Dismissing that whole Blockbuster Blu-ray decision as nothing more than a PR victory, and in no way an exclusive deal by the video-rental company, execs from Toshiba and Microsoft came to NYC to show off the latest in HD DVD amenities.

The latest firmware, the one that finally allows for Web-enabled network capabilities, is here, and to mark the occasion, Toshiba has officially lowered the prices of two of its players: the HD-A2 with 1080i output will drop to $299, and the HD-A20 with 1080p output will be $399. (There had previously been an instant rebate keeping the prices low.)

Kevin Collins of Microsoft is the chief evangelist of HD DVD, and he talks about three things that, in combination, he says, make HD DVD better than Blu-ray.

• Internet connection for online updates, and now, finally, Web-enabled content
• Dual decoding for real picture-in-picture playback
• "Persistent storage" memory on the deck for customization and downloading

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Toshiba, Microsoft, HD DVD, Blu-ray, Sotrage, Articles