HD-XA1: Toshiba begin selling first HD DVD players

HD-XA1: Toshiba begin selling first HD DVD players

Japanese tech giants Toshiba has beaten Sony in launching the players for their next generation DVD format named HD DVD. Sony is yet to release products capable of playing their Blu-Ray format discs in the market.

Toshiba has become the first company to sell the players capable of playing the next generation format based discs today and this could give them the advantage in the short term as Sony struggles to come out with the Blu-Ray disc players.

The company said in a statement that their HD-XA1, priced at about 110,000 yen ($936) is the world’s first commercially available HD DVD player. However, this player comes with no recording functionality considering the technology for recordable media is still facing some standardization issues.

United States is expected to get this player next month at a slightly lower price. Sony has said that they plan to launch the Blu-Ray players in the US market by summer. However, no fixed date has been released. This is similar to how Sony is delaying the launch of their Playstation 3 gaming console, which would also come equipped with the Blu-Ray disc drive.