Toshiba has announced that it has launched the world's first commercially available HD-DVD player, the HD-XA1 model. The company has mentioned that the demand for high-definition content is growing with each day and thus consumers are demanding HD players now more than ever. This is debatable though, because just a week ago, Toshiba has announced it will delay the launch of new players because they felt the market was not ready for them.

Movies on HD-DVD discs will be available to consumers by mid-April, this year.

The new players are immediately available for purchase in Japan. The HD-XA1 will launch with a price tag of $799 USD.

This news article was written on April 2, 2006, quoting Toshiba.