Toshiba Corporation marked today a major milestone in the history of the consumer electronics industry and the world of home entertainment with the announcement of the March 2006 commercial launch of the industry’s first HD DVD players in the USA.

The new HD DVD players, HD-XA1 and HD-A1, take advantage of a wide range of advanced capabilities offered the HD DVD format, the next-generation DVD format defined by the DVD Forum. Both models offer superior high definition images, crystal clear audio, and the enhanced functionality delivered by such features as Advanced Navigation using “iHD.”

Toshiba commercialized the world’s first DVD players and launched them in the Japanese market in November 1996, followed by US release in March 1997. Since then, DVD has become one of the most successful consumer products in history, creating a huge market and changing the style of AV entertainment by turning the home into a digital theater. DVD also brought new momentum to the PC industry, accelerating the digital convergence of computers and entertainment through the introduction of AV notebook and desktop PCs.

Both the HD-XA1 and the HD-A1 will start shipping to retailers in March 2006. Details of the products and marketing and promotional plans has been announced by Toshiba America Consumer Products, Toshiba’s US marketing operations, at a press conference at 10:00am on January 4, 2006, PST, in Las Vegas, preceding the Consumer Electronics Show.