with envy. Despite the gloomy economy globally, the firm had the best non-holiday quarter ever with $1.23 billion in profits.

We gave the T-Mobile myTouch 3G a through video unboxing this week. It’s a tough job being a professional geek, but someone has to do it. The Samsung S9110 watch phone will hit France soon and is called the world’s thinnest watch phone. You can finally live up your Dick Tracey fantasies without looking like you are wearing that massive 80′s calculator watch you had as a kid. That persistently rumored Apple tablet/netbook has a new update to its rumor wagon that has it launching this holiday season with a Verizon data subsidiary.

Microsoft insiders say that a new Xbox 360 with the Project Natal motion sensing tech will be offered in the second half of 2010. Microsoft says the tech will also come in Windows as well. Wednesday had a video hands on of a couple new Blackberry Storm 2 prototypes being unveiled. The prototype devices were said to be early versions and newer versions are supposed to be floating around already. Plastic Logic announced Wednesday that its coming eReader would connect to the AT&T 3G network and offer integrated Wi-Fi.

Intel announced Thursday that it would appeal the massive $1.45 billion fine that was levied against it by EU regulators. Intel said it would pay the fine and the massive charge drove it to a loss for the quarter. Dell finally got a bit of sense this week when it came to its sexy Adamo ultraportable. The firm cut the price of the sleek little machine by up to $500. Ford may be hurting with car sales at all time lows, but it has unveiled a slick new mobile office for its F-150 that connects to the Internet via Sprint EVDO technology.

Renders supposedly of the HTC Leo were first seen this week and the device could be the Touch HD successor. The phone runs Windows Mobile 6.5 and looks like it will be a nifty mobile. Sprint started selling the Palm Pre online this week. I hardly think anyone really wants a Pre has been holding out until they could buy it online. Walmart announced a new laptop from Compaq selling for a bargain price of $298. The coolest part is the machine isn’t a netbook; it’s a full notebook with 3GB of RAM, 160GB of storage, a 15.6-inch screen, a 2.10GHz AMD Sempron and NVIDIA 8200M graphics.

I have had my hands on a few pico projectors since they first started to hit the market and the biggest problem with most of them is low resolution. The CTO of Syndiant said Thursday that pico projectors with 1080p resolution would be available in the next three years. I hope they are brighter as well. The Garmin/Asus nuvifone G60 and M20 will hit Taiwan this month and early next month. The devices are set to come to the U.S. sometime later this year.

Palm and Apple are having a bit of tug-o-war over the ability to synchronize the Pre to iTunes. Last week Apple killed the sync capability of the Pre with an update and Friday Palm fixed the Pre’s sync capability. We can bet that another Apple update is coming soon to kill the new update ability. One of the things that I have long disliked about portable mice is that they offer little in the way of sensitivity. Razer fixed that pet peeve this week when it announced the new Orochi Bluetooth gaming mouse. The mouse has 4000dpi resolution and is ambidextrous all for $79.99.

Sony announced three new Blu-ray devices Friday, two of which hold 400 Blu-ray or DVD films and the third packs Wi-Fi into a single disc player. Friday we posted a review of the Gigabyte Booktop M1022 netbook. The netbook has a slick dock and while it costs a bit more than its rivals, it’s one step above them in quality and flexibility. Acer debuted some new notebooks this week in its TravelMate Timeline series. The new machines are the 3810T, 4810T, and 5810T. The machines range in price up to about $993.

Well, that’s it for another week in review. I’ll see you next week at the same geek time, same geek channel!

Full Microsoft Blu-ray statement after the cut

“As we have stated before, we have no plans to introduce a Blu-ray drive for Xbox 360. We have a long-standing high definition strategy that runs across gaming and premium content, and it’s a strategy that continues to pay off for us. Today, we offer the largest library of blockbuster games and offer a growing library of nearly 20,000 movies and TV episodes on Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace (more than 5,000 in HD). In addition, people have access to 12,000 films and TV episodes on Netflix Instant watch. And coming this fall, Xbox LIVE will launch digital movies with instant on 1080p HD streaming so you can experience the best video quality with no disc, no download and no delay” Microsoft statement

In fact, Microsoft attempt to head off any criticism of the absence of current 1080p high-definition content, by highlighting their upcoming Xbox LIVE 1080p HD streaming service.  That will arrive in the fall, and sit alongside the console’s existing Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace and Netflix Instant streaming.

Of course, having “no plans” no doesn’t mean that Microsoft may not change their minds should Blu-ray become more successful.  It’s always been a differentiating factor between the Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3, but then Microsoft have arguably been quicker on the draw than their rivals when it comes to streaming media.  It’s a lot cheaper – and quicker – to throw a Blu-ray drive in a box, though, than develop a streaming media service, so there’s no reason to believe that Microsoft couldn’t do that in future alongside their existing LIVE system.

[via Neowin]

This first model is likely to hit Japan initially, where as of winter 2008 the high-definition format was tipped to have achieved 50-percent market share.  A Blu-ray recorder is expected to follow shortly after, since the standalone devices account for more than 70-percent of market share.

It’s unclear how much business Toshiba have sacrifice during their waiting period, but their initial plans to “drive mass market access to high definition content [with] high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies” has obviously failed to deliver as great a profit as they believe Blu-ray might.  No word on when we might expect to see Toshiba Blu-ray products reaching the US and Europe.

[via PC World]

The movie studio is now offering a trade-in program called Red2Blu that allows people to trade in 25 Warner Bros. HD DVDs and have them replaced with Blu-ray versions.

Of course, this new program isn’t free and it’ll cost you $4.95 per disc plus $6.95 for shipping on each DVD. What is kind of cool though is that you don’t have to send in the discs to the WB, rather, you just need to send in the cover art for the HD DVD discs you own and want replaced.

Taiwanese manufacturers are unwilling to spur another Format War, supports of CBHD to friends in mainland have dropped and decided to stick with Blu-ray disk format only. Reports also cited part of the seasons were similar schemes failed to deliver China-based optical disc red-laser technologies (EVD) and its alternate DVD format, FVD to win over studios’ and CE markers’ supports.

The Taiwanese’s setback will leave the lone Format in the hands of few China-based vendors and consumer electronics to burden the home grown blue-laser optical disc technology. Counting the yuan, CBHD players sells at about US$438 is way too steep to penetrate the established Blu-ray standard.

The Dark Knight sold 600,000 Blu-ray edition copies on release day, shattering previously held records for high definition disk sales. In all, The Dark Knight sold a total of three million copies, making Blu-ray sales just 20 percent of total sales numbers.

In hopes that the Batman summer blockbuster would generate unprecedented sales, Warner Home Video shipped one million Blu-ray copies for the release of the DVD. “In the first two days across those three territories, Blu-ray Disc sales are running between 25 percent and 30 percent of total (disc) sales, which is a massive number,” Warner’s Ron Sanders told Home Media. “We had expected Blu-ray to account for a significant percentage of sales, but not quite this high, which speaks well for the format. It’s really catching on with consumers.”

The Dark Knight broke records set by the Robert Downey Jr. action hit, Iron Man. Iron Man only sold 500,000 Blu-ay disks within the first week. Studio executives were reportedly trying to push the high definition disks after reports stating that there were 147,000 new Blu-ray players being sold on Black Friday week alone. Warner Home Studio says that they may be able to sell one million Blu-ray disks by the weekend.

Here are list of Toshiba HD-DVD players with firmware 4.0 available for upgrade. I’m happy to report my A35 with FW4.0 has resolved quirky basic operation like FF and FW halts, and no more jaggies on 1080/24 material.

HD-A1, HD-XA1, HD-D1, HD-A35, HD-A2, HD-A2W, HD-A2C, HD-D2, HD-A20, HD-XA2, HD-A3, HD-D3, HD-A30.

[via Toshiba]

I’m a fan of Blu-ray. Sure back when it was first announced, initial speculation leaned in HD-DVD’s favor. But with the PS3 sporting a Blu-ray player, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind now–Blu-ray won the battle of the next-gen DVD player.

And that’s great. Blu-ray is awesome. The picture is clearer and the menu features are much more interactive. Even so, many consumers are saying, “so what?”

Much of this has to do with the fact that Blu-ray is not an entirely new technology. Sure, it’s an improvement on the DVD, but it’s not a brand new thing. Many people wait to upgrade their systems until there’s something totally new (and 100% accepted) on the market. DVDs still outnumber Blu-rays in stores. I mean, some stores don’t even carry Blu-ray at all! And correct me if I’m wrong, but I could have sworn my local Target carried many more Blu-ray movies a few months ago than they do now.

So what does this mean? Has Blu-ray already had its moment in the sun? Will it be phased out to make room for the “next” technology? It’s hard to say. But when the majority of Blu-ray sales are to those with a PS3, (or at least a very significant portion of them) you know there’s a problem. When a stand alone player can’t sell on its own, there’s a definite issue at hand.

Blu-ray also has a unique disadvantage. It’s the first new video technology that has to compete with an actually thriving downloadable movie business. When you factor in iTunes sales and Netflix rentals, there’s a greater emphasis on renting than ever before. In short, people are sidestepping the whole “what player to buy” decision altogether by renting movies or downloading them onto their computers.

Standard DVDs look great. There’s no doubt about it. And sure Blu-ray looks better, but only if you have an HDTV. Otherwise, standard and Blu-ray are playing on the same playing field.

As much as I love Blu-ray, it has a rocky road ahead. With high costs, increased rentals and downloads, and a public without the equipment to appreciate its superior quality, Blu-ray may very well be doomed.

The Magnavox and Sylvania branded Funai NB500 Blu-ray player were spotted at Walmart. The NB500 is Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player and it is price quite low at $298. It sports HDMI version 1.3, HD audio codec’s, and DVD upscaling. These units are obviously low end BD players and somehow outdated, but again the price point might lure some potential buyers.

[via engadgetHD]

“Our net profit sharply fell due to the end of HD DVD business” Toshiba spokeswoman Hiroko Mochida

Toshiba also blamed a drop in the price of flash memory chips for their ailing profits. Revenue overall for the quarter was 3-percent lower than last year, at 2.09 trillion yen (US$20bn). Total profit for the financial year up until the end of March 2008 was 127.4 billion yen (US$1.2bn), a fall of 7-percent.

Of course, the flip side is that laptops and PMPs using solid-state memory are more affordable than ever for consumers.

[via Engadget]

I like the fact that Blu-Ray is constantly adding new features and overall making its technology a better purchase for the consumer. The broad market for BD players though makes it hard to figure out which one to buy and with some companies pushing the market upwards of $2000 for a Blu-Ray player things are starting to get ridiculous.

Then there is the fact that a single company, Sony, still controls the sole production of a number of Blu-Ray components which almost means that getting Sony’s approval to enter the market is a must. That means that it’s not likely that you’ll be seeing an affordable BD player hitting the shelves under some generic electronics manufacturer’s name, and if competition, such as Microsoft, try and add the technology to their systems, Sony has the power to make that a lot harder task than you might imagine.

I wrote an article last week I believe about the likelihood of Microsoft adding Blu-Ray to their Xbox 360’s and the biggest concern wasn’t how, or whether the hardware would support it, it was whether Sony would allow the OEM who won the contract to purchase sufficient numbers of the requisite parts to make the drives. Then I see headlines fairly regularly regarding the Blu-Ray association limiting who is allowed to produce the disks which will serve its purpose of keeping low quality or knockoff disks off of the market, but will also keep prices of the discs up.

So, what are your thoughts? Are you still grasping tightly to your HD-DVD player and small collection of HD-DVDs? Or have you fully accepted Blu-Ray as your savior and switched your entire collection over to Blu-Ray? Maybe next time everyone will further consider the merits of each format instead of just going with the one that’s integrated into their new gaming system.

Optional Blu-ray burner is available too, however Dell is still shy from letting the price out. The laptop itself features 15-inch screen and an HDMI port allowing HD connection to HDTVs.

HD-DVD departures prompted many other manufacturers to slap Blu-ray in their Laptop Lineup; last week Asus introduced its M50 laptop with integrated Blu-ray drive.

[via crave]

My view on a Dual-Format player starts to sound like a broken record. Like it or not, Dual-Format player is phasing out, along with future supports on the most erratic Hi-Def optical disk. The cost is more expensive a typical Blu-ray player or the combination of both. You do not want to get a blu-ray supported player with the Hybrid. That’s not the Hybrid for green but an orange alert with disasters waiting to happen.

I’m not bashing Future-Shop for doing a charitable act; the HD-DVD is still a killer DVD upconverter despite its main role as a HD-DVD player, I’m sure the Boys and Girls Club would benefit from the donation. How about a store credit without string attached? Try Circuit City. Shoot!, I would Never dreamed addressing Circuit City as a role-model.

[engadget via futureshop ]

No more Circuit-City’s secret handshake to trade in you HD-DVD for Blu-Ray, the electronics retailer is now officially launching the promotion according to AP. Circuit City will accept returns of HD DVD players within 90 days of purchase with proof of purchase receipt; customer will receive store credit or use it to pay the different for a Blu-Ray player. Again, this offer is not applicable on HD-DVD movies. Kudo to Circuit City. Now, only if I can get Amazon to take back mine.

“[A hybrid player] remains a practical solution, but the window of opportunity is smaller than it was before,” said the company at electronisa today. They have not made any decision to pull the first-run combo player of the shelves. But If I were the owner of the hybrid, I would dump one as soon as possible. Dual-Format support is twice as erratic and inconsistent than a typical standalone player with sole HD or Blu-ray support due to the complication of interactive menu from hi-def media; It’s only matter of time before Samsung giving up future supports on BD-UP5000, entirely.

This decision was Made in light of Toshiba’s recent announcement that they are discontinuing their HD DVD business. The reasons for offering the emulator for free are two-fold.

Microsoft is committed to interactivity and giving content authors the ability to create more compelling entertainment experiences. The specification for HDi was developed with significant input from studios like Warner Bros. and Disney based on scenarios they desired in the next generation format. Offering the emulator for free allows a greater audience to experiment with interactivity with little to no cost.

Second, the emulator beta program had approximately 80 participants across the industry who relied on the emulator for testing HDi content. Continued access to the emulator will assist those post houses and developers in completing their outstanding HD DVD projects.

Honestly, I can’t say that I’m surprised. There’s really no reason to charge for software that’s meant to be used with a dead format and a discontinued product.

[via MaxConsole]

The Studio has pulled previous scheduled to release Bee movie, supposedly the next big HD-DVD release, as well as There will be Blood – starring Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis and Sweeny Todd – Starring Captain Jack Sparrow as mid-19th century serial killer.

The decision will leave Next week’s March 4 release of Things We Lost in Fire and Into the Wild as last HD DVD titles released by the studio. See-ya!

[via video business]

Ignoring the optical drive for a moment, you can’t really fault the rest of the X205’s specs. Intel’s T8100 Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz, 3GB of PC2-5300 DDR2 667MHz RAM, NVIDIA’s SLI Dual GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB of dedicated memory and two 160GB 7,200rpm hard-drives make for a very respectable media and gaming machine, certainly when you couple it to a 17-inch WSXGA+ TruBrite display capable of 1680 x 1050 720p HD.

Gigabit Ethernet, Intel’s 4965 a/g/n WiFi adaptor, a modem and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR round out the networking options, while there’s a webcam and microphone in the screen bezel, six USB ports, one firewire and an ExpressCard slot. Toshiba have also used all that chassis space to fit an HDMI port, S-Video, S/P DIF output that doubles as a headphone socket, a mono microphone jack and 5-in-1 media card reader. Four harmon/kardon speakers nestle around the keyboard, and there’s a subwoofer hidden underneath.

Needless to say, the X205 can handle just about any program or task you throw at it. Whether you’re a gamer, a video editor or just like to have more processing cycles than you know what to do with, optical drive aside it’s unlikely that the Toshiba would fail to satisfy. What we were more interested in was its media performance; how well it fits into a decent home theatre setup, whether for a popcorn-filled video night or a long session of immersive gaming.

Setting up Toshiba’s X205-SLI4 for TV display is quick and simple, with an HDMI port pumping out up to 1080i video. The X205 recognised the 1080p 24hz capable projector AE2000u in a blink, and I was able to force 24hz at 1080p to get solid 1:1 mapping.

Next, we synced the X205 up via an Onkyo DCT 9.8 preamp-processor; the handshake was a little jumpy but it settled after few attempts. With the 9.8 in pass-through mode, I couldn’t force the video out at 1080p 24hz, it knocked the existing 1080p 60hz set-up to 1080i (30hz) as soon as 24hz was selected. Setting the 9.8 in scale mode at 1080/60p eased up the handshake, but we still couldn’t get 24hz pass-through the projector either. The pre-processing only does pass-through at 24hz, so such behaviors are to be expected. I can’t blame the sources for less-than-ideal HDMI handshake as the earlier model of DCT 9.8 (used for testing) is known to have few problems of its own.

It’s unfortunate that Toshiba was in the phase of pulling out of HD-DVD business at the time ours dropped for review. The X205 comes with a multimedia remote control and internal HD-DVD player that manages wonderful HD playback; the built-in drive and included software is more than sufficient and quieter than my Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on/PowerDVD 7.0. Compared to Sony’s PS3, fan noise during HD-DVD playback is slightly better on the Toshiba, fairly acceptable for a dedicated home theatre setup.

The Vista-multimedia features can be accessed via remote control without booting up the computer’s Windows operating system, making it very convenient and easy just watching video or listen to music without going to Vista-nightmare. The remote control can power up Vista if the user has the power plugged in. It also comes with an external USB HDTV tuner that allows live TV to be paused or recorded, as well as individual or multiple recordings scheduled; it uses OTA HD signals rather than cable or satellite, but an optional antenna is required. I was excited to test out these features, since my last experience with PC-based ASTC was a few years back with the bulky first-gen myHD tuner. The second 160GB hard drive should be sufficient for most occasional users to try out recording shows, but unfortunately the Toshiba HD tuner uses a different size of RF-cable adaptor that’s larger than a regular RF connector. The manual claimed this adaptor is included but we couldn’t find it in the packaging. We did try out the beta version of MSN-Internet-TV, tons of ads but it worked without any notable issues even with a wireless connection.

Toshiba did not leave out security feature on this system; by adding a finger print reader, it will make sure that your buddies won’t be messing up with your games’ saved data. The touchpad provides extra navigation features such as volume control and quick mail access. It also lights up in the dark!

We ran 3D Mark 06 benchmark to test the 3D performance on this laptop. X205-SLi4 scores 3740 without SLi and 6632 with SLi enabled. Obviously enabling SLi helps when it comes to playing games that requires intensive 3D processing.

Like most desktop replacement laptops, the X205 comes with a huge external power transformer; as much as we hate to carry around a giant power adaptor, that’s what you get for picking a 17-inch power laptop. But the big question is whether the 6000mAh internal battery is adequate to sustain the X205’s power consumption. With HD-DVD playback on its own 17-inch screen, the battery is draining at the rate of ~1.8% per minute. King Kong lasted around 52 minutes before the annoying low-battery warning started to beep on me with a claimed 10% battery life left. The movie started to stutter to the point of being unwatchable at around 6%, then shut itself off about 30 seconds later. Basically, if you forget the power adaptor you have 55 minutes to show off your obsolete high-definition discs! Just to make sure it wasn’t HD-DVD that consumed most of the power, we put in the GodFather One Legacy DVD. Well, Michael didn’t make history saving the Don: battery life is improving with standard DVDs but it still completely drained in around 70 minutes. A completely bled-dry battery will take around 2 hours and 15 minutes to fully recharge.

That leaves the biggest problem of all: can we recommend the X205 SLi4 when one of its headline features – high-definition video playback – is dependent on technology we all now know is being dropped? While there’s no doubting that the rest of the specs make this a monster of a home media and gaming machine, that HD-DVD drive is a big black mark against the Toshiba. I can only imagine that the company is scrambling to find alternative optical drives, this time Blu-Ray, and I know that if it were my money I was spending – and remember the range starts at a whopping $2,499 – I’d be waiting for that switch to happen before I ordered it. With a Blu-Ray drive in place, I’d have no qualms about recommending the X205.

Rating:

3.5 out of 5 gears

Then there is the thing with the 2 extra USB ports which would give you enough ports for Rock Band without having to use that stupid self-powered USB hub that comes with the game. Then there is the upside that if you already have any HD-DVD discs, or if you intend on buying some when their prices hit the floor, you’ll have what is quite possibly the cheapest player around for them.

Get them while they last, as Chris Barr mentioned, they have quit making them, which I am pretty sure is because Toshiba were the manufacturers of the drives. Just click the via link to land yourself on the purchase page, its $49.99 plus shipping which is $4.99 estimated, or you can pick it up in store.

[via BestBuy]

Microsoft has officially announced that they will no longer be offering the HD DVD player accessory for your 360. It really comes as no surprise to hear, since everyone else is calling it quits too.

There is a silver lining to this story. If you’re looking for a cheap upscaling DVD player, you can almost bet that these will be clearanced off for next to nothing, so keep your eyes peeled.

[via GamerScore]

GameStop has officially announced that they will not be accepting any HD DVD items for trade-in. This not only includes movies, but your practically useless Xbox 360 accessory. I can’t say I really blame them, as I don’t see many people rushing out to purchase these items, even if they’re marked down and used.

So if you’re one of the people that is stuck with an HD DVD player add-on and a few movies, I might suggest hitting up your other local gaming stores. Game X Change has always been good to me, they may still be taking them. Perhaps your local shady pawn shop might give you a few bucks as well. Then again, maybe you still want to watch your old HD DVDs.

[via IGN]

According to highdefdigest, the company says “at this present moment in time, it is necessary to provide a player which supports both formats and therefore create simplicity and convenience for the existing HDDVD consumer.” and they aren’t ruling out HD-DVD immediately as “there are still a number of consumers who have chosen HDDVD and begun to build a HDDVD collection.” The comment about accommodate early adopters is touching, but I believe they just can’t get over loses of current production, making last effort to clean out the casualties of Format War. One advice for LG, pimps them out cheap while you can. The future is Blu, not dual.

Toshiba Announces Discontinuation of HD DVD Businesses
19 February, 2008

Company Remains Focused on Championing Consumer Access to High Definition Content

TOKYO–Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has undertaken a thorough review of its overall strategy for HD DVD and has decided it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders. This decision has been made following recent major changes in the market. Toshiba will continue, however, to provide full product support and after-sales service for all owners of Toshiba HD DVD products.

HD DVD was developed to offer consumers access at an affordable price to high-quality, high definition content and prepare them for the digital convergence of tomorrow where the fusion of consumer electronics and IT will continue to progress.

“We carefully assessed the long-term impact of continuing the so-called ‘next-generation format war’ and concluded that a swift decision will best help the market develop,” said Atsutoshi Nishida, President and CEO of Toshiba Corporation. “While we are disappointed for the company and more importantly, for the consumer, the real mass market opportunity for high definition content remains untapped and Toshiba is both able and determined to use our talent, technology and intellectual property to make digital convergence a reality.”

Toshiba will continue to lead innovation, in a wide range of technologies that will drive mass market access to high definition content. These include high capacity NAND flash memory, small form factor hard disk drives, next generation CPUs, visual processing, and wireless and encryption technologies. The company expects to make forthcoming announcements around strategic progress in these convergence technologies.

Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand.

This decision will not impact on Toshiba’s commitment to standard DVD, and the company will continue to market conventional DVD players and recorders. Toshiba intends to continue to contribute to the development of the DVD industry, as a member of the DVD Forum, an international organization with some 200 member companies, committed to the discussion and defining of optimum optical disc formats for the consumer and the related industries.

Toshiba also intends to maintain collaborative relations with the companies who joined with Toshiba in working to build up the HD DVD market, including Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks Animation and major Japanese and European content providers on the entertainment side, as well as leaders in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Toshiba will study possible collaboration with these companies for future business opportunities, utilizing the many assets generated through the development of HD DVD.

That’s just for the laugh. We’ll see how Toshiba addresses the official cease production by tomorrow according to the Nikkie.

[via Washingtonpost]

If HD-DVD is still alive by June, they will lose the World’s largest retailers, Wal-Mart’s blessing to distribute HD-DVD products nationwide. Wal-Mart has officially confirmed phasing out HD-DVD by early Summer and continue to support Blu-Ray (no surprise there). The company also says changes will take place quickly in the next several months and store-shelves will be rearranged to promote Blu-Ray movies and products exclusively by June. So what’s left for Toshiba in retail sectors? We expect to see Amazon joining the the HD-DVD-Shutdown Anonymous Group… very soon.

[via blu-ray]

I wouldn’t be surprised. Nothing has been working out for HD-DVD since the Warner’s setback, they have lost sales in software and hardware, supports on rental and retail stores, and what they have done to stop the bleeding? None, really.

The highly anticipate Super Bowl ad turned out a re-hashed version of an old advertisement, and only aired in selected cities. New marketing strategy carried out the same price-cut and cheaper hardware that the only way they knew how to compete with the rival. What they have managed is keeping the last two allies, Paramount and Universal studio in the pocket to keep the Format War alive.

The marketing and official’s response to losing position seems mute and lack of fight. The Promotional Group and Toshiba are still rephrasing the same canned argument of HD-DVD is better and they have faith that thing will work out…just fine. Never get old huh. May be it’s true; Toshiba is running out of breath and they are taking the highway, but to think Toshiba would drop the Format before Paramount and Universal Studio is hard to swallow.

I also tested severals legacy DVD and the upconverted-quality is as sweet as it can be, only one title arranged seems to exhibit terrible jaggies and worst, stuttering with 24hz out.

What seemed to improve is the menu bugs with DVD 24hz’s up-sizing is now gone. A separate frame rate option is added with auto or 24hz out, which is basically a forced 24p option for legacy DVD. The HDMI handshake is still a hit and miss with my Integra 9.8 pre-pro but a quick toggle on the source solved the same old issue.

The long waited firmware upgrade for Toshiba latest HD-DVD player is here. I don’t have the time to upgrade mine yet will report its functionality later today. According to the released notes on Toshiba site, the new firmware 2.0, upgrading from 1.3, improves and fixes:

-1080/24p on (HD-A30, HD-A35)
-Network connectivity
-HDMI/DVI Handshakes
-Playback problem with some disc

You can download and burn it onto a physical disc for upgrading or just uses the player network feature to obtain the FW directly.

Haven’t they been promoting and showcasing Blu-Ray since day one? What they have done in the past in promoting HD-DVD ? None really, not because they don’t believe in the Format but it was Toshiba lack of marking effort to work with CE manufacturers and electronic retails like Sony did. No financial incentive means no showcase, simple as that.

If they believed in a clear winner out of this mess and aimed to assist customer with the right choice, they would have declared allegiance to one Format by now. The pimp just leaves enough room for Toshiba with a counter offer. Cha-ching $

[via reuters]

The first drive, the 300, can also play both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. It can read each format’s discs at speeds of 6x for Blu-Ray and 3x for HD-DVD.

The second drive can do all of that, and write to Blu-Ray discs at varying speeds depending on the disc, those are as follows: BD-R (single or dual layer) at 4x, BD-R (SL LTH) at 2x, and BD-RE (single or dual layer) at 2x. No word on price, but they’ll be available at the end of this month.

[via nordichardware]

Do you know how many CE manufacturers that are really supported HD-DVD and what they have in common? The RCA, Xbox 360, Venturer and Onkyo are all rebadged or manufactured by Toshiba, not counting the Korean Giants with combo player like LG and Samsung. The RCA went back to legacy DVD, Venture didn’t sell well and the word on the street is Onkyo is pulling out as well.

The information is vague to say the least, but Onkyo has decided against bringing their first and possibly last HD-DVD player, DV-HD805 to the UK. Although no further words on US’s front if they are discontinuing the product, it’s signaling the already weakening Format at Europe even further. If you are counting, there isn’t any new HD-DVD hardware announced at CES 2008 this year. Toshiba is deep in a hole trying to keep the crumbling Format alive, both software and hardware wise.

The company did disclose a new HD source will be revealed later this year but cannot confirm it will be a Blu-ray, HD-DVD or combo player. Frankly, with the growing rate of Blu-ray popularity these days, i’ll bet my two cents on Combo or Blu-Ray.

[via homecinemachoice]

It did but not nationally according to highdefdigest. It’s quite a pity for some of us that were hyped-up from the news, waited to see what Toshiba would come out with 2.7 million dollars investment for a comeback. I went back to my Tivo twice last night but no sign of Toshiba whatsoever. I guess they didn’t target the DFW area. But guess what, I didn’t miss a thing; it appears to be the same old, re-barged football-themed from Toshiba, nothing new and creative about it.

If you aren’t on Toshiba’s hit-list, here’s one from YouTube. Draw your own conclusion.

[via highdefdigest]

National Geography has informed highdefdigest that they are done with HD-DVD, any future HD releases will be featured in Blu-Ray only. This doesn’t come as a shocker since NG is part of Warner-distributed company so I guess it shouldn’t take before BBC home video, the last Warner subsidiary to remains format neutral, heads for Blue camp as well. They have released more Hi-Def titles in nature and wildlife category more than other studios, I’m sure you heard of Planet Earth.

The oceans are getting bluer and so will the jungles, great plains and deserts in future Hi-Def.

[via highdefdigest]

Apparently Microsoft has seen this outcome as a possibility, and knowing that they don’t want to be left behind, they’ve been secretly talking to the Blu-ray camp for some time. While their talks aren’t exactly of adding a Blu-ray player to the 360 just yet, they are trying to partner with them to integrate a piece of software called HDi, which is a key part of HD DVD’s interactivity.

This certainly indicates the strong possibility of adding a Blu-ray accessory in the future, but until HD DVD rolls over and dies, I wouldn’t expect much of a change. Besides, Microsoft is more concerned with the fact that it plays regular DVDs, as that’s what most people are watching anyway.

[ via Xbox-Scene]

The Super Bowl is the year most anticipated sport event in the United States. The market estimated more than 100 million viewers tune in for the game this year. Toshiba ad may not convince the industry Its HD-DVD format is a better their rival, but their strategy is to spread the technology though commercial, or perhaps to calm the public fears in losing battle? ‘We’re not done, check out our old HD-DVD players at affordable price’

We haven’t seen heard any new development of HD-DVD hardwares since the A3-x series. May be they were right; they need more marketing initiatives instead of throwing cheaper and better hardware in a blindfold. Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy one of the worst electronic devices I ever owned, the To.shit.ba HD-A35. It’s a classified Class-F buggiest media player that requires a frequent unplugging unit procedure to maintain its duty. Hey, who needs a power on/off button when you can reach the power cord? “HD-DVD, now with extra long power cord!” I want to see on commercial.

[via tgdaily]

The Warner setback really put Toshiba at the worst position ever in the Format War. We heard enough of HD-DVD trailing the Hi-Def software sales in the last two years, and now they are facing largest-scale of losses in hardware department as well.

The newest report from the research group NPD said Blu-Ray has an advantage of 60/40 margin in hardware sales at December, the split slowly increased to 70/30 in the first half of January, then finally led to huge 93/7 margin between the first and second weeks of January. The research group said the results are based on the total sales of standalone hardware. They did not include the data with game consoles like ps3 or xbox-360 HD-DVD add-on.

Despite Toshiba aggressive price cut one after another on their full line of HD-DVD players, little they can do to stop the bleeding. The average hardware price on Blu-Ray is about $100-$200 more than HD-DVD with the exception that there are more choices in blue camp. Perhaps they should just promote buy 10 movies and get a free HD-DVD player instead. HD-DVD keeps losing ground in both hardware and software sales, and it is likely to face the same defeat in PC industry.

[via thedigitalbits]