Toshiba to launch cheaper Blu-ray look-a-like?

Can't wait. Bring it on.

I would be interested. I have a pretty good DVD collection and not going to re-buy all of my movies just so I can watch them on Bluray and HD. That is of course until the players come down much more and the movies can be rented for a dollar or bought for $5! Besides, all they pretty much do to movies to put them in HD is clean them up more.

"DVD Download/DL logo, which is expected to describe Internet connectivity to extend content stored on a DVD." So it takes a non high definition DVD upreses it then downloads unskippable ADVERTISEMENTS and other junk off the Internet? :r The only people who will want this will be Sony haters. We've got Google for looking up info about movies and TV shows. (and the Internet movie database imdb.com)

@ yawn "So it takes a non high definition DVD upreses it then downloads unskippable ADVERTISEMENTS and other junk off the Internet?" Where do you see any mention of advertisements?

How far can you go with upconverting? The data isn't there for HD resolutions? So an upscaling has to fill in the blanks with software/hardware decoding? Can upscaling ever be as good as an HD format? I'm skeptical.

Its probably nothing more than a logo for download to burn.

@ Zod "Can upscaling ever be as good as an HD format?" The short answer is, of course, no. However, maybe I'm like millions of other people in the world who have spent hundreds or, in my case, thousands of dollars on DVDs and would be happy with a product that would upsample to say 80% of full HD (1080p) quality for just $150. A whole different ball game, right?

@ dukenukem: Isn't it obvious? You got ads on TV, AM/FM radio, magazines, newspapers, standard DVDs, Blu-rays, movie theaters, pre-recorded VHS tapes, along the highway on billboards, on the sides of busses, web pages, email, adware, other people's clothing, at concerts, at sporting events, in public schools (channel 1), product placement in movies, junk phone calls, those dumb logos you see everywhere (it's called brand awareness I think), some video games, plus about 10 more places I didn't think of. Oh yeah, There WILL be ads.

Well KDDI a JP Internet, Telephone provider has a service called DVD Burning. This service allows users to Download and Burn movies to CPRM enabled DVD-R on your PC. Toshibas Vardia RD-S502 and RD-S302 standalone Harddisc/DVD recorders have a LAN port which enables it to connect to the internet and to KDDI's DVD Burning service with use of the newest firmware. You can access the KDDI service and then buy your movie with a credit card and Download and Burn the movie to a CPRM enabled DVD-RW or DVD-RAM from your standalone. So that is where the new DVD Download/DL logo comes in.

@ yawn LOL. Yeah, I think you covered everything. Except maybe skywriting.

Bah! Although something new Koba mentioned above, I have plenty of DVD movies that can be connected to internet if played on my PC. I think this is just another attempt by Toshiba to burn us all. Nothing new. And if they claim that the SpursEngine 1000 is better than any current upscaling, you would expect a tag more than OPPO ie more than $300?? DVD is standard def. No matter how good is the upscaling chip, it is still standar def, and these chips can't show correct details that aren't there at all. I think the whole idea is Toshiba wanted another war!

"After the high-definition format war many expected Toshiba to start developing Blu-ray products," WTF- who expected Toshiba to start shelling out royalties to Sony after taking a 1 billion dollar hit in the groin from the HDDVD fiasco? Many? Who? Toshiba is going to focus like a red laser trying hard to bring Bluray down with the upconverting chip from hell and apparently some new DRM laden digital download convenience product for the poor saps that can't afford the gas to go to Blockbuster, but don't want to stop Internet yet. LOOL I CANNOT wait to start seeing the advertising campaign showing what a tool you are if you start putting together a Bluray system and library. They will have dudes sitting around hitting the Bluray player because it wont work with their CRT television - then cut to the scene with their eyes popping out of their heads cause they are so impressed with the upscaled picture from their DVDs on the new LCD and upscaling player they got when they traded in the Bluray. :S
This message was edited at: 03-07-2008 02:17

Maybe Toshi's discs will have regular definition recorded onto them, but then you need to get hooked up to their download service to download extra resolution information. Seriously. Granted this is a terrible idea, but, it could be what they are thinking.

Up-conversion does not produce near-HD quality because the DVD source has a limited bitrate.

Why don't we just wait and see what they have for us, eh? No sense bickering.

Crabbyappleton wrote"Toshiba is going to focus like a red laser trying hard to bring Bluray down with the upconverting chip..." Toshiba isn't the Holy Grail ,so just get your expectations up too high...remember HD-DVD? :B :d

Crabbyappleton wrote"Toshiba is going to focus like a red laser trying hard to bring Bluray down with the upconverting chip..." Toshiba isn't the Holy Grail ,so just don't get your expectations up too high...remember HD-DVD?

I don't know about everyone else but I don't really like continually switching my movie library from one format to another every 5 years. They could of put HD on DVD instead of going with the Blue laser and if you didn't have a 720p or higher TV, the player downscaled it to the resolution you needed it to be. That would of been more practical. From what I have seen on the net, most of the HD video out there can fit on a Dual Layer DVD. I even tried it myself and have a 720p Bluray HD movie burned to a dual layer DVD in UDF 2.5 format. The storage capacity of Bluray would of been better used on PCs first and thats where Sony should of focused first.

@ shaolin007 "I don't really like continually switching my movie library from one format to another every 5 years." You're kidding, right? How will the movie industry feed their kids filet mignon and clothe them in diamond-encrusted shoes if you don't re-purchase your movie library with every format change? C'mon, man, have a heart. :+
This message was edited at: 03-07-2008 21:43

DVD and BluRay will coexist for awhile, just like -- if you can stretch your memory back this far or just trust me if you're new -- to when vinyl singles were available as both 12" singles or 7" singles. The 12" had deeper grooves and better sound quality (think of them as the BluRay) but the 7" were smaller and cheaper and still sounded pretty good (think of them as the DVD). They coexisted for several years.

@DukeNukem LMAO!!

Ummm, yeh,.seems we upgrade our pc's and burners like every 3 -6 months to keep up anyways, why complain about 5 years? If I had a piecce of hardware that lasted that long I'd smash it on the road with a ball peen hammer just to see what it looked like inside, then just leave the pieces beside the fragments of vinyl records and 4X cd's,.hey! there's an old 4X agp video card there,.smash!!!... :B did some one say blue ray?...