Liven up your Blu-ray experience
As you're likely aware, Full HD 1080p video and multi-channel, studio-quality surround sound come standard on Blu-ray Disc movies. But, just like automobiles, some Blu-ray discs are available with some pretty fancy add-ons. And Toshiba's BDX2000 Blu-ray player lets you take advantage of perhaps Blu-ray's most impressive add-on: BD-Live interactivity. Connect the BDX2000 to your pre-existing internet connection using the player's ethernet port, plug an SD memory card into the built-in SD interface, and you're ready to discover a whole new dimension of the Blu-ray home theater experience. With BD-Live, you can watch deleted scenes, movie shorts, and trailers. And that's just the beginning. You can participate in on-line gaming, and chat using audio and video messaging. You can even download ringtones for select Blu-ray titles. Like we said, Liven up your Blu-ray experience.
The color of HD — Blu
Okay, so what gives? DVD discs and Blu-ray discs look the same: they're round, flat, shiny . . . all that. So how is it that Blu-ray Disc can be so much better? The answer is simple. (You're going to think we're joking, but it has to do with lasers!) You see, DVD technology uses a wide, red laser to read and write information on a disc. Blu-ray Disc technology, on the other hand, uses a narrower, blue-violet laser. That's all there is to it! By simply using a finer laser to encode information, Blu-ray technology can fit significantly more data into the same space used by DVD. How much more space? Blu-ray offers five times the storage capacity of DVD. Accordingly, not only is there room for Full HD 1920 x 1080p video and 7.1-channel, studio-quality surround sound audio, but there's still room left over for bonus materials like director commentary and deleted scenes. Blu-ray Disc offers the ultimate in high definition home theater.
What's this about HD audio?
There's a good chance you're familiar with HD video. What you might not know, however, is that audio comes in HD, too. In fact, the advanced audio encoded on Blu-ray Disc is perhaps the format's greatest advancement. As it happens, audio data requires a lot more storage space than does video data. For this reason, with its red-laser technology, DVD was only able to fit compressed, 5.1-channel surround sound on its discs, leaving the dynamic high and low frequencies out of the sound track. Conversely, with its dramatically expanded storage capacity, Blu-ray Disc has plenty of room for 7.1 channels of lossless (uncompressed), studio-quality surround sound. In other words, the sound tracks on Blu-ray movies preserve the audio the director intended for you to experience. And, ensuring that you do experience full HD audio, Toshiba's BDX2000 Blu-ray Disc player sports integrated Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio decoding. These technologies unlock the HD audio signal found on Blu-ray Disc, making all 7.1-channels of audio available to your multi-speaker home audio setup without the need for a new, high-end receiver with this capability.
A new day for your DVDs
Geez, after all this talk about Blu-ray's many advantages over DVD, you might be thinking about sending your DVDs to the dumpster. We'd like you to reconsider. Using advanced video-upconversion technology and an HDMI output, the BDX2000 is actually capable of enhancing the standard definition video found on all your DVDs to high-definition 1080p levels. In fact, because the BDX2000 can upconvert DVD video to 720p, 1080i, and 1080p resolutions, it's able to optimize your DVDs for viewing on your HDTV, no matter the TV's native resolution. Clearly, it's a new day for your DVDs.
The advanced connectivity of HDMI
Bringing you the absolute best in connectivity, Toshiba's BDX2000 features one HDMI output. HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is the only interface in consumer electronics that can carry both uncompressed high-definition (HD) video and uncompressed multi-channel audio in all HD formats including 720p, 1080i and even 1080p. Your incoming media content comes in a variety of sizes, resolutions and formats, and with that in mind, HDMI systems automatically configure to display that content in the most effective format. Since HDMI carries all channels on video and audio, there is only one cable to plug into any HDMI-enabled source and display device. No more complicated cable set-up when installing your home theater system, and no more ugly cable mess behind your components. HDMI supports standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus multi-channel digital audio on this single cable. Also, HDMI is fully backward-compatible with DVI. (Please note that a physical adapter, sold separately, is needed to make the conversion from HDMI to DVI.)
Your HD lifeline
High Definition Multimedia Interface, or HDMI, is the only home A/V connection that allows for both Full HD 1080p video and 7.1-channel studio-quality audio to be passed along a single cable. In other words, in order to take full advantage of your home theater's high definition potential, you need to HDMI cabling to link HD-capable components. It's only natural that you might have questions regarding how best to outfit your personal HD system. Vann's sales representatives are here to explain all of your options. Call the 800 number at the top of this page for expert advice.
