Well Toshiba did try pushing HD-DVD to the masses in the last round so I'm sure they had alternative scenarios in the wings. If they do pull this off we don't have to re-invent the wheel and maybe have a new codec to add to our existing software base to handle HDV.
IIf this story is valid then six months to release an extended player, according to the article, isn't that far down the road either.
Maybe they're just going to use just the SD uprezzing part of their HD DVD technology in a new less expensive player.
Yeah their are a lot of uprezzing DVD players, but most of them don't look anywhere near as good as the Blu-ray or HD DVD players. There probably would be a decent market for an inexpensive uprezzing player that uprezzed as well as an HD player.
Our press has become even more negative and more superficial about everything over the past decade, but even allowing for that, I sure don't remember stories like those linked to below when DVD had been shipping for two years. Quite the opposite: It was all about the incredible wonderfullness of it all.
As for the Toshiba technology simply being up-resn'g, I highly doubt that is what they'd do. Instead, I expect it will be some variation on what many on this forum are already doing: Making high res discs on standard DVD blanks that will play true high-def content on some Blu-Ray players. Consumer awareness of the Blu-ray high-def disc player is rising, but only six percent say they plan to buy one.