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Toshiba debuts near-HD XDE players
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The following comments relate to this news article:
article published on 18 August, 2008
Toshiba has announced the availability of its first ever eXtended Detail Enhancement (XDE) DVD player which promises "near-HD" picture quality and a price half that of Blu-ray.
The XD-E500 has a $150 USD price tag and is aimed at the consumer who has a large DVD collection and is not willing to upgrade to Blu-ray players which cost between $300 and $500 USD.
Louis Masses, product ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
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AfterDawn Addict
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18. August 2008 @ 15:50 |
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Is this the super definition, 960 palyer they were bragging about earlier ?
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Senior Member
28 product reviews
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18. August 2008 @ 16:55 |
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This is just what I needed to hear for me to get into blu-ray. I guess this is Toshiba's so called "blu-ray killer". I was hoping that they would come out with another format, but I guess not. Blu-ray here I come. Would you rather have near-hd, or true-hd quality?
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Newbie
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18. August 2008 @ 18:47 |
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I wonder if there is any noticable difference from a standard DVD upscaler worth half the price and this stuff, doesnt seem like there will be much difference if any!
As Mike.m pointed out i think for most consumers its going to be all or nothing not some half way cop out.
It will be interesting to see how they try and persuade the consumer to by into this technology.
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ematrix
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18. August 2008 @ 19:19 |
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Toshiba promised a super upconversion DVD player, that would basicly upscale a DVD image closer to HD, by a frame by frame real-time analysis, enhancement and conversion. XDE indeed uses a chipset specially developed by Toshiba, to deliver what they promised, which is to provides a sharper, more detailed image without added video noise, enhanced darker sections of an image without affecting surrounding lighter ones, and more vivid color reproduction without impacting surrounding colors in the image from your DVDs... I'm personally very interested in getting one of these XDE players.
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xnonsuchx
Senior Member
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18. August 2008 @ 20:06 |
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Sorry, FAKE HD is not HD. Current upscaling DVD players do a nice enough job of making DVDs look decent on HDTVs. While still lower than 1/2 the cost of a PS3, who really wants to waste their time and money on something kinda sorta in-between a standard upconverting DVD player and a Blu-ray player?
It's hard to imagine what Toshiba is thinking when it comes to things like this...other than marketing something JUST to say it's theirs. I guess they're gonna be sore about HD-DVD failing for a while yet.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. August 2008 @ 20:07
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Senior Member
3 product reviews
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18. August 2008 @ 20:11 |
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This kind of reminds me of 16 year olds putting a cold air intake on their civic and thinking it can beat a mustang.
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neo1000
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18. August 2008 @ 20:13 |
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who's interested? well me and i'm guessing guys like me who own over 500 dvd's and aren't willing to buy or replace those discs in blu-ray tech.
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sgriesch
Junior Member
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18. August 2008 @ 22:57 |
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Originally posted by neo1000:
who's interested? well me and i'm guessing guys like me who own over 500 dvd's and aren't willing to buy or replace those discs in blu-ray tech.
Yep. Pay $20-30 per BR disc at 1000 DVD's = $30,000 OR I can buy a $150 gadget and get more out of what I have. And this comes from someone with 2 1080p TV's, a PS3, and a HDDVD player. I jumped into the hype and it's just not worth it until the movie prices come down.
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Junior Member
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18. August 2008 @ 23:20 |
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The problem for me is that I didn't pay for a TV that supported "near HD". Thus rendering this technology useless for people like me who want to watch ACTUAL HD films on their HD TV's, I cant wait for them to release a vinyl upconverter with " near CD" sound that I can plug into my expensive surround sound system.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18. August 2008 @ 23:22
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ematrix
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18. August 2008 @ 23:35 |
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Thanks neo1000 and sgriesch, completely agree with you... really what is the big deal? It doesn't matter if its fake HD, as long as it looks good, and if the XD-E500 can provide higher picture quality than other upscale DVD players, why shouldn't we use it? after all last time I checked there's not one LCD or Plasma screen that indicates should be used exclusively for BD movies, and once you buy one of these screens, you own it and are free to use as it pleases you. Period.
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HDNow
Junior Member
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19. August 2008 @ 07:55 |
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$150 is too expensive for upconversion when there are a lot of players less than $100.
A $35 Magnavox 1080p upconverter will be good enough for the people who think upconversion is good enough for them.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6486442
When they go to the store they will see the $35 player from Magnavox and they will just ignore this $150 player from Toshiba. This is another failure for Toshiba.
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ematrix
Junior Member
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19. August 2008 @ 09:00 |
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XD-E500 has a $150 USD suggested retail price, but it's reasonable to consider that US stores will be selling it for less than that, most likely will be priced closer to $100 USD in the following weeks or months.
Where I live, we usually pay closer to SRP for any equipment, therefore it's possible that I'll end up paying $150 USD for the XD-E500, which I'll pay gladly if can do a better job upscaling DVDs than other models/brands that costs $100-120 USD at my local stores.
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HDNow
Junior Member
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19. August 2008 @ 14:51 |
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If people think upconversion is good enough compared to BluRay then they will also think that upconversion is good enough compared to XDE. They will just ignore this player and buy the cheaper $35 1080p upconversion players. Most people won't see a difference. This is another failure for Toshiba.
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rvinkebob
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19. August 2008 @ 18:48 |
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Originally posted by ematrix:
Thanks neo1000 and sgriesch, completely agree with you... really what is the big deal? It doesn't matter if its fake HD, as long as it looks good, and if the XD-E500 can provide higher picture quality than other upscale DVD players, why shouldn't we use it? after all last time I checked there's not one LCD or Plasma screen that indicates should be used exclusively for BD movies, and once you buy one of these screens, you own it and are free to use as it pleases you. Period.
I agree that the cost of discs is very high, but in the time you've bought 2-3 DVD players you could've bought one BD player that also upscales DVD to good enough quality.
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bdnovice
Newbie
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19. August 2008 @ 19:52 |
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HI GUYS,I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT IF IT UPSCALE TO 1080p that's the same quality of BLUE RAY or HDDVD !!!!. 1080p is 1080p,that's it!!!!
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HDNow
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19. August 2008 @ 22:22 |
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AfterDawn Addict
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19. August 2008 @ 22:30 |
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Originally posted by canuckerz:
This kind of reminds me of 16 year olds putting a cold air intake on their civic and thinking it can beat a mustang.
You mean it can't ??? No wonder I could never beat a mustang :(
"The flimsier the product,the higher the price"
Ferengi 82nd rule of aqusition
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ematrix
Junior Member
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20. August 2008 @ 04:42 |
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First of all, you should know better by now that there are cheaper models/brands of DVD players that do an average to decent job upscaling DVDs, yet there are other that indeed cost more but do a superb job upscaling DVDs.
Yes, you could buy a US$35 Magnavox DVD upconverter that could do a decent job, but you could spend more for a Toshiba XDE DVD player that will make a superb job, and really 100 bucks isn't that much to consider it an expensive investement.
The HD-A players from Toshiba do a superb job upconverting DVDs, to the point that they gained reputation as one of the best upscaling DVD players in the market, surpassing the results of other players with upscaling capabilities, which do at most a decent job upconverting DVD.
If Toshiba has been able to improve such amazing results even more with their XDE players, then I'm convinced and no matter how many times you insist in the contrary, I'm still buying one as soon as I find one availible in my local stores.
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Senior Member
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20. August 2008 @ 12:08 |
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It stretches silly putty. Nothing more. Toshiba does not get a podium finish. But all of the fans still pat them on the back and say "it's ok, maybe next time. This will be lost within the rest of the up-converters.
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HDNow
Junior Member
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20. August 2008 @ 23:08 |
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Originally posted by ematrix:
First of all, you should know better by now that there are cheaper models/brands of DVD players that do an average to decent job upscaling DVDs, yet there are other that indeed cost more but do a superb job upscaling DVDs.
Yes, you could buy a US$35 Magnavox DVD upconverter that could do a decent job, but you could spend more for a Toshiba XDE DVD player that will make a superb job, and really 100 bucks isn't that much to consider it an expensive investement.
The HD-A players from Toshiba do a superb job upconverting DVDs, to the point that they gained reputation as one of the best upscaling DVD players in the market, surpassing the results of other players with upscaling capabilities, which do at most a decent job upconverting DVD.
If Toshiba has been able to improve such amazing results even more with their XDE players, then I'm convinced and no matter how many times you insist in the contrary, I'm still buying one as soon as I find one availible in my local stores.
Your argument has no logic.
If the improvement of BluRay over upconversion does not matter to you then neither should the improvement of XDE over upconversion. Everyone who thinks upconversion is good enough will settle for the cheaper upconvert players and ignore this overpriced Toshiba XDE.
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ematrix
Junior Member
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21. August 2008 @ 01:32 |
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UFFF!!! I just want one thing and one thing only, I just want a player that will make my DVDs, the movies I already own, look great on my TV screen, but only a few models do a superb job, therefore if the Toshiba XDE player is one of the best upscalers, then I'm buying one, simple as that. I don't care about Blu-ray and I'm not interested in buying neither a BD player nor BD movie ever. Is that clear enough for you?
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 21. August 2008 @ 01:41
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HDNow
Junior Member
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21. August 2008 @ 06:22 |
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Most people who do not see the advantages of bluRay will settle for the cheaper upconverters. This is another failure for Toshiba because it is too expensive compared to other upconverters.
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ematrix
Junior Member
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21. August 2008 @ 08:34 |
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What's the big deal with you insisting on the same argument? Really, it's getting tiresome. There're cheap models/brands, that at most will perform decently, that's why they're sold cheaper, and there're other models/brands that indeed cost more, but will perform much better, even beyond your expectations.
Toshiba's XD-E500 is more of a "top of the line" upconverting DVD player, yet it's much cheaper than other similar models. For instance most OPPO's upconverting DVD players are more expensive than Toshiba's XD-E500, yet people have bought them, and still do.
Have people ignored OPPO's upconverting DVD players? On the contrary, for years people have bought their players... why? Because people rather spend a few more bucks on a piece of equipment, that actually does the job as you expect it to do, rather than buy a cheap $35 Magnavox, that after you plug it in you want to return it to the store inmediatelly.
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sgriesch
Junior Member
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22. August 2008 @ 00:54 |
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Originally posted by ematrix:
What's the big deal with you insisting on the same argument? Really, it's getting tiresome. There're cheap models/brands, that at most will perform decently, that's why they're sold cheaper, and there're other models/brands that indeed cost more, but will perform much better, even beyond your expectations.
Toshiba's XD-E500 is more of a "top of the line" upconverting DVD player, yet it's much cheaper than other similar models. For instance most OPPO's upconverting DVD players are more expensive than Toshiba's XD-E500, yet people have bought them, and still do.
Have people ignored OPPO's upconverting DVD players? On the contrary, for years people have bought their players... why? Because people rather spend a few more bucks on a piece of equipment, that actually does the job as you expect it to do, rather than buy a cheap $35 Magnavox, that after you plug it in you want to return it to the store inmediatelly.
That's exactly right. Walmart sells the bottom of the line models. Look at the model numbers on them. Most of them will not be the same at Circuit City, Best Buy, or other places. Companies will make similar models with cheaper components so companies can sell them cheaply. Then, the companies benefit because they don't have to price match it as they are not the same models. Most anything electronic that Walmart sells (IMO) is not worth taking home and hooking up.
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Senior Member
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23. August 2008 @ 08:52 |
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Originally posted by bdnovice:
HI GUYS,I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT IF IT UPSCALE TO 1080p that's the same quality of BLUE RAY or HDDVD !!!!. 1080p is 1080p,that's it!!!!
No I don?t think so you are obviously clueless!
Originally posted by ematrix:
UFFF!!! I just want one thing and one thing only, I just want a player that will make my DVDs, the movies I already own, look great on my TV screen, but only a few models do a superb job, therefore if the Toshiba XDE player is one of the best upscalers, then I'm buying one, simple as that. I don't care about Blu-ray and I'm not interested in buying neither a BD player nor BD movie ever. Is that clear enough for you?
And since you thrive in the past you will always have this dilemma and by the way your argument doesn?t change either and also gets tiresome as well.
The Toshiba will most probably look sharper around the edges then the typical upscale player and if you have 500 DVD?s, I have about half that, it might be worth the $150. For me it?s not worth it I?ll suffer with upscaling or normal play who needs another expensive deck I?d just buy a BD player if I?m going to go that route. The average person isn?t going to waste their money on this when they can get a BD player for a little more and MUCH better quality. Yes the movies are expensive, too expensive, but they will come down in price and you can still rent in the mean time.
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