14 DAY TRIAL // You remember Toshiba's HD-XA1 HD-DVD player? Well, if you do, you're probably a big fan of Toshiba for making such an impressive piece of hardware. Though it had some problems, the first generation XA1 player was among the best HD-enabled players ever. Many enthusiasts around the world have written positive blogs regarding these players. So when Toshiba announced that they will produce a 2nd generation of players, everyone became very interested.
First came out the budget model HD-A2 in early December. As I've written in the presentation, the model still lacks some features but overall is a big improvement over the HD-A1, especially in the performance area. Size has also gone down a bit and the interface and responsiveness is at higher levels than before. As for the top HD-XA2, rumors suggested it was going to come out by the end of December but Toshiba postponed the arrival by some 10-15 days.
The HD-XA2 is Toshiba's high end 2nd generation player and will come with some additional features that its little brother doesn't have. As a reminder, HD-A2 which currently retails for about $499 features HDMI 1.2 support and outputs at 1080i.
The HD-XA2 on the other hand retails for as high as $999 (the initial price could go down a bit) but it supports HDMI 1.3 and will initially offer support for 1080p/60. A firmware update which is scheduled to be released in February will correct the 60fps issue and will offer "true" 1080p/24 support. Not much can be said further excepting perhaps that I'd love to see how it works under true 1080p resolution. But I guess that one week of waiting won't kill me.