Toshiba, the lead advocate for the HD DVD format, plans to launch its first HD DVD player in Europe by Nov. 15 -- a couple of days before rival Blu-ray disc drives will start to become available as standard equipment in PlayStation 3 from Sony.
A second Toshiba HD DVD player model will be released in December, in time to take some advantage of the holiday selling season.
Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc players are available in the U.S. and parts of Asia; Toshiba said it has already sold 50,000 HD DVD players, with a target of 200,000 units by year's end.
At the IFA show this week in Berlin (Sept. 1-6), Toshiba said it plans to ship a fairly modest total of 10,000 HD DVD players to European retailers in November, adding that "any subsequent shipments would depend on consumer interest."
Price points for Toshiba's initial shipment of HD DVD players are expected to be "considerably higher" than U.S. prices for HD DVD units, according to BBC News, but still well under anticipated Blu-ray unit prices in Europe.
