Download - HDTV Magazine

ADSP-2126x SHARC programmable DSPs from Analog Devices Inc., according
to iSuppli (estimated cost $137).
$125 worth of memory, 1-gigabyte dual inline memory module (DIMM) from Hynix
Semiconductor Inc., three other types of DRAM, a 256-megabyte flash memory disk
from M-Systems and 32 megabytes of MirrorBit flash memory from Spansion, iSuppli
said.
Adding the memory chips bring the total cost of ICs used in the HD-A1
to roughly $247 per unit, according to the firm.
Toshiba is not alone in doing this market approach, Sony is also doing the same with
the Play Station 3, but no claims were issued regarding subsidizing Blu-ray standalone
players.
Aug 06
An announcement was made regarding the availability of a firmware upgrade for the
first generation Toshiba HD DVD player to upgrade the Dolby True-HD 2-channel
decoder (limited by the format standard) to be
enabled for 5.1 channels.
Such firmware was initially released as beta 1.9 and
later released as version 2.0.
According to the same source the other firmware
upgrades from Toshiba were:
1.2 fixed player glitching and Blacker than Black
and Whiter than White via HDMI
1.3 fixed RCA players that had the Toshiba boot up screen
1.4 fixed certain HDMI/DVI problems (Toshiba never specified)
CES 2007
Toshiba made clear that HD DVD as standard made mandatory for players to include
secondary video decoders, to support networking and persistent storage to let
consumers download and store new content on their HD DVD players.
The standard mandated lossy/lossless new Dolby Digital audio formats of Dolby
Digital Plus and Dolby True HD. However, the spec mandates only two-channel
True-HD decoders for HD DVD players. I wonder why anyone would be interested in
playing back a hi-bit lossless
multichannel movie soundtrack
through a decoder that only
handles 2 channels.
An example of that
implementation was the first
release of the Toshiba HD DVD
player with a True-HD Dolby
decoder for only 2 channels.
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