Toshiba has announced the UK availability of its first HD DVD player, the HD-E1. 

The player is priced at £449, around half the price of rival Blu-ray players, and can be found even cheaper online. The relatively low cost of the Toshiba HD-E1 player is expected to make a big difference in which high-definition (HD) format people opt for.

This is the second generation of Toshiba’s HD DVD players and each one sold will come with eight free DVD rentals through online rental group, Lovefilm.

The player supports HD content in 720p or 1080i resolutions and can play back regular DVDs and CDs. It will also scale standard DVD images up to near-HD quality.

Sound formats supported include Dolby True HD, DTS-HD and Dolby Digital Plus. It has one HDMI input alongside the usual component and S-video hook-ups. There is also an Ethernet port and two USB slots.

Its big brother, the HD-XE1, is due in January at a price of £649. It adds support for 1080p content, the latest HDMI v1.3 standard and a surround sound processor.

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