Toshiba officially announces 3rd Generation HD DVD players

Toshiba officially announces 3rd Generation HD DVD players

A few days ago we reported on the possibility of 3rd generation HD DVD players coming soon from Toshiba, after preorder pages were found on Amazon.com. Well now the rumors have been officially confirmed via a Toshiba America press release that was published today. Here is an excerpt from that release.

Building on the success of its first and second generation players, new leading enhancements in select models in the third generation line include an improvement in video performance with 1080p/24 frames per second (24p) support. Movie films are traditionally captured at 24 frames per second and select Toshiba third generation HD DVD players will be able to maintain
this frame rate allowing consumers to enjoy movies in their native frame rate.

Also added to the line is “CE-Link” (HDMI(TM)-CEC) connectivity which offers the capability to communicate with and control another CE device in a whole new way. For instance, using “CE-Link” with “One Touch Play” consumers will be able to turn on a CEC capable HDTV and a Toshiba HD DVD player, and start playing a movie, with a single touch of a button on the player remote.

The three new players are the Toshiba HD-A3 ($299), the HD-A30 ($399) and the HD-A35 ($499). The higher end players will offer features such as 24p support, CE-Link and deep color. All of the new 3G players boast smaller form factors and redesigned looks compared to previous HD DVD standalones. The players will hit the US market in September and October, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

How low can they go?

Just how low will the 2nd generation HD DVD players cost once the new players (3G) hit the market? Definitely less than the 3G player pricing, but who knows how low they can go. One retailer told VideoBusiness that Toshiba plans to offer sporadic $199 HD DVD player promotions throughout the 4th quarter, which should help drive HD DVD sales even more.