Audio News for September 2, 2008

Toshiba Introduces “Hi-Res” Standard DVD Playback – After their financially painful loss with HD DVD in the hi-res format war, Toshiba America Consumer Products has bounced back with what they call XDE Technology for standard DVDs – “eXtended Detail Enhancement.”  The hope is to provide greater detail,  more vivid colors and stronger contrast to bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience, since a large part of the public now own HDTV displays but no HD disc players.  In addition to providing upconversion from 480i or p to 1080 i or p, XDE has three selectable picture mode settings: Sharp, Color and Contrast. Sharp Mode analyzes the entire image and adds edge enhancement only where it’s needed. Color Mode makes blues and greens more vivid and lifelike, and Contrast Mode makes dark scenes more clearly visible without the washing-out that can occur with traditional contrast adjustment. [Out of the box, most HDTVs have contrast and brightness turned up way too high, colors are too vivid already, and experts universally suggest turning the sharpness control way down or completely off.  Also, many HD displays already feature built-in upconversion to 1080i or p…Ed.]  However, Toshiba’s first player with XDE technology, the XD-E500, is only $150 and available this month, so as a second player it might be worth investigating.

Disney Announces Upcoming Blu-ray Editions of Classic Animations – Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has announced their Platinum Collection of animated features to be released on both DVD and Blu-ray – each available for a limited time only, in new multi-disc sets featuring rarely seen footage and an array of new bonus features. Among these will be Disney’s BD-Live Network which will be launched this fall, initially in the U.S. only, with the first animated feature length film ever made – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. (Requires a display-to-broadband connection.) The first Platinum Blu-ray release will be the Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary Edition on October 7.  Other classics in the Platinum rollout will be Pinocchio (Spring 2009), the original Fantasia plus Fantasia 2000 (2010) and Beauty and the Beast (Fall 2010). Beauty and the Beast was the only animated film ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. A surprise entry in the series will be Destino – a completion by Roy Disney of a 1946 unfinished animated film created by Walt Disney and Salvador Dali!  It was rediscovered in 2003 and will be available with a feature-length documentary on the Disney-Dali partnership.

T.H.E. Show Invitation to Audiophile Societies – The T.H.E. Show, also know as The Home Entertainment Show, will again take place in Las Vegas from January 9 thru 11, 2009 during the bigger Consumer Electronics Show down the road.  T.H.E. has grown to the point that it now occupies two side-by-side hotels: the St. Tropez and the Alexis Park (former site of the CES Specialty Audio exhibits). T.H.E. has put out the welcome mat for members of authentic audiophile societies around the world.  Their members will gain paid access to vendors of software and rare vinyl and CDs during the show. There will also be events to aid in the cross-pollination of audiophile societies and perhaps exhibits will be open longer especially for audiophile society members. Audiogon will hold a first-time demo sale on the last day of the show. 37 different audiophile societies have received invitations so far.  Members who have not received them can contact the show at info@theshowlasvegas.com or 702-242-4545.