Toshiba HD-EP30

Hello, I'm here with the Toshiba HD-EP30, a 1080p capable HD DVD player which sort of replaces the HD-E1 and sort of doesn't. The HD-E1 was one of our favourite HD DVD players, it was cheap, easy to use and reasonably stylish. Okay, it didn't do 1080p, but we've always maintained that this is far from critical with film material anyway. The E1 was initially going to be replaced with the EP10, which was announced at IFA 2007 but never actually materialised in any meaningful way. Now the EP30 has stepped in to provide 1080p support but retain a sensible price. There have been a few cosmetic changes too, the layout has switched over, the disc tray is over at the other side of the machine now, and Toshiba has replaced the cool round light on the E1 with this far less attractive rectangular affair. The remote control has been cut down too, so it's smaller, lighter and more stylish. You can see how much its improved if we show it side-by-side with the E1 remote. The shiny black finish has also been removed too, which we think is a good thing. At the back of the player the S-VIDEO connector found on the E1 has been removed, and now the only standard definition output option is via stinky composite video. Regrettably there are only stereo analogue outputs and an optical digital output. Ideally we'd like to see analogue 5.1 outputs, to hook the player up to AV receivers that either don't have HDMI or can't decode uncompressed audio. The EP30 can also support the 24p mode that everyone considers a must have these days, there is a simple menu option to engage this, and if your TV supports it, we strongly suggest you do. We really like this player, and despite a few minor complaints we think it's a great buy. The picture and sound quality are both excellent and the addition of 1080p output means it will appeal to people who think higher numbers are automatically better than lower ones. I'm Ian Morris, and this is the Toshiba HD-EP30.