HDTV Lounge

The HD format war is still raging and HD DVD is hoping to get one up on Blu-ray with it’s new 51GB triple layer HD DVD disc. The single sided, three layered disc increases capacity to 51GB, up from the 30GB dual layered disc. Read more

Toshiba have announced two new HD DVD players from Europe. The Toshiba HD-EP30 and HD-EP35 players both have full HD 1080p output along with support the REGZA-Link (HDMI-CEC) connectivity to control other home theater devices from the HD DVD player. Read more

Venturer believes that there is a hole in the US market, with no budget HD DVD players currently available. The Venturer SHD7000 is their answer to a budget HD DVD player, with full HD DVD support including bonus material which is available from the internet via an Ethernet port. Read more

Toshiba have announced their third generation of HD DVD players which add to the very impressive and popular HD-A2 range of players. Their latest third generation of players come in three versions, the Toshiba HD-A3, HD-A30 and the HD-A35. Read more

The Toshiba Qosmio G45-AV680, also known as the Qosmio G45 is officially the US first laptop with a HD DVD-R drive, to watch and burn HD-DVDs. Not only does the Toshiba Qosmio G45 merely include a HD-DVD drive, the G45 offers a whole HD experience with a large 17-inch widescreen Ultimate TruBrite LCD display with a 1920×1200 pixel native display for full 1080p quality, and an included USB HD tuner. Read more

Toshiba have announced the VARDIA hybrid HD-DVD / HDD recorder to the Japanese market. The Toshiba VARDIA RD-A600 has 600GB of storage, while the smaller brother Toshiba VARDIA RD-A300 has 300GB. Both the VARDIA’s will have dual digital HD tuners, HDMI, FireWire and can write to both HD-DVD-R and DVD-R/RW/RAM media and of course their internet hard disks. Both the systems are identical, apart from their disk capacity. Read more

Onkyo have been a HD-DVD supporter since before the format’s launch last April, but Onkyo hasn’t given us anything to see from them. Untill now that is, The Onkyo DV-HD805 HD-DVD player has been announced for release this autumn. Apparently the Onkyo DV-HD805 is based on the Toshiba top of the line HD-XA2 player with a few extra tweaks. Read more

Toshiba at the start of the year released two HD-DVD players on the european market, the budget HD-E1 and the higher end HD-XE1. The HD-EX1 ofcourse costs more than the basic E1, but is it worth the extra money if all you want to do is play back HD-DVDs? TrustedReviews take it for a spin and say, unlike the entry level HD-E1, the HD-XE1 can output the pinnacle of high definition – 1080p. Of course this player can also output 720p and 1080i, and if you really want to, 576p/576i and 480p/480i. Read more

Toshiba’s second generation HD-DVD player the HD-XA2 has been reviewed where they give the player a good run down. The HD-XA2 looks good compaired to the first generation players with fewer lockups, 1080p support and good DVD upconversion which is a must for any orginal DVD content. Read more

The Toshiba HD-E1 is one of the first lower priced HD-DVD players which does not have a very large price tag of at least $1500 or more. The HD-E1 is available for about £350 ($700), the second generation player is much slimmer and cheaper than the first set of HD-DVD drives, so does it cut any corners with the cheaper price tag?. Read more