Digital Trends

Toshiba XD-E500 August 28th, 2008 | by Dennis Barker

Testing and Use

As a long-time reviewer of Toshiba products, I was dutifully impressed with the XD-E500. Like other Toshiba DVD players, this model lived up to its reputation of producing excellent images from both movies and music videos. Aurally, this model passes both Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks.

The XD-E500 is a serious upconverting progressive scan DVD player, and all of the images displayed on the LG 52LBX HDTV had a clarity and depth of field giving the illusion of near HD-quality from a standard DVD-Video player. If you want to be a stickler, you can always put on the Video Essentials test disc or use the Home Theater Demo disc featuring Mannheim Steamroller, and watch test patterns to measure gray scale (and I did), and calibrate and test different multi-channel audio signals. But, the proof is in the pudding – sort of speak --, and let’s face it, a DVD player and an HD television are the perfect marriage to watch movies and music videos – not test patterns.

Several new and classic releases were watched with a keen eye towards picture detail and clarity, and in each case those images were far superior to what I have viewed on many other brands of standard definition DVD players recently. Various type of films on DVD were watched including: the newly restored El Cid, Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Stargate: Continuum, Lawrence of Arabia, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind-30th Anniversary Ed., Pan’s Labyrinth (awesome DTS soundtrack), 1776, Chicago, Ratatouille, Cars, Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, Casablanca, Eagle’ Hell Freezes Over (DTS Soundtrack), and Celtic Woman-Live at Slane Castle ((DTS Soundtrack) among others. I also viewed a couple of old standbys like Fox’s The Abyss-Special Edition and Columbia-TriStar’s The Mask of Zorro (SuperBit) because of their aural and visual brilliance.

On purpose, I chose various types of film material from action/adventure movies with a lot of special effects to musicals – some were recent releases and others were classics from various studios. The image quality pumped out from the XD-E500 and displayed on the LG LCD HD set quite vivid and like-like. All selections had a true film-like quality that bordered on quasi-HD like images. That’s how good the image quality was from the XD-E500 as displayed on LG’s next-generation HD LCD. Using the ‘Pic Mode’ button, which is located directly below the keypad on the left, allows you to cycle through the ‘Sharp,’ ‘Color,’ and ‘Contrast’ modes of XDE. Personally, I found that most movies looked best with the ‘Color’ mode option, which combines the ‘Sharp’ and ‘Color’ enhancements. Animated films, on the other hand, I thought looked best using the ‘Contrast’ mode. And, as I’ve said before, if you don’t like the enhancement, you can turn it off. I’ve always liked it when manufacturers have included an ‘off’ mode.

How did they compare with one of my favorite DVD player (from a leading upconverting DVD manufacturer)? Quite favorably! I was able to place key scenes side-by-side so that I could easily judge image quality, and I have to say the images portrayed on the XD-E500 were somewhat sharper, clearer, and did offer more contrast than this leading upconverting DVD player model. Is the Toshiba XD-E500 worth the price? Absolutely!

Conclusion

Is the Toshiba XD-E500 a Blu-ray killer? The answer is NO. Blu-ray Disc does provide the best possible image quality currently available. And, for a handful of movies, e.g. Transformers, it does make a difference. That said, however, BD player are still relatively expensive ($399+, and prices are slow to come down (maybe $299 by the Holidays from Wal-Mart). Let’s face it, most folks are happy with DVD, and rightly so because it offers excellent value for the money. Some movies can be purchased for as little as $7.99 on sale, and many brand-new movies cost about $15 at first release. This is compared with $39.95 for a new BD movie. And, if you’re sitting six to eight feet from the screen anyway, it may not make much of a difference to a lot of people.

At the same time, there are other upconverting DVD players currently available esp. from companies like Oppo Digital (which I reviewed last year). Although, to be fair, the Oppo Digital models are more pricey (up to $399 and including SACD & DVD-Audio playback), and do not include the XDE enhancement, which does work. While the price of the XC-E500 is currently $149, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it priced around $99 for the Holidays. At that price, the XD-E500 is hard to pass up as it offers superior image quality at a very reasonable price.

The Toshiba XD-E500 is an admirable performer. It gives you the added bonus of bringing you into the 21st Century with an upconverting top-of-the-line progressive scan DVD player. Image quality is among the best available for standard definition DVD. If you’re waiting for Blu-ray prices to come down, don’t wait. Buy the XD-E500 now, and it will give you many years of enjoyment.

Pros:

• Great picture quality
• 24 frames per second mode
• Very affordable


Cons:

• Will not replace a Blu-ray player
• XDE technology is a questionable enhancement