Product Description

Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Widthcm43Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Depthcm33Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Heightcm6Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Weightkg4.1Technical DataMiscellaneous / ColourBlackTechnical DataHeader / Product LineToshibaTechnical DataHeader / ModelHD-EP30-K-TETechnical DataHeader / ManufacturerToshibaTechnical DataHeader / Packaged Quantity1Technical DataAudio System / Sound Output ModeStereoTechnical DataDVD / TypeHD DVD playerTechnical DataDVD / Form FactorTabletopTechnical DataDVD / Media TypeHD DVDTechnical DataDVD / Built-in Audio DecodersDTS-HD decoderTechnical DataDVD Features / Picture ZoomYesTechnical DataDVD / Media Load TypeTray

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28081 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Toshiba
• Model: HD-EP30
• Released on: 2007-10-14
• Dimensions: 23.62" h x 169.29" w x 125.98" l, 13.23 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

 

 

 

Beyond Belief
DVD has already revolutionised speed and access to digital information in the home and at work. Next generation HD DVD takes this to a whole new level featuring superior quality and operability levels that redefine the home entertainment experience. Toshiba’s HD DVD players combine High Definition video and sound with unbeatable interactivity for movies and music that take the breath away.

Toshiba has developed HD DVD discs with a variety of capacities including; 15GB, 30GB, and 51GB. The new narrow focus blue-violet laser operates at a shorter wavelength, allowing the greater capacity of information on HD DVD discs to be read accurately. Increasing the disc capacity in this way allows studios to create films with greater impact, stunning surround sound effects and special features that are truly interactive – all in high definition. To output films at 1920 x 1080p, the optimum high definition resolution, the films require 8 times more information than a standard DVD, even with MPEG4 compression.

Films are now being made with HD DVD in mind from the outset, with all that capacity available, you can now expect a true home cinema experience with added special features. You will be able to access commentaries from the Director; different film endings; menus whilst watching the film and a whole host of features designed to deliver an unforgettable experience that will make you fall in love with film all over again.

 

HD DVD TECHNOLOGY
At its most basic level, HD DVD offers more capacity than the standard definition DVDs. It’s this extra capacity that allows HD DVD to deliver a movie viewing experience like you’ve never seen before. If you thought your favourite movies looked good on DVD, just wait until you watch them again on HD DVD - the next generation DVD. Considering a straight pixel count, it can be seen HD DVD offers up to 6x better picture quality than standard DVD. An HD DVD output of 1920 x 1080 lines of information gives 2073k pixels compared to an NTSC output of 720 x 480 lines giving 345k pixels and a PAL standard output delivering 414k pixels.

A standard definition DVD provides 576 lines of picture information but HD DVD can provide up to 1080 lines of picture information. It is this increased resolution that delivers picture quality only previously dreamed of by home cinema enthusiasts and never before seen outside the cinematic environment.

With HDTV screen sizes from Toshiba now reaching 57” the cinema is moving ever closer to your living room, a feat now taken one step further with the 24fps feature on Toshiba’s new HD-EP30 and HD-EP35* HD DVD players. This will output High Definition images in up to 1080p resolution at a true 24 Frames Per Second (fps) as seen at the cinema, a feature previously unavailable from older formats such as DVD.

Unprecedented levels of clarity and detail, more vivid colours and increased depth of vision ensure HD DVD will forever change the way you watch movies.

All of Toshiba’s HD DVD players support the HD Ready standards of 720p and 1080i, and all of the HD DVD players within this brochure will also output 1080p, the pinnacle of High Definition video.

 

The Next Generation DVD
Expect brilliant pictures, stunning sounds and exciting interactivity every time you use a Toshiba HD DVD player, even with your old discs. As they’re fully backward compatible with standard DVDs and CDs, there’s no need to have two players. Toshiba’s HD DVD players even up-scale standard DVD discs to High Definition resolutions up to 1080p, making them look better than ever.

If you’re a fan of all the extras crammed onto your DVDs, just wait until you start your HD DVD collection. There’s more space on the disc for trailers, behind the scenes documentaries and directors’ commentaries, and HD DVD offers a unique interactive experience. Thanks to the picture and picture function, you will no longer have to stop watching a film in order to access the disc’s menu – with HD DVD the menu system overlays the action, so you can access extras and special features without interrupting the action.

Real-time actor biographies mean you’ll never again be distracted from a movie while you try to remember which other films they’ve been in. With HD DVD, the studios can embed full biographies for the cast onto the disc, so when a certain actor is on the screen you can find out all about them without pausing the action. All HD DVD players feature persistent storage, which enables you to bookmark your favourite scenes and have them remain even after the disc is removed, so next time you pop the movie in the player you can watch your favourite clips back-to-back.

The Ethernet port allows you to connect to the internet to download bonus content and receive updates. Subject to individual disc content, you'll be able to stream audio commentary, access new languages and HD trailers every time you play a disc. For the first time you will be able to access web enabled features that bring a new dimension to your home cinema experience.

Film finally becomes accessible like never before, thanks to the technological advances of HD DVD and the studios that support it.

To accompany HD DVD’s stunning visual performance a new collection of audio formats has been developed by the experts at Dolby® and DTS®. These new formats deliver an audio quality and surround sound experience which has never been heard before in the home.

Thanks to the higher bit rates, HDMI™ now offers support for the latest lossless compressed digital audio streams, Dolby® True HD and DTS®-HD Master Audio, delivering sensational cinema-like surround sound through external sound systems.

These surround formats can be reproduced using six or even eight discrete audio channels, methods referred to as 5.1 or 7.1 surround. All Toshiba HD DVD players are compatible with these new audio formats with the Toshiba HD-EP35 HD DVD player offering 7.1 Audio output via HDMI™*, for a truly ‘all around’ sound experience.

Like DVD before it, HD DVD has also received significant support from the PC sector, with HD DVD drives featuring in many notebook computers (like Toshiba’s Qosmio), so you can take your High Definition movie watching experience with you - anywhere in the world.

HD DVD discs are made by a similar process to standard DVD discs and this similarity in format also allows for hybrid HD DVD discs, which have the high definition version of the film on one side of the disc and a standard definition DVD version on the other. Hybrid discs allow you to enjoy HD DVD quality at home but watch the film anywhere on a standard DVD player.

 

 

HD DVD CONNECTIVITY
All Toshiba HD DVD players are equipped with High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI™) connections, which carry sound and audio direct to your HDTV. HDMI™ is completely digital, so there is no loss of quality as the signal is transferred from player to TV, ensuring your High Definition video content stays as detailed and colourful as the studio intended. The HDMI™ connectors on Toshiba’s HD DVD players are also fully HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection) compliant, so all copy-protected HD DVDs will play without a problem.

HD-EP30 Connections:

All Toshiba HD DVD players also have a component video output. This allows high definition content up to 1080p to be played on HD Ready TVs that may already be utilising their HDMI™ connection for next generation games consoles and HD video cameras etc.

A network port is mandatory on HD DVD players, which means that every one can be connected to the Internet. This online connectivity allows you to access even more exciting interactive content, with studios providing ever more online features to enhance your enjoyment. They will be able to provide up to date content via the online feature of HD DVD, like the latest movie trailers, offers, competitions and merchandise.

The network port also means that firmware updates can be downloaded and installed directly to the player at the touch of a button. This means new features can be added to a player after purchase, with a simple update procedure performed from the comfort of your sofa.

Our HD DVD players have extension terminals, to connect various peripherals to enhance your viewing and interactive experience. This functionality highlights Toshiba’s commitment to future-proofing its HD DVD players.

 

TITLE RELEASE AND STUDIOS
The HD DVD format is backed by the biggest names in film with more than 30 supporting studios including Warner Brothers, Universal, Paramount and Studio Canal all releasing major titles on HD DVD with plenty more planned.

With hundreds of title releases, from classics to exciting new blockbusters designed to get the very best from HD DVD expected in the coming months, there is something to appeal to fans of every movie genre. The releases have been chosen for the cinema-like experience they offer, with stunning image quality and incredible surround sound, guaranteed to immerse you into films like never before.

Don’t sit back and wait; join the revolution; buy into HD DVD now and you will fall in love with film all over again.

Box Contents

Toshiba HD-EP30 HD- DVD Player

Remote Control

User Manual

Mains Cable

HDMI Cable

Warranty Card

---

Customer Reviews

Flawless.
This player is excellent. Connected by HDMI at 1080p24 to a Full-HD plasma screen, the picture quality is limited essentially by what came out of the camera. I can't fault it, and as a trained broadcast engineer I'm exceedingly fussy. The scaler does a good job of standard-definition DVDs too (Region 2 only).

The internet connection was easy to set up - turn on DHCP and DNS, plug it into the router, and that's it. I only did this out of curiosity - I don't expect ever to use it, although I did use it to flash the firmware to the latest version. This went without a hitch but took about 45 minutes.

There is just a little fan noise, but it's only perceptible in a very quiet room and is completely masked once the audio starts.

There were two discs in the box - 300 and The Bourne Supremacy. Five additional free discs can be obtained by downloading and filling in a form.

Excellent high definition player
I was intially very sceptical about the merits of High definition DVD, both HD-DVD and Blu-ray. Could it really provide noticeably better picture quality than what I was already viewing, with a Denon 1920 upscaling DVD player ? The Denon provides a great picture on my set-up, which includes a Panasonic AE900 projector projecting onto a screen just under seven feet wide. I was watching the prices of these high def players with interest, and when the price of the Toshiba HD-EP30 dropped to below £200 with seven free films thrown in, I decided that now was the time to find out.

The Toshiba HD-DVD player comes with an HDMI cable included. Setting the player up was a matter of a few seconds, plug in the power lead, optical output to the amplifier (you will need to buy an optical lead if you want the best audio quality, unless your amp can process both audio and video through HDMI), HDMI lead to the projector, and switch on. The player takes about a minute to power up, not really a problem for me as the projector also takes a good few seconds to power on and reach full lamp brightness. The player takes a further few seconds to recognise an HD-DVD or SD-DVD disc, then the HD-DVD logo appears and you're in.

My projector being native 720p resolution, I didn't even bother with the higher 1080p resolution setting. At 720p, the picture quality is astounding. HD-DVD came out razor sharp and the colours literally burst onto the screen. There is a very clear and noticeable difference between HD-DVD and standard definition (SD) DVD.

The sound quality is also extremely good. HD-DVD sound via optical is transferred at a higher bitrate than SD-DVD, but still compressed. For Dolby True-HD you will need an amplifier capable of taking sound via HDMI. Me, I don't think I would be able to tell the difference between compressed and uncompressed audio - I think it would depend on how expensive your speakers and amplifier are. I can say though, that the sound quality from an HD-DVD was noticeably better than the sound from an SD-DVD.

I tried a few SD-DVD's to assess the upscaling capabilities of the Toshiba compared to the Denon. The Denon 1920 uses a Faroudja processor for upscaling and I've always been extremely happy with the quality. The Toshiba uses an Anchor Bay processor for upscaling. Maybe it's the fact that the Denon is a couple of years out of date, but the Toshiba was noticeably better at upscaling DVD's than the Denon. Within a few hours of testing, I knew that I would never watch another film on the Denon again, unless it was region 1 (the Toshiba can play HD-DVD's from any country as HD-DVD is a region free format, but it will only play region 2 DVD's).

Although it's reportedly very easy to upgrade to the latest firmware via the ethernet link, I didn't bother. Every disc I tried played fine. I decided that if I came across a problem or a particular reason to do so at any stage, I would upgrade the firmware, but if not....

In summary, this is a fantastic HD-DVD player, and a superb DVD upscaler as well. An upscaled DVD will never match the quality of an HD-DVD, at least not on a large screen, but on a smaller screen I guess the player is worth the money for the upscaling capabilities alone. For HD-DVD, if you have £200 and want stunning picture quality and sound, you can't go wrong. I can't help thinking, if 720p quality is this good, what will the full 1080p resolution be like ? If you own a TV capable of 1080p resolution you're in a better position than me to find out !

Excellent upscaler for SD movies; Excellent 'dead format' player
Some 'reviewers' have given this 1-star simply because it doesn't play Blue Ray movies. Guess what? It never did, it never claimed to.

------------------------------

If you DON'T care about High-Def, then this is a *excellent* buy just for the upscaling alone, which gives a near-HD quality to the existing DVD collection which you've spent your hard-earned money on.

As for the 2 HD-DVDs, you can sell them if you wish because there are a lot of people like me looking for firesales.

----------------------------------

If you DO care about High-Def, and your favourite films are out NOW in HD-DVD, then its still worth considering (especially at this insanely cheap price). Again, prices of HD-DVD films are about to drop big-time, so you could build a decent High-Def movie collection for a very cheap price. And while films exclusive to HD-DVD (Transformers for instance) will be re-released on Blue Ray, that won't happen overnight....so why wait????

---------------------------------------------------

Worse case scenario: You've spend £77 (or less) on one of the best upscaling DVD players money can buy.