Toshiba HD DVD Player Hits Shelves

by David Kender
Published on Mar 31, 2006 6:00 AM




March 31, 2006 – The first stage of the Blu-Ray / HD DVD war has been decided. Today in Tokyo, Toshiba released their first generation HD DVD players, beating Blu-Ray to be the first on the shelves.

The Toshiba HD-XA1, retailing for around 110,000 yen ($936), is estimated to arrive in the US in April for $799. Customers purchasing the unit before April 17th will be treated to a special bonus, complimentary HD DVD movie discs of “Resident Evil” and the Japanese film “Moonlight Jellyfish.” Eager US residents may find at least one justification for purchasing the HD-XA1; HD DVD discs have no region coding for content, and are playable anywhere in the world.

Companies in the Blu-Ray consortium are not far behind. Panasonic recently announced that their Blu-Ray player, the DMP-BD10, will be released in September. Sony is expected to have a player on the shelves by July. Samsung predicted to have their version out in May, but there have been reports of delays.

More information and specs about the HD-XA1 can be found here.