Toshiba refuses to compare new player with Blu-ray; claims it’s nearly as good
Toshiba has come up with a creative marketing ploy in response to losing the next-gen DVD format war. Their newest standard DVD player includes technology that claims ‘near HD’ quality from standard discs.
This type of ‘upconverting’ is nothing new and even features in budget players that retail for well under a hundred dollars. However, while most players simply add in extra lines to fill up an HD screen, Toshiba says its ‘eXtended Detail Enhancement’ actually tweaks the picture to improve it.
DVD players with the technology will include three viewing settings:
- Sharp mode, which analyzes the picture and targets the enhancements rather than traditional sharpness settings which affect the entire picture;
- Color mode, recommended for outdoor scenes; and
- Contrast mode, recommended for darker scenes.
The obvious question there is how many viewers will be bothered tweaking these settings, particularly with the idea they might need to change them from scene to scene.
The firm is telling retailers it will launch a website at www.toshibaxde.com that will “help educate consumers on the benefits of XDE technology and how it works”. However, at the moment that address simply routes visitors to the DVD products page on Toshiba’s main site.
The improvement in picture quality is not intended to be noticeable on a regular standard-definition TV. The Associated Press reports that in demonstrations alongside a regular DVD player on an HD screen, the new Toshiba model offered “a subtle but noticeable sharpening of the image.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly the demonstration didn’t include a Blu-ray machine as well. Indeed, a Toshiba spokesperson said the new player wasn’t meant to compete with Blu-ray, saying “If you want Blu-ray, go get Blu-ray. This product is meant to improve playback of DVDs.”
It does sound like Toshiba is trying to have it both ways: despite the comments to the media, the sales push to customers specifically says “XDE delivers a new level of Near HD video quality”. Presumably that means “very near” to Blu-ray if you’re a potential buyer and “not that near” if you’re asking for a comparison with Blu-ray.
With the new Toshiba player retailing at $150, around double a basic model and half of a Blu-ray machine, it’s pretty clearly a product aimed at a niche in the market. There’s definitely some logic in the argument that many casual movie watchers will be interested in better picture quality without having to replace all their discs.
But if you’ve already shelled out for an HDTV and are now choosing a new DVD player, there’s surely a good chance you’ll think it worth paying the extra $150 for a Blu-ray machine anyway, particularly as it will still play your old discs and may even do some form of ‘upconverting’ itself.
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