AACS agreed, Toshiba readies first HD DVD player
Last week it looked like HD DVD’s crucial first mover advantage was going to be lost due to a delay in finalising the new format AACS copy protection standard. Now it all seems to be back on track and this comes with news that Toshiba is readying its first HD DVD players, the HD-XA1 and HD-A1, for imminent release. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem like these early HD players will come with all their features included, instead relying on a firmware upgrade to grant “full interactivity”. We're not sure what that means but Tosh’s new players should be going on sale in the US from next month costing $800 for the XA1 and $500 for the A1. No indication of a UK release yet, but I’ll bet that it won’t wait too long lest a rival Blu-ray player makes it here first.
