HDTV Reviews

The Toshiba HD-A20 is a mid level HD player which comes in between the higher end HD-XA2 and the lower end HD-A2. The midrange HD-A20 will have the same features as the HD-A2, but with the added support of 1080p. So your choice of players will very much depend on if you have an 1080p HDTV or not. The HD-A20 does not include the more advanced features of the more pricey HD-XA2 such as deep color support and enhanced video DAC.
All the players are backwards compatible with existing DVDs and will up convert them to the higher HD resolution giving you more from your existing DVD collection.

The HD-A20, which is expected to retail at $599.99. The HD-A2 at $499.99 and the HD-XA2 at $999.99.
Toshiba Press Release

LG’s hybrid / dual Blu-Ray and HD DVD player the BH100 will be available in the first quarter of this year priced at $1,199. The BH100 player uses Broadcom’s latest chipset to support and play back both HD formats at 1080p and DTS-HD audio support. More details will be posted soon.
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The Toshiba SD-H903A HD-DVD writer has been dubbed as the worlds first dedicated PC-based HD-DVD writer that can write to all main optical discs (Blu-Ray not included). The SD-H903A can write to HD DVD-R discs (both single and doulble layered) at 1x speed, plus all exsisting DVD formats including DVD-RAM and CR-R/W formats. You should be able to write with all your needs and play back HD DVD movies with no problems, also an 8mb buffer is included.
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If you would like to back up or Copy HD-DVDs and have the right equipment, you can. Right now it’s not easy because of “managed protection” features of HD-DVDs, so there is no way to make a copy or backup of your Hd-DVDs which could easily get damaged. MediaBlab has a way where you can do this with the use of an Xbox 360, and some PC equipment. By connecting the xbox to your computer / SATA array via component cables and HD capture card.
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The HDV-ROM2.4FB HD-DVD drive from Buffalo is the worlds frist HD DVD drive for PCs that you can buy to use in any PC and connect via standard ATAPI connections. The HDV-ROM2.4FB drive is sold independently for PCs and ships with PowerDVD HD DVD Edition. It will read DVD±R/RW and DVD±R/R DL, standard DVDs and all CD formats. It costs roughly $340.
Buffalo Japan

Thats right! as we posted back a few weeks ago about the possibility of the Xbox 360 HD DVD drive working on PCs via USB was correct! From using the Toshibas driver and enabling the UDF (Universal Disc File system) v2.5 we can get the Xbox 360 drive to show up as “TOSHIBA DVD/HD X807616 USB Device”, we can view the files on the disc and also play back the movies (as long as your computer can handle it!) Read more

You can connect the Xbox HD DVD Drive to your PC via UBS 2.0, this means you can have an external HD DVD drive for your PC for only $199.
Unfortunately in the way of Microsoft, they have not included a driver for the HD drive so it will not operate straight away, but as the drive is manufactured by Toshiba we know it will only be a matter of time until someone works out some drivers to make it work.

The Asus W2P is the perfect solution if you are looking for a laptop with a HD-DVD drive and are wanting to play a lot of HD media. The W2P is great for playing HD media as well as other media either on it’s great high resolution screen (1,920 x 1,200) or on an HDTV via it’s HDMI output. Read more

HP have released the HD100. The HD100 is an external HD DVD drive which connects via USB 2.0. The HD100 is a 2x speed drive, which can read HD-DVD’s along with DVD’s and CD’s.
You will need a fairly snappy PC to be able to play HD-DVD content back well, PowerDVD HD DVD edition player software also comes with the drive for video play back.

Asus have released the Asus W2P Laptop / Notebook which now includes a HD-DVD drive, and many other features which make the W2P laptop great for connecting to an HDTV. The W2P is an upgrade from the W2J model, and includes HDCO support, HDMI out (for HDTV connection), anolog and digital TV tuner, Dolby surround, and many other usual great laptop features.