Toshiba have released their HD-E1 HD DVD player in the UK today, so we can finally find out what the high-definition fuss is all about, for about half the price of a Blu-ray player.
It looks as if we've managed to skip the first generation players from Toshiba, as this sleek player appears to be a European version of the HD-A2 recently released in the US. That should be good news, as the first-gen players received mixed reviews and were a bit clunky to say the least. Hopefully this offering is a bit more consumer friendly (though ultimately it's still a PC in a box)
Sound-wise, the player supports Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD, and Nicam stereo. It has one HDMI output (I'm not sure if it's HDMI 1.2 or 1.3 - even the user's manual is vague)
It has a suggested retail price of around £450 (and available for significantly less from online stores such as Amazon), and is able to play regular DVDs and CDs, so it's not a bad investment.
A more feature-laden HD DVD player from Toshiba - the HD-XE1 - will be available from late January 2007 for around £649.
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Surely some sort of typo - Nicam stereo from a DVD player? I think not!