Why you could buy an HD DVD player without realising

Toshiba has stopped producing new HD DVD players at its factories

Such is the lack of interest in Toshiba’s HD DVD players these days that retailers are going to extreme lengths to shift stock. We noticed this morning that not only has Play.com cut HD DVD player prices to an all-time low, but it’s also renamed the products - presumably in a bid to attract customers.

Instead of being listed as HD DVD players, they are now being displayed as upscaling DVD players which just happen to also have the bonus of being able to play back HD DVD discs.

Humiliation for last-remaining Toshiba players

The ‘Toshiba HD-EP30 HD DVD player’ has become the ‘Toshiba HD-EP30 HDMI Upscaling DVD Player with HD DVD High Definition Playback’. The same is true of the other Toshiba HD DVD players in the range – all have been re-labelled.

Incidentally, the HD-EP30 is now available on the site for just £79.99 and comes with two free HD DVD movies. Consequently, the player is currently the fifth best-selling electronics product on the site.

Our buddies over at T3 spoke to Play this morning, which said that it has also seen a seven-fold increase in sales of Blu-ray players. The Samsung BD-P1400, the cheapest BD player on the site at £199, is now in the electronics Top 20 also.

James Rivington

James was part of the TechRadar editorial team for eight years up until 2015 and now works in a senior position for TR's parent company Future. An experienced Content Director with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. Skilled in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-commerce Optimization, Journalism, Digital Marketing, and Social Media. James can do it all.