Following the demise of HD DVD earlier this year, many wondered where its main proponent, Toshiba, would go next. Now, confirming earlier reports, the Japanese giant has announced a new technology dubbed XDE that promises to bring DVD picture quality from 480i/p up to 1080p.

With this, Toshiba hopes to reduce the value of Blu-ray and entice those who already have a large library of DVDs but are unwilling to upgrade to the newer format. Besides taking "DVD picture quality to a whole new level" though upconversion, XDE provides additional picture modes to enhance detail, colors and contrast beyond what other scaling DVD players do. The technology is making its debut in the new XD-E500 DVD player, which will sell for a modest $149.99 starting today.