Toshiba Upscaling DVD Player

Toshiba is going on the offensive in the DVD wars with a new player that promises near HD quality from standard DVDs. The XD-E500 uses Toshiba's new eXtended Detail Enhancement (XDE) technology to deliver a 1080p picture on HDTVs.

The player also offers three modes to further enhance the quality of the picture. Sharp mode scans the entire picture that is being displayed and then adds detail enhancement to make images crisper. Color mode primarily enhances blues and greens and is recommended for outdoor scenes, while contrast mode helps bring more detail to scenes with less light. The new player will go for $149.99 and can also play DivX, MP3s, WMA and display JPEGs, a capability that is now standard in most DVD players.

The new DVD player will only improve the picture for an HDTV, but the XD-E500 is priced significantly lower than Blu-ray players and you don't have to trade in your old DVDs to get a better viewing experience. However, most Blu-ray players are also capable of upscaling your current DVD collection to 1080p.

Toshiba recently lost the High Definition DVD wars to Sony's Blu-ray technology, and this is their biggest foray into DVD upscaling since then. The company is planning a massive ad campaign to tout its new technology and will be launching a new website soon to show off the XD-E500.

The company told the Associated Press that the XD-E500 is not meant to compete with Blu-ray. Yet with consumers reluctant to switch over to the format war victor, Toshiba is definitely looking to tap into a market that Blu-ray cannot seem to conquer.