It's kinda hard to get excited about HD DVD now that LG's gone and announced a player that can do both HD DVD and Blu-ray (more details on that in a bit), but Toshiba gave it the old college try with its HD-A20 player, due in the spring. Since the company's first HD DVD players were rushed to market, they weren't capable of 1080p output (not that you'd notice), and were raked over the coals by some critics. But the A20 doesn't just do 1080p — its big claim to fame is the $599 price tag (probably lower in stores).

Yeah, we're a little ambivalent about that, too, since it represents a price increase for a product that should've had this feature in the first place (the first 1080i/720p HD DVD player hit the market at $499), but then again it's half the price of what LG's dual-format player will be. The HDMI flavor, for those who care, is 1.3. — Peter Pachal