Weekly Roundup ~ July 14

First up, a summary of the past week's HD DVD Hardware news...

• Toshiba may be launching HD DVD recorders in China in anticipation of greater interest in high-definition-related products when Beijing 2008 arrives...
  
  
• Toshiba launching more PC notebooks in the U.S./Canada with HD DVD compatible disc drives... If interested, you may want to check out with local/online retail stores for specific models and system specifications.
  
  
• Toshiba has released v2.0 firmware update for HD DVD Player Models HD-E1, HD-XE1 and HD-EP10, that was and currently still available for sale in the European continent. Full details via this blogpost. Instructions on how to check the firmware version currently installed in your HD DVD player is available here. Upcoming HD DVD titles such as Blood Diamond and 300 may require the latest firmware update for the web-enabled extras to work properly.

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Next, a summary of this past week's HD DVD software news...

• Sneak Peek of Upcoming HD DVD releases (Star Trek: The Original Series Remastered and Return to House on Haunted Hill) At Comic-Con 2007 (Link)
  
  
• Kirikou et les bêtes sauvages, Le Coeur des hommes and Les Triplettes de Belleville are HD DVD-exclusives that will be released in France, on Oct 24/31. (Link)
  
  
• Concorde Home Entertainment has announced 10 HD DVD titles for sale in Germany on September 3. (Link)
  
  
• Full Details of Blades of Glory HD DVD - Blades of Glory may be the first HD DVD from Paramount/DreamWorks featuring a lossless audio track.
  
  
• Troy Unrated Director's Cut Available On HD DVD, September 18 (Link)
  

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Latest Firmware Versions and Error Code Status explanation...

Instructions on how to check the version of the firmware installed on Toshiba's HD DVD players available here.

Please note that the new web-enabled HD DVDs such as Blood Diamond, Freedom Vol. 1 and 300 would require latest firmware update for the web-enabled features to function without major hiccups. Should you face still face error messages when accessing the web-enabled features after having updated your firmware to the latest version, do check out HD DVD ASSISTANCE FOR WEB-ENABLED FEATURES (Click on the link titled Web-Enabled Features on this website) for specific explanation of each error status code.

HD DVD Players Released in the U.S./Canada

• HD-A1/D1 & HD-XA1 (Version 2.3)
• HD-A2/D2/A2W & HD-XA2/A20 (Version 2.0)

HD DVD Players/Recorders Released in Japan

• HD-XA1 (Version 2.3)
• HD-XF2 & HD-XA2 (Version 2.0)
• VARDIA RD-A1 (Ver05)
• VARDIA RD-A600/A300 (Ver02)

HD DVD Players Released in Europe

• HD-E1 (Version 2.0)
• HD-XE1/EP10 (Version 2.0)

Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD Add-on Player

• Version 2.0.4636.0 (After applying May 2007 Revised Update)