That was my first thought when I finished reading as well.davidhare wrote:Annoyingly nobody has asked the Tosh guy if the Euro model will play PAL and NTSC (or neither or both or either) SD discs.
edit 1 just saw this up at dvdtimes
Looks like the European model will support 1080p and upscale NTSC and PAL. Looks like you can go ahead and order one davidhare.from dvdtimes wrote:Toshiba have announced their first HD DVD Players for European markets with the HD-E1 due mid-November and the higher-end HD-XE1 to follow at the beginning of December. Priced at €599 (approx £405) and €899 (approx £605) the features are highlighted below…
The differences between the players are few but significant, with the HD-XE1 boasting HDMI 1.3 and full 1080P output alongside 5.1 analog outputs ensuring you can enjoy the new audio formats on your existing 5.1 input capable amplifiers. It also features a digital coaxial output alongside a digital optical out.
The HD-E1 by comparison offers HDMI 1.2 and up to 1080i output but sadly lacks the 5.1 analog out, and loses the coaxial digital output but retains the optical out. This means the best you can hope for from the new audio formats on your existing amplifiers is the on-the-fly conversion to Dolby Digital/DTS by the player transmitted through the optical out.
Beyond that both players offer full HD DVD functionality, with all video and audio codecs supported and all enhanced navigation features catered for. Both players also support upscaling standard definition DVDs (both PAL and NTSC video standards are covered) to 720P and 1080i (HD-E1) and 1080P (HD-XE1), while you will also find an Ethernet port to enable easy firmware updates.