Toshiba: "It wasn't a Blu-ray Christmas"

Toshiba's new DVD range
Toshiba's new DVD range

Toshiba today announced its 2009 DVD player and recorder line-up and, surprise, surprise, there were no Blu-ray machines in sight.

Since Tosh's HD DVD lost out in the next-gen format war, the company has stayed away from joining the Blu-ray brigade, instead focusing on its own upscaling technology.

"It wasn't a Blu-ray Christmas," said Toshiba's Managing Director Andy Bass.

"We know Blu-Ray is gaining in market share, so we are not being complacent, but the question is whether it'll plateau and level off."

He then went on to mention some new technology he witnessed in Japan "that even upscales video from YouTube to HD." TechRadar is not sure if this is Toshiba's Resolution + tech or not.

New player line-up

To prove its anti Blu-ray stance, Toshiba announced its new DVD players and DVD recorders and insisted that DVD is the way to go as it still has a 97.7 per cent market share.

The three new DVDs upscalers are the: SD390, SD490 and SD590. All the players house Resolution +, HDMI output and USB ports.

The DVD recorders are the DR19DT and RDXV59DT. Both recorders have Regza Link, DivX playback and Freeview and analogue tuners.

The RDXV59DT is a combi machine, featuring both a DVD player and VHS player.

The machines are out now and prices start from £219.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.