More details on Toshiba's European HD DVD launch

[HDBeat]

Filed under: Manufacturers, Samsung, Toshiba

Following up from yesterday's announcement on Toshiba's European HD DVD launch plans, we've discovered a little more news that we didn't have then, including the price for the higher-end HD-XE1 model, for 999 Euros, or 672 British Pounds. The lower-end HD-E1 model will be 599 Euros (403 Pounds, or US $767). Toshiba plans to ship a first batch of 10,000 players from Japan in November, with further shipments depending on demand. They will release to the European market in three waves, first for the UK, France, and Germany, then followed by more of mainland Europe, with Eastern Europe and Iceland last.
No word on how many of each player is included in this number, although Toshiba defends the much higher prices compared to the US market by mentioning the smaller, slimmer design, and a few extra features when compared to the American models. The high-end player will have 1080p support, where the US models only have interlaced outputs.

Samsung also announced at the IFA show that their Blu-ray player will debut in October at 1,400 Euros, or close to US $1800. Even with European taxes to blame for some of this increase, it seems clear that the US models are subsidized in some way by both camps.

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