News and Reviews....

    Toshiba Eyes Upconversion   March 2008

By Robert Lieto

    In the final stages of the HD-DVD vs Blue-Ray format war, I always felt that the Toshiba approach (HD-DVD) was the best for the consumer and my clients due to one factor, The Backwards compatibility of HD-DVD to standard DVD.  When Toshiba and the others behind the HD-DVD lost the format war due to the weight and dollars put behind the Blue-Ray I felt the public was pushed into re-buying the same software due to a change in hardware. This is my opinion for I could not see an advantage in one over the other when talking Hi-Def alone. Now that Toshiba is out of the format war they turned their eye to our standard DVD which everyone knows has been around for many years and have developed a player that upconverts the standard DVD to Hi-Def quality. Now the players will be the answer to the question of "what do I do with my DVD collection". I think it is a smart move on the part of Toshiba and the only factor that remains to be seen is the quality of their upconversion. Bravo!

Comment .....   Upconversion is a tricky process that is accomplished with hardware known as Digital Signal Processors (DSP) and software algorithms or codes that are applied to the video information through special chips known as Codecs.  Our techniques in hardware and software is here, can Toshiba package the goods ? We will probably know in six (6) to eight (8) months.

For information leading up to this article see:

    HD VMD    March 2008

    Blue-Ray Takes All   March 2008

    HD vs. Blue-Ray   April 2006

    Beyond the Blue Ray   February 2005

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