Toshiba expands HD DVD player line-up

1080p added to entry-level spec

By Tony Smith in Las Vegas • Get more from this author

7th January 2007 20:49 GMT

CES 2007 Toshiba today extended its HD DVD player line-up with an intermediate model that combines the feature set of the entry-level HD-A2 with 1080p-resolution output.

The HD-A2 - in Europe, it's the HD-E2 - is limited to 720p and 1080i. The more feature-rich HD-XA2 has 1080p too, but there's clearly a demand for a low-cost box that does 1080p, the maximum resolution of the HD DVD format, but without all the price-boosting high-end 'videophile' features of Toshiba's top-end model.

toshiba hd-a2 hd dvd player

Like the HD-XA2 and the HD-A2, the HD-A20 has an HDMI port, but it's a 1.2 model - the HD-XA2 has an HDMI 1.3 port. All the usual 5.1-channel Dolby and DTS digital audio formats are supported by the HD-A20 too.

Last week, Toshiba launched an internal HD DVD drive for PCs.

The HD-A20 will ship in the US in the spring, Toshiba said, for $600 - $100 more than the HD-A2. ®

Read our complete CES 2007 coverage at Reg Hardware