Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C. ("Toshiba") unveiled today the market launch details for its line-up of the first High Definition DVD players for the U.S. market. The new HD DVD players, models HD-XA1 and HD-A1, will take advantage of the superior capabilities of the HD DVD format, including outstanding visual quality supported by leading-edge video compression technologies, the high resolution audio specifications and the capability for enhanced functionality including, Advanced Navigation, also referred to as "iHD."

To coincide with the rapid market penetration of HDTV devices in U.S. households, Toshiba’s new HD DVD models will offer consumers a feature rich, high definition media format for the home, building upon the great features of today’s DVD – one of the most successful A/V products ever. Both the HD-XA1 and the HD-A1 will start shipping to retailers in March, 2006.

"As a leader in home entertainment and a pioneer in DVD technology, we are very excited to introduce our first HD DVD players for U.S. consumers," said Jodi Sally, Vice President of Marketing, Toshiba America Consumer Products Digital A/V Group. "With the support of some of the hottest films, we can confidently say that Toshiba’s HD DVD players will come to market with important industry backing in time to meet the HDTV transition."

An Evolution in Video Home Entertainment and a Revolution in Technology

As a logical evolution of the DVD market to high definition, the HD-XA1 and HD-A1 have backward compatibility, allowing users to continue to enjoy their libraries of current DVD and CD software*. Supporting the leading-edge efficient video compression standards of MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1, as well as MPEG2, both models will utilize the new video decoder chip developed by Broadcom. To meet the latest advancements in Audio/Video interfaces, both models connect to HDTV sets via a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI™). HDMI is the first industry-supported all digital A/V connection providing the transmission of uncompressed digital video and multi-channel audio on a single cable. The new HD DVD players will output copy-protected HD content through the HDMI interface in the native format of the HD DVD disc content of either 720p or 1080i. Through the HDMI interface, standard definition DVDs can be upconverted to output resolution of 720p or 1080i to complement the performance of a HDTV. As the conversion takes place in the player, the signal remains free from excessive digital-to-analog conversion artifacts.