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All Reviews > Hardware > Storage > DVD/Optical drives > External DVD drives

August 29, 2008

Toshiba XD-E500 review

Product Code: XD-E500

Toshiba has been hyping the heck out of its new upconverting Toshiba XD-E500 DVD player, but has also been careful not to declare it an equivalent to Blu-ray, the high-definition format that beat out Toshiba's HD-DVD.

But the Toshiba XD-E500's ability to upconvert DVD for up to 1080p resolution displays and a trio of special image-enhancement settings can add some HD-like zing to standard discs, Toshiba contends.

A "sharp" setting makes edges crisper; the colour effect boosts blues and greens in an effort to provide an HDTV-like pop; and the contrast mode works to squeeze more detail out of dark scenes.

To put the Toshiba XD-E500 through its paces, we connected it via HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable to a 46in Samsung DLP (digital light processing) television with 720p/1080i resolution.

For testing purposes, we viewed 'The Dark', a horror film released a few years ago. This standard DVD's image is so well-authored, it seems to approach HD quality at times on the several standard players we use for testing. We wanted to see if the Toshiba XD-E500 could make the gap in detail seem even smaller.

We also wanted to find out how the Toshiba XD-E500 would handle more challenging material, so we popped in the gang-film classic 'The Warriors'. This 1979 movie is full of heavily shadowed scenes - a good test for the XD-E500's alleged ability to render more detailed blacks - and while the DVD's colours are balanced and strong, there is some softness in the image due to the film's age.

Toshiba says the Toshiba XD-E500's sharp setting isn't applied to the entire picture. Instead, the player analyses the image and determines where the sharpening effect could have the most benefit. In practice, this claim appeared to ring true for both test films, with the setting seeming to refine detail in areas such as grassy fields or hair. And impressively, it added little to no noise to the picture.

The Toshiba XD-E500's colour mode was less successful, in some cases pumping hues to garish, unrealistic levels, especially in 'The Warriors'.

Applying the Toshiba XD-E500's contrast setting also had mixed results. Sometimes it revealed details in dark areas that added to the picture quality, but in other instances, it ended up highlighting grain and imperfections that were otherwise hard to see.

NEXT PAGE: the Toshiba XD-E500 vs the PlayStation 3

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User reviews from Reevoo.com

Toshiba XD-E500 scores 8.8 out of 10 based on 52 reviews

Reevoo reviews are by people who definitely bought the product

The 2 most helpful reviews:

14 Feb 2009 Anonymous verified purchaser

Good Points

Easy to set up and the picture quality is really good

Bad Points

25 Mar 2009 Anonymous verified purchaser

Good Points

upscaling to 1080, great picture and sound quality

Bad Points

Terribly annoying audible high pitch "whine" on standby - need to turn unit off at switch to eliminate, no resume feature, incorrect playback of 4:3 material, front LED display only shows chapter heading

Overall score: 8.8

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