Toshiba HD-EP30 – High Definition DVD Player

HDTV Reviews

don’t usual talk about HD DVD Players in their own right but we’ve decided to diversify our output and see what happens. The Toshiba HD-EP30

is a compact HD DVD that packs a big punch. Playback capabilities include HD DVD Video, DVD Video, DVD VR, CD Audio and CD-DA.

Now with the battle between HD DVD and Blu-Ray heating up, some of you may wonder which platform you should get. The answer is – it’s still hard to say. Although Warner and 80% of Studios are going Blu-Ray, the 2nd and 3rd biggest film studios are still on the HD DVD bandwagon – exclusively so it’s likely that the war between the two formats will be ongoing for some time yet.

The Toshiba HD-EP30

takes an age to boot up. This is an annoyance as you’d expect better with new technology. On the plus side it does come with a couple of extras such as 2 free HD DVD’s to get you started and a bundled HDMI cable (which is great).

If you have a selection of American SD DVD’s prepare to be disappointed as the Toshiba HD-EP30 will not play your Region 1 SD DVD’s. Toshiba needs to release a region un-locker quickly…. The region lock problem does not affect HD-DVD’s which will make it a minor problem in a few years.

What is good about the Toshiba HD-EP30

is the excellent job it does on up-scaling standard DVD’s. Even older DVD’s look great so if you have a choice between this and an ups-caler the Toshiba HD-EP30 would definitely be the better option.