XD-E500 reviews blanketed?

Toshibas new XD-E500 dvd player has been in retailers hands now for over 24 hrs, yet not one bit of pro review is available yet?. This seems a little strange for a product that has had so much hype and discussion centered around it. During toshibas battle with blu-ray all of their hardware had been reviewed and thouroghly thrown around the web, well before release dates, Why is this not happening now?

strange, very strange

I have seen one of these working and the results DO NOT live up to the HYPE, and i am wondering if toshiba has put some kind of press/review blanket over this product, in the same way games manufactures put a block on their rubbish games from being reveiwed until they have been on the shop shelves for a month or two.

Like I said before, I have a little machine called the HD DVD A2, and well that thing works great. And now Toshiba wants me to buy a machine that is called a SUPER UPCONVERT, what a joke. My A2 works great and it upconverts as well.

Well im not stating what hardware i have, for fear of being branded a troll by some of this sites paranoid members, but suffice to say it does a damn fine job of upscaling my dvd collection, which i have no intention on replacing. There are a few titles that i am hoping will be released on my newley adopted format namely the alien films but they are no brainers and imminent, as for my other films im happy watching them upscaled. But never again will i buy sd-dvd.

---

[Post edited by Les_Claypool on Aug 19, 2008 - CDT 9:45 AM]

Since you have only been a member for a few days and your post is a direct criticism of Toshiba in favor of Bluray I think you are just trying to cause trouble or shilling for Sony. So I imagine you used to post here as some one else. Maybe I am wrong but that is how you come across to me.

Quote:
And now Toshiba wants me to buy a machine that is called a SUPER UPCONVERT, what a joke.

Or maybe they want people who do not have any upconversion at all to buy it. Though I am sure they would be happy for you to buy it too.

---

[Post edited by KungFuTaco on Aug 19, 2008 - CDT 9:50 AM]

PARANOIA

Quote:
Since you have only been a member for a few days and your post is a direct criticism of Toshiba in favor of Bluray I think you are just trying to cause trouble or shilling for Sony.

No you are wrong, i am not a troll or shilling?( 5 pence) or causing trouble. there are two trouble things here.

1. it is troubling that there are no reviews out for this tech yet.( and i have seen why)
2. there was not one single hint of trouble on this thread until you commented, trying to make me out as three things i am not.

What i am is a forklift driver in makro and the uk's largest distribution/qa centre. Yesterday at around 10:30 am we took delivery of 6 of these new players for our QA dept, the lads quickly set one up and compared it to our best selling lg upconverter £49.99, and in the three films they tested (which i and others sat and watched, lots of the lads have hdtvs, when you work in our enviroment it is easy to get cheap hdtv's some come for free, if you know what i mean) the results were slight to say the least. this product is gonna retail for between £110 to £130 in the uk, it would take me around three weeks to save and buy one, but after seeing it in action it doesnt warrant the 2 to 3 x price hike. I would if i didnt own one already just save up for another 3 weeks and buy a blu-ray instead or even an hd-dvd player.

Dunno maybe it was just us, but after all the hype we were expecting near oppo results.

---

[Post edited by Les_Claypool on Aug 19, 2008 - CDT 10:17 AM]

For those interested in the thread's topic... the new Toshiba player was not even expected until the end of the year. In fact, the technology was earlier indicated to be released -first- in Toshiba computer laptops. Be patient for tech reviews to arrive over the coming months (Cnet, EngadgetHD, Gizmodo, and A/V magazine sites).

-JOE- (Love Hendrix!)

True Joe, the Toshiba hasn't even arrived at most depots yet. There is a three week wait in Canada for the product. I talked to two suppliers here, and they said that Toshiba was yet to finalize a final Canadian MSRP, but the players were on order, and should hit shelves by the second or third week of September. Those silly billingual manuals and packing on back order...

The CELL chipped player, that everyone has been talking about may not hit stores until later this year. Rumours are that Toshiba may not be ready to release the profile DVD 2.0 format until next year. At this time it is rumoured that the Cell chip will be released in this particular unit for around the $249 price tag with xDE.

All this gobbledegook is all very well, but fails to answer the question.

why were hardware reviews for toshibas hd-dvd format players available weeks before their release dates. Yet 36 hrs after release not a single credible pro review of this product, not even a quick summary of findings.

It takes 5 mins to hook this player up and set it up, 6 hrs to watch 2 or 3 films and about 20 mins to sum up your findings and get em out on the web, yet nothing.

Even pc components are up on the web before or on the day of release and these can be a nightmare to setup and get working correctly.

like lovehendrix says, look for the reviews in a few months, sod that.

Look, Henning probably only got the Toshiba release on Friday, or was told to schedule a news release for Monday. I'm making an assumption there. The product was probably not available for review until this week. Remember this is a new DVD player, not a launch of a compleley new format! The hype behind it, is going to be small other than people looking to improve their current DVD player, or are unhappy with the scaling of their Blu-Ray player. So jumping on the posting boards and critizing it is a bit premature. CNET, according to the posting Skyhawk provided yesterday said that they will further investigate the machines abilities. If you already own a PS3 why are you worrying, the double frame feature should suffice for you then. Using your TV's zoom should give you ample upconversion. Or unless you are looking for a player that is already proven, go buy an OPPO. If you want a real treat, buy a used Toshiba HD-XA2.

In addition to what ReaggieP said, the players to keep an eye on are those other forthcoming Toshiba players that will combine the new technolgoy with the CELL chip. Now -those- players are definitely going to of interest for those wanting to get the best quality possible for their SD-DVD collection (based on what we've learned about it the last several months).

There will be evaluation of those players when released, and always look to early January's annual CES convention in Las Vegas for all of the demos and scuttlebutt of new technology. The annual CEDIA show (early Sept) starts in a few weeks, but I doubt Toshiba will be revealing much more than what's been said already, but definitely more info will be available by January's CES show.

-JOE- (Love Hendrix!)