HD-XA1 HD DVD Player
June

Format wars are nasty things.

Everybody in the supply chain hates them, including the electronics manufacturers, the movie studios, the retailers, and especially the consumers, who — if they're really smart — will skip the whole mess till things play out and put that money into a flat-screen instead.

So the greatest tribute that can be paid to Toshiba's first HD DVD players is that so many really smart enthusiasts couldn't wait to slap down full retail for the HD-XA1 flagship ($799) or the value-priced HD-A1 ($499). Much of that had to do with the superlative reviews of their picture and sound following their introduction last spring. This, in spite of universal condemnation of the players' ergonomics, which were clunky, slow, and inconvenient.

In the end, it was Toshiba alone — not Blu-ray's band of Keystone Kops — that unflinchingly delivered on the long-delayed promise of high-definition movie discs. And these discs, thanks to the meticulous work of committed studios like Warner and Universal, actually proved from word go that we could have film-like video of unmatched purity, detail, and punch that easily eclipsed the slop that often passes for HD over broadcast channels. By the CEDIA Expo in September, anyone wandering the show floor could see that HD DVD had become a new favorite for demonstrating high-end home theater gear.

As I write this, the Blu-ray camp has finally achieved video equity with HD DVD with its latest players and software — some 6 months after the launch of HD DVD. Meanwhile, Toshiba is about to replace the HD-XA1 and HD-A1 with second-generation models. So the horse race is on, and we'd be fools to predict how the battle will end.

But looking back on a year filled with mostly evolutionary new products, it's obvious none raised the bar quite so high or had as profound an impact on the industry or thrilled the serious videophile more than HD DVD. Our hats go off to Toshiba for hitting the mark so squarely while fighting the underdog fight, and we're proud to name the world's first high-def disc player, the HD-XA1, Sound & Vision's Product of the Year.
tacp.toshiba.com
— Rob Sabin