Toshiba HD DVD and Dolby

Toshiba today announced that it will be one of the first PC makers to include HD DVD as an option for many of its mainstream notebooks, rather than limiting it to exotic models. The current Satellite P205 as well as the as-yet unannounced X205 and 15.4-inch Qosmio F45 (likely based on the Japanese F40W) will all have the option of HD DVD readers which can burn to CD and DVD. The company also confirmed once again that its upcoming Qosmio G45 will be the first to include native HD DVD-R burning to write up to 30GB to a single disc. The Qosmios and the X205 will also have HDMI output for displaying video on a TV at 1080p and 1080i respectively, Toshiba says.

Also coming to several of the company's notebooks are native Dolby surround sound features. All Qosmios and the Satellite X205 will support Dolby Home Theater and decode 5.1-channel sound, with the option of transforming stereo signals into Dolby Pro Logic II to fill the entire speaker setup. Other notebooks, including the existing A205 and P205 as well as the future A215, M205, and U305 will all have Dolby Sound Room support for creating virtual surround through headphones or the systems' built-in speakers.

Although details of the notebooks themselves remain unannounced, Toshiba promises to announce the details of all the Dolby Sound Room notebooks by the end of June and will follow suit for the HD DVD-equipped portables during the summer.

By Electronista Staff