Toshiba's
XD-E500 has already taken the
US and UK (among other locales) by storm, but outside of Japan, no one in Asia has yet been able to bask in the glory of this unit's peerless upscaling technology. Until now, that is. Said deck has just made its way down to Singapore, and it's reportedly selling for S$199 (or about $133 in American greenbacks). Some may say that's a fair price to ask for something that makes vanilla DVDs look better than the director ever intended, but we're sort of dismayed that no
free movie rentals are thrown in here. Spoiled, we know.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
squiggleslash @ Nov 21st 2008 8:38PM
Ok guys.
First "Darren Murph" criticizes Sony. Then he posts an article about a Toshiba DVD player - and not just any Toshiba DVD player, but the infamous upscaling one - without making any obvious cracks (slight sarcasm in "makes vanilla DVDs look better than the director ever intended" aside.)
What have you done with the real Darren Murph?
DVD4ME @ Nov 22nd 2008 12:21AM
Hang on, re read his story, it is dripping with sarcasm!
Yet again he has managed to 'sink the slipper', this time it's got a little sugar on top is all.
WebDev511 @ Nov 21st 2008 9:10PM
Why is Engadget HD covering standard def upconverters? And since when do we know what directors intentions are when it comes to up converting DVD? I guess every other up converting player (including Blu-Ray and HD DVD players) is equally as guilty of this gross violation of "director intent".
Ed @ Nov 21st 2008 9:38PM
...that comment, coming from a guy with an HQV upscaler as his avatar?
WebDev511 @ Nov 22nd 2008 1:58AM
I did not claim that upscaling was counter to a director's intent just so I could take a jab at Toshiba. I'm sure that Darren's post was a perfectly legit heads up to all the Engadget HD readers in Singapore that want a player that only upscales Standard Def one that plays HD and just happens to fly in the face of a director's intent for DVD based content.
shawnmos @ Nov 21st 2008 9:25PM
LOL, come on. This is pathetic. I used to be a huge HD DVD supporter. Had 3 HD DVD players, and even I realized that Blu-ray was the future which is why I bought a Combo player. Toshiba needs to get over it and produce a Blu-ray player.
Ed @ Nov 21st 2008 9:44PM
Oh yeah, because Blu-ray is setting the market on fire.
How dare Toshiba stand against THE AVALANCHE THAT IS BLU-RAY!?!?!?
Please... Toshiba isn't losing out on anything by refusing to go to the Blu-ray 'party' at this stage. They may release a player at some point, but I doubt it will be until Blu-ray has solidified itself in the market and all of the heavy lifting has been done by other companies.
And if that never happens, which there is a decent chance of, Toshiba gets to revel in the fact that they peed in Sony's coffee by contributing to Blu-rays stagnation; first with HD DVD, and then by not lending their support to the format after the war.
squiggleslash @ Nov 21st 2008 10:35PM
Yes, after losing a billion on HD DVD, they need to pour money into another format that's going nowhere.
I'll never understand what the obsession is that Blutards have with Toshiba Blu-ray players. None of you would ever buy one anyway.
zargon @ Nov 21st 2008 10:55PM
DVD is going no where? DVD is going strong and that is not going to change any time soon. Blu-ray has yet to break out of the niche market and I don't see that happening soon and who knows, it may never happen.
I think DVD right now can be a sound investment and there is always room for improvement. No one seems to be making quality DVD players anymore and while these might slightly geared towards a niche market themselves, there is a much larger pool of people and movies to help push sales.
DVD4ME @ Nov 22nd 2008 12:28AM
Why would they invest in a niche that is currently going no where, IF it takes off they can get on board then IF they choose.
In the mean time, they sit back and enjoy the royalties from the DVD compatible blu ray players and the DVDs the blu ray crowd are still buying as well, that would certainly be more profitable then trying to compete for 2.5% of the BR market, sony has got the rest.
This war isn't over, blu ray won the first skirmish is all.
squiggleslash @ Nov 22nd 2008 7:30AM
zargon - I was responding to shawnmos, who was suggesting Toshiba make a Blu-ray player. I'm not sure how you got out of my comment that I was talking about DVD, especially given the last paragraph.
zargon @ Nov 22nd 2008 9:30AM
@squiggleslash alcohol?
DVD4ME @ Nov 22nd 2008 12:29AM
??????? Above comment was a reply to shawnmos ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
LonnieDvD @ Nov 22nd 2008 10:40AM
I say good for Toshiba, keep supporting us DVD owners. By the time Blu-Ray really takes off, another format could already be out.