CEDIA 2007 - Day 1: Us vs. Monster Cable, Sony's New Projectors and Toshiba on HD-DVD
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on September 5, 2007 11:45 PM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Toshiba's HD-DVD Players and Tons of Free HD-DVDs
Now we'll go into the new HD DVD products being released by Toshiba for 2008. The new models are the HD-A35, HD-A30, and HD-A3. All three models are part of Toshiba's third generation of HD-DVD players and are about ¼" slimmer than their predecessors.
The HD-A3 is the entry level model which has an MSRP of $299 and will ship in October. This model only features 1080i output and no other bells and whistles.
The HD-A30 is the successor to last years HD-A20. The unit is capable of outputting 1080p/24 frames per second as well as "CE-Link." Almost all moves are recorded at a rate of 24 frames per second. Having a player that can output at that rate removes the need for extra post processing which can have adverse affects on picture quality. CE-Link allows two-way communications between devices over HDMI. The player can then be controlled by compatible equipment (such as A/V receivers) for a more seamless integration of home theater components. The HD-A30 will have an MSRP of $399 and should begin shipping this month.
The HD-A35 will have the same features as the HD-A30 but will also include deep color support, PCM analog audio out, and high bit rate audio. Deep color support is a new addition to the HDMI 1.3 standard which allows for up to 48-bit color depth. PCM analog audio out allows you to output the uncompressed PCM audio channels used in many HD movies directly out of the player without the need to decode them using a receiver. High bit rate audio simply refers to the latest HD audio standards including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. The HD-A35 will have and MSRP of $499 and should begin shipping by October.
Toshiba also announced that they will be releasing an firmware update for the 2nd generation HD DVD players to add support for 1080p/24 frames per second.
Toshiba has made a name for themselves in the HD DVD arena with their gratuitous movie giveaways when purchasing a new HD DVD player. They are continuing this tradition will all new promotions starting immediately. First they will be giving away a copy of "300" and "Bourne Identity" with the purchase of a new Toshiba HD DVD player. These movies will be included right out of the box so there's no waiting for the movies in the mail.
In addition to this bundle, Toshiba announced "The Perfect HD Offer," which will begin on October 1st 2007 and end February 28th 2008. This offer is similar to earlier offers this year where Toshiba will allow you to chose 5 free HD DVD movies with the purchase of an HD DVD player. However this time Toshiba as upped the ante and will extend this offer to not only Toshiba HD DVD drives, but also all HD DVD capable Toshiba PCs as well as the Microsoft XBOX 360 HD DVD add-on. The only downside is that the movies will still be mailed to the consumer after purchase.
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Adul - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
I feel sad for those that buy into the monster cable marketing. I been getting my cables from monoprice lately. Nice well made cables for cheap. Wish I told that to my neighbor before he drop money on it. Oh well next time :)MGSsancho - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
yeah i got a 50' dvi -> hdmi cable from mono price. works great. its just massive. makes my man hood feel bad at times. Monster does have a point. the original spec for hdmi was a <5gbs link. then the spec was increased to 120hz, 24b color, then 1440P resolution. all in all the bandwidth requirement was increased to >12gps. Then they got spart. the increased the spec, but never upgraded the spec on the cable. So, current hdmi cables are fine for current stuff like PCs, HD stuff and game consoles. anything higher that that (1440P) I will worry about it when i can buy a $2000 1440P TV, receiver, player, and content.About the STR-5300ES, how is that any better than the Onkyo 805 fpr $1000 (has all the same features except bravia link) and if you want the Silicon Optics HCV blah 10bit REON up scaler, the onkyo 875 sells for $1800 (msrp). oh and onkyos 905 has burr brown oamps.....
Oh well Congrats to Sony bringing more competition into the high end gear!!!!!!!!
Duwelon - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
I'm so sad for Monster that consumers don't want to pay a 1000% price markup on their cables. I bought a $5 DVI-HDMI cable about 6 feet long and it delivers a brilliant image to my sony 1080p TV.pervisanathema - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Monster Cable's business model depends on the ignorance of consumers and peoples' blind attraction to shiny packaging and a slick sales pitch. It's common knowledge among the enthusiasts and educated consumers that Monster is the cable world's equivalent of Bose. Slick marketing, massive markup, inferior product.Locutus465 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Except Bose speakers (at least their real surround speakers) actually do sound great, and are high quality. Basically, you really do get something out of spending more on your speakers vs. cheaping out (like I did). If you cheap out you can get decent, but not amazing sound, if you spend extra cash, you get amazing... With monster, you really don't get anything at all.(qualifier, yes you need a decent receiver to go along with your shiny bose speakers for things to work out well).
SilthDraeth - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
I doubt monster makes crappy cables. There just isn't a need to pay the additional price.LoneWolf15 - Thursday, September 6, 2007 - link
Monster is also dependent on making sure big box stores like Best Buy only sell their brand of cables and no other, so that people who absolutely gotta have their new home theater working today (without travelling around to buy things) will spend the big bucks as opposed to being patient, going somewhere else or mail-ordering them, and saving the cash.
Best Buy (and some others) have learned that it nets them huge profits too. Same with computer cables (Geek Squad and Dynex). $33 for a USB cable I can pay $10 for anywhere else? Highway robbery --and enough to stop me from buying other items at their store as well.
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