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Toshiba’s HD-DVD Revenge: XDE DVD player, XD-E500 1080p

It was both painful and expensive for Toshiba when their HD-DVD format lost to Sony’s Blu-ray, but it looks like there is some HD-DVD revenge on the way.

Toshiba is launching its new upscaling technology called XDE; this stands for eXtended Detail Enhancement. Toshiba’s first product using this technology is a DVD player named “XD-E500 1080p/24fps”.

XDE promises to make your ordinary DVD’s look similar to Blu-rays thanks to some new upscaling technology. While Blu-ray has not made the public dump their DVDs yet, Toshiba wants you to keep your current DVD collection.

The XD-E500 DVD player will upscale your DVD video to 1080p, and it will also play many file formats including: JPEG, MP3 and DivX.

If Toshiba’s new XDE technology takes off then it cause a major blow to Sony’s Blu-ray, why would you want to buy more expensive Blu-rays when you can watch your large collection of DVDs in high definition?

The XD-E500 will be available this month for $149.99, we do not have a UK release date yet or price but will update you when its released. We are also hearing that televisions with “eXtended Detail Enhancement” may be on the way as well.

Source: Read

Microsoft let loose Xbox 360 HD DVD player update: Do you still love?

We all know that HD DVD has died and gone to heaven but Microsoft are not letting that stop them, because they are still showing the current Xbox 360 HD DVD player owners amazing love with the release of today’s auto update.

You can connect to your Xbox Live with a HD DVD player firmly integrated into your 360, once you are there you will be asked to download a new update, this new update will apparently help with the compatibility issues with some titles and will add additional support for network features.

Oh we must tell you that this update will not bring back to life Toshiba’s commitment to HD DVD but it should make your HD movie viewing a little better.

Oh Microsoft you do try!

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Buffalo launches HD DVD/Blu-ray combo drive

It has been announced that Buffalo Technology have launched their first external optical disk drive and the BRHC-6316U2 is a Blu-ray and HD DVD combo drive that can both read and write Blu-ray and read HD DVD.

Buffalo have said that this combo drive is easy to use, with a simple plug and play connection to any PC via a USB interface

The Blu-ray and HD DVD combo drive will be available in April

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Sony Blu-ray Player Prices Increase as HD DVD is dead

Remember the good old days when Blu-ray was competing with its rival format HD DVD, well it seems that we have to dig a little deeper into our pockets. Now that HD DVD is dead that has sparked an increase in prices for the Sony Blu-ray players, as they do not have any competition to worry about.

When HD DVD players were on the market, Blu-ray did not see it as tough competition but it was because of the cheap price of the HD DVD players that forced Sony into reducing their prices as their Blu-ray players were not selling quick enough.

One of the main reasons that the HD DVD format died is because most of the people who was purchasing Blu-ray titles owned a PlayStation 3, this was yet another reason for them to cut the price of their standalone players.

Now we have to wonder how much more will have to pay for a Blu-ray player, as Sony has no one competing with them.

Source - Toms Hardware

Strong Sony PS3 resurgence forces another Xbox 360 price cut in Europe

We know that the Sony PS3 has been seeing resurgence in sales figures; this is due to more titles coming out and also the fact that it has a Blu-ray player built in. With this in mind it seems as if Microsoft has been forced into a corner, as they preferred the HD DVD player.

With sales now falling for the Xbox 360 it seems as if there could be a price cut just around the corner. It seems as if the Xbox is falling far behind the once slow to get going Sony PlayStation. The PS3 has had a number of firmware updates to make it a better games console, and also the release of the introduction of DualShock3 is yet another nail in the coffin for the big and bulky Xbox 360.
Europe is to get a price cut of €50, some time near March 14th.

Source - Tech Radar

Maxell Ends In House Production of Blu-Ray Discs, DVD and HD-DVD

It has been announced that the company is ending in-house product of all types of optical media; including, Blu-Ray ,DVDs, and HD-DVDs discs.

Its said that all production of the discs will be stopped by the end of March and outsourced to another company but will still have the Maxwell name.

What do you think of this move?

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Paramount Not Using Blu-ray till The Summer

It has been announced by Paramount that they will be dropping HDDVD and they won’t be using Blu-ray until the summer, so it looks like the transition will not be soft Read more

Two Blu-ray Laptops from Acer

Acer are now joining in with Blu-ray, and as HD DVD is now dead in the water, they need to come up with something. Acer are known as a well made brand of laptop and always give the best in their new releases. Read more

UK at forefront of the high definition (HD) revolution: Sony Blu-ray sales to rocket

The UK is at the forefront of the high definition (HD) revolution and is leading the way in Europe in next generation disk sales. Based on a rapid uptake of sales in 2007, DEG Europe, a non-profit, pan-industry body to promote awareness of DVD and HD formats across Europe has high expectations for the adoption of next generation technologies throughout 2008 Read more

Can only be 1: Adobe AIR Vs Microsoft Silverlight like HD DVD vs. Blu-ray

Yesterday saw the official launch of Adobe AIR and is being touted as a very capable bit of software, however it seems as if Adobe might have entered into a war as Microsoft’s Silverlight is also Read more

Dreamworks Animation will not quit HD DVD: waiting to hear from Toshiba

Everyone knows that HD DVD is dead now, but Dreamworks Animation will not quit on HD DVD until they hear from Toshiba about their agreement.

So it looks like we will not see any Sony Blu-ray releases from Dreamworks Animation for a little while yet…strange Read more

BeeMovie To Be Released on HD DVD

DreamWorks Animation has given the industry a surprise by stating that they will stick with the HD DVD format which is now dead. The CEO of the company Read more

Goldmund Eidos 20 BD Blu-Ray Player cost $16,900: Bring back HD DVD

You got to love this one and it in fact brings up a question “Should they bring back HD DVD? Ok we all know that HD DVD is nearly dead in the water with Blu-ray being the successors but surely $16,900 for a Blu-ray player is a Read more

Rock is blind: HD DVD Player still standard on laptops instead of Blu-ray

So Toshiba have admitted defeat with their HD DVD format, and Microsoft has also decided to jump ship. So why are Rock still offering HD DVD players as standard on their laptops? It seems to me as if this Read more

Microsoft and Toshiba discontinuing Xbox 360 HD DVD drive

Yesterday we heard a rumor that the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive was going to get a price drop to around $50, but today we are getting official news that Microsoft and Toshiba are discontinuing the add-on HD-DVD player.

The decision was made thanks to HD DVD losing to Blu-ray, with no more HD DVDs to be made, many buyers would be upset buying a player that will be useless very soon Read more

The death of HD DVD shows a weak side to Microsoft

Ok so unless you have been living on another planet, you would already know that the HD DVD format is pretty much dead. With the death of this format many people have been drawing up their own Read more

The death of HD DVD continues, renaming players to clear shelves to combat format fallout

What will they do next when it comes to the format war fallout? Well it is clearly shown by the links below and the source links as well that in an attempt to clear the Read more

Video: Toshiba president talks about their HD-DVD death

You have got to watch this video, the video below shows the Toshiba President given a talk about their HD-DVD. I watched the video clip and must say feel a Read more

Impact on the Xbox 360 of Sony Blu ray winning

Ok now this is interesting because not only do we know that Toshiba have finally chucked in the HD-DVD towel many seem to think that it will not have a massive impact on the Xbox 360 platform seeing as Microsoft have an interest in HD-DVD, but surely there has to be an impact seeing that the Read more

It is starting: Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD drops to $99 with 7 free HD DVDs

We all like deals of course we do, but this one is special. We have been talking about format wars for quite a long time now with Blu-ray becoming the winners all round and Read more

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