Before Toshiba has embraced Blu-ray and announced its first Blu-ray player, it was a staunch advocate of technology to upscale standard definition DVDs, to the point that it suggested the technology was almost as good as Blu-ray itself.

Well, although it now has a foot in the Blu-ray camp, it hasn't given up on the XDE (eXtended Detail Enhancement) technology which significantly improves SD DVD picture quality above and beyond what simple upscaling players do, and has announced the XDE600 DVD player.

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Now that Toshiba has embraced Blu-ray and joined the Blu-ray Disc Association, it has announced its first standalone Blu-ray player, the BDX2000.

As you'd expect from any modern Blu-ray player, it incorporates all the latest features including BD-Live Profile 2.0 support, for full interactivity on compatible discs, full 1080p output including upscaling of standard definition content, support for advanced HD audio including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, and Deep Colour.

Toshiba has also put its own REGZA-LINK functionality into the player, meaning that it's possible to control it and other compatible equipment from a single remote control unit.

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We already know that the Sony-created Blu-ray format is to go 3D sometime soon, and now Sony has committed to 3DTV development in the coming year.

Speaking at this year's IFA conference, Sony announced that it would launch a 3D-compatible BRAVIA LCD HDTV next year, based on a frame sequential display and active-shutter glass system (a method of 3D display where the TV set alternates the image for the left and right eye, and glasses open and shut in sync with the image on the screen).

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Ahead of IFA this week, where 3D TV is going to be a big tech topic, the Blu-ray Disc Association has announced that it's right behind the concept.

Unlike the movieIQ system (covered in yesterday's Take Ten article) which is already a part of the specification, a 3D standard hasn't yet been devised for Blu-ray.

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HANNspree might not be the first name you think of when it comes to high definition TVs, but features wise there's nothing much wrong with the new ST series.

The full HD (1080p) sets are initially available in 25- and 28-inch screen sizes and incorporate HANNSpree's X-Celerate technology that reduces motion blur and improves 3D rendering, plus a 10,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, de-interlacing, digital noise reduction, several pull-down processing modes to correct frame rate errors, and multiple aspect ratio support to ensure that pictures aren't distorted whatever format the source broadcast or video arrives in.

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The CES show was host to some rather amazing gadgets and gizmos this year - in fact arguably one of the best years for some time. Things really seem to be getter better - but not only that, they seem to be getting bigger as well. What I mean by that is of course that televisions are the next (and current) big thing! As a first at CES, the world's first laser television was displayed. This was debuted by Mitsubishi who state that it is a 'new category' of display to offer alongside the likes of LCD and plasma technology. The reason for the development of this type of screen is that it offers (apparently) ...
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With the raging High Definition war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, the future of the DVD is becoming bleak. Most a growing number of consumers are slowly throwing their hats into this HD war and picking which among the two competitors will win in the end. But DVDs are really not about to meet its demise. It actually still has a lot of legs and with new technology will still remain a viable format for the foreseeable future. The key to DVDs increased longevity will be in the area of upscaling. A number of new DVD players in the market right now offer upscaling features. What this feature does is to bump up the native resolution of DVDs to HD ...
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Fairly recently there's been a huge boom in the television market. In particular, this has been in relation to flat screen technology such as DLP, Plasma and LCD. This boom has been driven by a consumer need for technology that offers better clarity, sound and image quality. The rise of DVD's has also fuelled the purchase of home cinema systems. So where does HD fit in? Well according to Sky UK I will be "wowed by the difference" when watching HD. Well, is this in fact the truth? Lets put this in some sort of personal perspective. About a year and ...
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So my wife and I promised each other not to go out on Black Friday. We didn't. But we did go out Black Saturday (errr... the day after Black Friday). Lately, I've been compulsive about getting a big screen TV. Actually, what I've been really compulsive about is getting a Wii. But since I couldn't find a damned Wii anywhere, I opted for the big screen HDTV that I'd eventually play my Wii on. So, on Saturday morning, we got our morning Ads (where we live, the newspaper delivers ads separate from the paper...wierd, I know). Those ads told me that I could finance my big screen TV at 0% interest for 18 months. That sounded tasty. Uh? Sounded tasty? You get the point. Back when I first started my HDTV pursuit, I was committed to getting a 50 incher or better. This, in turn, convinced me that I would be getting a DLP. But to be honest, I just haven't been very impressed with the DLP picture. Looks too grainy to me, even on the 1080p models. Plus, quick motion (the sort of motion I expect my Wii to have), didn't look to hot.

Next, I got stuck on LCD because of a beautiful 40 inch Samsung 1080p I saw at BestBuy. Just absolutely shocking. Stunning. Aesthetic perfection. It was with this model in mind that we went out to compare prices around the various big box retailers. Suffice it to say, they were all sold out. December 5th the earliest delivery date. But that didn't work. You see, my wife and I had spent the last 3 hours carefully picking our favorite, most cost effective TV. We were ready to spend the cash. But no. We were supposed to go home empty? Not us! My wife and I are fairly compulsive buyers. And we were determined to come home with an HDTV. So next, we decided on a 42 inch Samsung Plasma. Plasmas really do have the best picture and they are the best for video games. But they are also ultra sensitive and ultra heavy. We didn't know that. So when we went to check out, they asked us if we wanted to pay the $85 delivery charge. Of course not. We wanted to go straight home and watch this sucker. Well, then they told us that Plasmas can't lay down on their sides. Too bad, because the 42 inch model wouldn't fit into our SUV standing upright. Blah! This really sucked. We were getting depressed and were about to call it quits, when we decided, once again, to go the LCD route. Well, we opted for a downgrade from the 40 inch 1080p Samsung to a 40 inch 720p Samsung. This time it was in stock. So we bought it. Here are some things I learned in this crazy process:

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I'm in the market for a big screen, high definition television. I'm committed to getting my TV by December 2006, just in time for the NFL playoffs. Here's what I've been learning. Specs are squat. You can read all the sales literature you want about picture quality, resolution, 720 this or 1080 that. But in the end, it all comes down to the quality of the picture. You see, I've seen lower resolution 720p DLPs look better than high resolution 1080i LCDs. Even better, I've seen Samsung DLPs with a lower resolution look better than Toshiba DLPs at a higher resolution. The moral of the story is that you should only use TV ...
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