Is this using the new upconversion process they showed off in Tokyo earlier this year? Super Resolution, or something? Becuase the videos I saw of that looked absolutely wonderful. I'd be keenly interested in picking one of these up, to tide me over until Blu-Ray is ubiquitous.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

good for them!

blue-ray will only really take off when you can burn or copy 'stuff' close to the price of current dvd equivalent - otherwise you'll be giving money to the man!

media_lush

DVD quality is fine. It's TV tech that needs updating. DVD on boob tube = awesomeness. DVD on LCD = yucky.

Earthslide

... the point I was trying to get across is that a dvd movie on a good 1080p upscaling dvd player is pretty damn close to HD.... and I can get 'dvd' movies anywhere, god forbid the latest releases from illegal sources!

.... so why would someone invest in a Blue Ray player when they can, in fact, get the very latest (illegal) movies on dvd and enjoy them on a good upscaling player. In a perverse way the sooner they start making blue ray burners as standard on all desktop/laptops and making writable blue ray discs cheap, the better.

Yeah - all the extra stuff but 99% of any dvd is the movie!

I watched Hancock on my Bravia the other day and would have to say that the PQ was as close as dammit to my HD movie channels - am I going to buy the Blue Ray version of it .... unlikely.

IMO the percentage difference between a good upscaling player versus Blue Ray - even with Blue Rays extras is still pretty small.

media_lush

And 1080p still looks better on Plasma than LCD (though LCD is getting damn close).

whoster69

Toshiba better bring that price down closer to $100 if they expect me to buy this bull$hit.

AJ_Syrinx

@Earthslide: "DVD quality is fine. It's TV tech that needs updating. DVD on boob tube = awesomeness. DVD on LCD = yucky."

You forgot one... Blu-Ray on a 1080p LCD = incredible.

Boob tubes are already gone. LCDs and plasmas are here. While upscaled DVDs look fine, Blu-Ray looks even better.

MichaelScrip

Given that you can buy a 1080p dvd player with divx capabilities (even via USB) for 1/2 that price:

[electronics.pricegrabber.com]

I'm gonna pass on this one.

daftrok

plasma? psst, 61" DLP baby! try getting a plasma that size for under 5gs.

otis123

@media_lush: "I watched Hancock on my Bravia the other day and would have to say that the PQ was as close as dammit to my HD movie channels - am I going to buy the Blue Ray version of it .... unlikely."

That's not saying much. HD movie channels look great compared to SD movie channels (or anything broadcast in SD), but if you're talking about a 1080p display, Blu-ray makes anything you'll see from cable/satellite's HD programming look like crap. That's because they broadcast in 720p/1080i. People who think the HD they see from cable/satellite is as good as it gets are mistaken.

That's why upscaling doesn't approach Blu-ray quality. People who say otherwise aren't watching on a 1080p display that's 42" or larger. Even my own current 34" 720p/1080i TV doesn't display Blu-rays as well as a 1080p at 42"+, which is why I'm in the market for a 1080p 50" plasma so I can get the most out of my Blu-ray Discs.

Barion

My main tv is a 13" analog CRT with rabbit ears.

FThorn

who really cares if Toshiba sell Blu Ray or not - the build quality and reliability of their HD-DVD players was so abysmal that it has really put me off Toshiba products. Why would anyone want to go there again? I would rather stick with my PS3 for Blu Ray playback.

The LED Watch Store

@media_lush:
There are so many things wrong with what you said, I'm not even sure where to begin. First, upscaled DVD is not the same quality as Blu Ray, period. I don't care what processing technology was used, if you watch at 42 inches or larger, there is a huge difference. You can't add information that just isn't there to begin with.

Second of all, if you watched Hancock, you would have been watching an R5 rip, and although it is close to DVD quality, its encoded and compressed video. So basically, you are trying to tell me that your upscaled less than DVD-quality video is as good as Blu Ray?

Pfft.

kwicherbichin

@media_lush: "the point I was trying to get across is that a dvd movie on a good 1080p upscaling dvd player is pretty damn close to HD" If you think that's true then you have some crappy HD sources. The best 1080p upscalers on the market can't come close to even an average Blu-ray deck. You just can't create what isn't there, no matter how good your interpolation. BD has six times the resolution of the best DVD. 480p upscaled to 1080p will never come close to native 1080p. And the larger the screen, the more noticeable the difference - I have a 61" screen.

MegaZone

Verdict: Toshiba still in denial, everyone else bracing for the other stages of grief.
Explanation below.
Denial: "You know what? Blu-Ray is not going to be the HD format! We'll have DVD-DL! Or upscaling!"
Anger: "Alright, Sony, go flop! Go the way of the Newton and the Pippin!" Plus Toshiba releases a Blu-Ray disc shredder.
Bargaining: "Couldn't you just switch to HD-DVD? It's a small favour..."
Depression: "Nobody likes my formats."
Acceptance: Toshiba releases Blu-Ray player.

Paul Dullford

My VioletRay player smokes all your stuff. It can play anything; all optical discs, eSATA, 3-D optical storage, holographic storage, even laserdiscs and shellac! MPEG-4 - yeah but why? MPEG-21 baby!
And for my display: 287 million pixels - beat that! Ha! Your lame pathetic LCD (or outdated plasma) pees itself when it hears of my display's magnificence!

Gotta go - my mom's calling me to breakfast. I hope she remembers to keep my bacon and eggs from touching each other.

theDagda

You people are completely missing the point. People who are upscaling their DVDs are mostly likely watching them on small TVs, read UNDER 42". Second, the average consumer could care less about br and it's SUPER resolution. As I said, most people are not watching movies on a 50inch LCD/Plasma. This is one of the reasons DVD is still acceptable to people.

BostonPimpDaddy2

@daftrok:
wow you can use pricegrabber to compare two numbers. By your thinking you would pass on the Toyota because the Hyundai has a lower price.
I think you are missing the point.

mconheady

I believe I read somewhere that Toshiba IS working on a Blu-Ray player; however, the Toshiba FU-2008 Blu-Ray player will be a down-scaling device.

frigg

I have a ton of old DVD's and I for one will buy one of these for that reason.

dsenier

@BostonPimpDaddy2: What do you mean "you people"?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

kwicherbichin

I bet this would look great on my RCA Two Thousand.

stjnky

@kwicherbichin: What do you mean "you people?"

ScotteusMaximus

I'm amazed at what people are telling me I can or cannot see - geez, those 1080p fanboys make apple fanboys look normal.

media_lush

Though I'm not saying my upscaling DVD player is anything close to what BD provides, it does look much better than the same disc played on a standard DVD player. I just wish there were a way to make the movies played off of my media center upscaled. I'm halfway to pulling the dvd drive from my media center as it never gets used since my pioneer dvd player showed up.

jeepingeek

Blu-ray isn't a big enough step up for me; I have a 47" 1080p LCD and a 140" CIH 1080p front projection setup and up-scaled dvd's are good enough; for now.

dahlberg123

I'm kind of disappointed...I was expecting a combination of upscaling and 3XDVD (with the latter as a new format they'd try to get some studios on board on, but more importantly, as a recordable format for archiving HD camcorder videos).

I *am* curious, though, to see whether this is going to be noticeably better than my Oppo (which is better than my PS3 for upconverting).

mikejonas

Have we hit a plateau with technology?

"DVD is good enough"

"Windows XP is good enough"

It's like we're stuck in 2001...

MichaelScrip

I remain extremely interested in upconverting DVD players. The only way I could imagine buying a BD player is if I get a PS3 (and I would only buy a PS3 to play games, which is why I don't have one yet).

I still think the BD makers should be worried. I am an early adopter who owns a decent HDTV. I love movies and buy a lot of them. I studied video production as part of my college degree, and I am perfectly capable of seeing the difference in picture quality. I am not a sore losing HD-DVD fanboy, either. I just look at BD and I could care less.

Still waiting for a better option... in the meantime, I'll make do with my cheap upconverting DVD player or upgrade to a better DVD player.

Andyr2120