Toshiba Makes DVD History At CEDIA í99 With Delivery Of The Industryís First Progressive Scan DVD-Video Player

Toshiba on Friday, September 24 at the CEDIA Expo í99, marked a major milestone in the DVD-Video format by bringing to market the industry's first-ever DVD player equipped with a progressive scan output. The Toshiba SD9100 features a ColorStream PRO progressive scan component video output to deliver the most accurate reproduction of filmed entertainment yet achieved by a home video source component. The SD9100 joins the newly announced Toshiba SD5109 to create the industry's most comprehensive product line of high-performance progressive scan DVD-Video players.The Toshiba SD9100 is engineered and constructed in a manner that optimizes DVD performance. Select High Quality components, solid mass construction and advanced Toshiba digital engineering reflect an attention to detail that is underscored by unparalleled excellence in audio and video reproduction. Craig Eggers, Toshiba Director of Product Planning, DVD and Home Theater Audio explains, ""As a primary developer of the DVD-Video format, Toshiba continues to lead the development and advancement of DVD technology, and the company has made a comprehensive commitment to progressive scan DVD as a key enabling technology in the DTV era. Toshiba was the first to develop and demonstrate a progressive scan DVD-Video player, and the first to introduce a TV with ColorStream HD progressive scan video inputs. With the announcement of the SD9100 and the SD5109, Toshiba now fulfills our promise to our customers to offer DVD-Video players fully capable of displaying movies the way the director intended them to be seen. ""The Toshiba SD9100 DVD-Video player will be available in October 1999 at a suggested retail price of $1,999.95. The SD5109 DVD-Video player will debut in October 1999. It carries a suggested retail price of $999.95.When connected to a Toshiba ColorStream HD-equipped TV or other 480P-compatible display device, the SD9100 provides a three-dimensional, film-like and flicker-free picture, minus NTSC line structure. Compared to an interlaced system, which relies on a series of odd and then even scan lines to create the optical illusion of an entire frame of video reproduced every 1/30 of a second, a progressive display reproduces an entire frame, all 480 visible scan lines, every 1/60 second. Until now, DVD-Video players have reformatted the progressive scan signal - native to the DVD disc - into an interlaced signal for display on conventional TV sets. The result was an inevitable loss in image quality and the appearance of visible scan lines in the display. The SD9100's progressively scanned image, on the other hand is characterized by enhanced vertical and temporal resolution and improved brightness without any compromise in color or contrast. An additional benefit of a progressive display is the ability to sit closer to the screen as visible line structure is significantly reduced. Furthermore, the image is more film-like and natural. To achieve such extraordinary picture quality, the Toshiba SD9100 incorporates the most advanced digital video technologies, including a 10-bit, 27 MHz video D/A converter, yielding the highest resolution possible (540 lines/480 visible lines progressive). Further enhancing picture performance is the SD9100's unique 3D-DNR Video Noise Reduction system, which reduces the incidence of random video noise, particularly in background images. Together with its unsurpassed video performance, the Toshiba SD9100 offers unmatched home theater sound quality and surround sound versatility. In addition to Dolby Digital compatibility, the SD9100 is compatible with DTS (Digital Theater Systems)-encoded movie and compact disc soundtracks. The Toshiba SD9100's build quality is designed to dramatically reduce mechanically induced vibration and resonances for ultimate video and audio quality. To attenuate image- and sound-degrading vibration and jitter, the SD9100 features a high-mass resin-impregnated base with a 2mm thick metal bottom plate, a shock-dampened top cover, plus a vibration-isolated chassis and internal componentry. Further performance enhancements include solid cast aluminum alloy anti-vibration feet. A machined aluminum front panel further reduces vibration and provides a strikingly elegant high-tech appearance.In addition to the SD9100, Toshiba also offers its SD5109 DVD-Video player with progressive scan video output. The SD5109 delivers superb video and surround sound audio quality, including advanced features such as 10-bit video D/A conversion, Dolby Digital and DTS digital output, 24-bit/96kHz audio capability and built in Dolby Digital Decoding. In addition, the SD5109 adds HDCD processing and precision filtering, providing users with the full sonic benefits of the increasingly popular HDCD format as well as enhancing the sound of standard CDs. For added movie watching convenience, the Toshiba SD5109 features the company's innovative Dual Disc Twin-Tray Transport System, which allows users to load two DVD discs into the player at the same time and play them in succession for uninterrupted viewing of multi-disc DVD titles or ""double-feature"" movie viewing.For more information, contact Craig Eggers at 973 628 8000 or visit the Web site at http://www.toshiba.com/tacp.