Yes, the inventor of HD DVD has finally decided to join in with Blu-ray. Its BDX2000 is available today. Price: $329. Feature list:
- BD-Live
- DivX HD and AVCHD Playback
- Toshiba REGZA-LINK® (HDMI-CEC)
- Support for enhanced audio formats of Dolby® TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio | Essential
- Bonus View
- SD Card Slot (SDHC Compatible)
- Deep Colour
Toshiba has been well known over the years for some truly classic DVD players, and to be honest its HD DVD players were pretty damned good as well. They were horribly slow, but so were all first generation Blu-ray players. That aside, they seemed to work really well.
But I’m not absolutely certain that this Blu-ray player is fully Toshiba. I haven’t seen it yet, and I haven’t researched it, but my guess is that it is based on a Panasonic platform. The use of an SD card slot, and support for DTS-HD MA ‘Essential’ rings of Panasonic.
Still, there are a lot worse platforms on which to base a Blu-ray player.
UPDATE (Tuesday, 19 January 2010, 6:53 am): I’ve had my hands on this player for a while now, and if it is based on a Panasonic platform — or any other — it is not apparent to me. I think this one may well be all Toshiba’s own work.