Toshiba announced on January 4 that it plans to officially launch its HD DVD players in the U.S. around early March 2006. This makes Toshiba the first company to introduce HD DVD players to the U.S. market, following their release in Japan in December 2005.
It seemed that Toshiba’s HD DVD format was on the verge of defeat against Sony’s Blu-ray DVD format, but the battle is still ongoing, as there remains a strong fanbase for HD DVD. Yoshihiro Matsumoto, the president responsible for product consumption at Toshiba North America, confidently stated at the CES 2006 technology expo: “The HD DVD format has opened up a future for high-definition digital video. HD DVD will provide customers with a clearer view of DVDs.”
Toshiba continues to collaborate with NEC to support the HD DVD format, while Sony and Panasonic are increasingly attracting major companies to back the Blu-ray DVD standard.
In March, Toshiba will release two HD DVD player models in the U.S.: the HD-XA1 priced at $799 and the HD-A1 priced at $499. These models were already available in Japan at the beginning of December 2005.
According to the latest news from Reuters at CES 2006, Sony has also announced plans to release its Blu-ray DVD player in the U.S. market by early summer 2006, around June of this year.
THIEN TRANG
