Amazon.com accidentally leaked a preview of Toshiba’s next-generation HD DVD players last week, but Toshiba officially announced the players today. Right on time for our site redesign, no doubt.

The new players will be the HD-A3, HD-A30 and HD-A35, and they supercede the current HD-A2, HD-A20 and XA-20 models (which were the successors to the A1, etc. — wanna place any bets on what next year’s models will be named?).

We’ll learn more about these players next month at the CEDIA show in Colorado, but the information that’s been shared in Toshiba’s press release is that the two higher models feature something called “CE-Link,” which is a way for your HD DVD player to communicate with other devices that it’s connected to (like your TV and home theater amplifier) via its HDMI cable. This will allow your HD DVD player to turn the other two devices on, for example, if they’re not already on — allowing for a one-touch playing of discs. It’s a two-way control, which means that the other devices can send commands to the player as well acknowledge receiving a command, ensuring that the device is in the proper state.

The top-of-the-line HD-A35 boasts a few more enhancements:

• Support for “Deep Color” via HDMI
• Up to 7.1 channel High Bit Rate audio via HDMI

These new players are slimmer than the ones they replace, and feature a high-gloss “piano black” finish.

Pricing on these models is $299, $399 and $499 — I’m sure you can figure out which price applies to which model. According to the press release, the A3 and A35 models will become available in October, and the A30 comes out in September. We’ll be glad to show you some pictures and tell you where they’re available.

I’m sure that all of us who’ve had to deal with the “remote shuffle” (having to find and use multiple remotes to get all of the devices selected properly on each corresponding device) will greatly appreciate CE-Link. Of course, you’ll need to have an HDTV and other devices that support CE-Link in order to make this all work out. Is that a big problem? For those of us who have already invested in HDTVs and systems, yes it is a problem, but we’re actually in the minority at about 30%. If you were forward-thinking enough and purchased an HDTV that already came equipped with HDMI-CEC (the generic name for CE-Link), then you’re in luck. The bigger population of people has yet to purchase an HDTV of any kind, and haven’t even had to commit to a high-definition DVD format, and they’ll definitely have some fun with this.

UPDATE: More information about HDMI-CEC enabled HDTVs coming soon in an upcoming post.

Phillip Swann, who runs TVPredictions.com, managed to get a few minutes with Microsoft’s HD DVD evangelist, Kevin Collins, and he put out a few videos on YouTube of the whole thing. This is a doubly challenging presentation for Kevin because Phillip is an HD DVD skeptic, and he’s also doubtful whether anybody really cares about interactive features.

In my opinion, interactivity is not the main reason to get HD DVD, but it sure adds some additional value to the discs and movies. Menus and options on HD DVD discs are amazingly more powerful than what you’re accustomed to on regular DVDs. For example, you can go to the menu and select your next chapter or feature while the movie is still playing.

In this video, Kevin demonstrates an HD DVD exclusive on the movie 300 where you can turn on a picture-in-picture mode and see the same scene before the special effects were added:

(click here in case the video is not visible up above)

Here, Kevin demonstrates more interactivity features such as (more…)

Head on over to the Toshiba site and grab yourself the latest HD DVD Player firmware for the second-generation players (A2, A20, XA2). The link goes to where you can get a ZIP file to burn to a CD. If your player is attached to the internet, then you can download the update directly from the player itself. You can also contact Toshiba at (800) 319-6684 and have them mail you a disc with the upgrade on it.

There’s no major explanation provided than the same “enhances internet connectivity,” and something about HDMI/DVI that was also described for the 2.0 release. All we can do is guess about specific improvements until Toshiba gets a little more specific about the update details. Just a few days ago, Warner released 300, which offers some of the most advanced interactive HD DVD features ever, including uploading and downloading your own fan-made version of the movie, and it’s possible that this update makes your 300, experience even smoother.

Just a couple of weeks ahead of the release of 300, Microsoft announced a $20 price drop on the Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on. Microsoft has been very involved with the internet-based interactivity aspect of HD DVD, and 300 will boast some of the newest uses for that technology. The boxed set of Heroes: Season 1 on HD DVD is another of the titles that Microsoft has and will be promoting on their Xbox LIVE marketplace, as announced in their press release. The other enticing bit of news about the now $179 HD DVD add-on is that Toshiba’s 5 free movies offer will be extended to the Xbox 360 HD DVD player as well.

This new price drop accompanies a highly rumoured (and likely to be true) $50 price reduction on the Xbox 360 itself. Though Microsoft has not officially announced the new 360 pricing, this Hollywood Reporter article suggests that it might take effect on August 8.

The new pricing is likely to ensure that there is even less reason for someone not to play Halo 3 when it comes out towards the end of September. It’s also right on time for back-to-school purchasing as students head off to college. Though gaming and HD entertainment won’t be on their parent’s minds, it’s definitely an essential aspect of many students’ lives.

UPDATE: This deal nets you 6 movies, since King Kong is already included in every box.

UPDATE: If you don’t have a 360 yet, then consider Amazon’s $599 360 Elite High-Def Bundle which consists of the 360 Elite, the movie 300, and the HD DVD player.

UPDATE: Here’s a (slightly boring) video demonstrating an Xbox 360 HD DVD player being used on a PC (google “xbox 360 HD DVD on PC” for more information on using these with your PC):

(click here to view the video at YouTube in case it’s not showing up above)

I’ve already mentioned Toshiba’s $100 instant rebate on the HD-A2 HDDVD player, which brings that price down to $299 at Amazon.com. Toshiba’s rebate program is supposed to expand to all of their players on June 10, which means that the HD-A20 would become $399 instead of $499. It also means that the normally $799 XA2 should become $699.

I was looking through the selections in our “aStore” for the site and discovered that Amazon appears to have started early on the expansion of the rebate program. Checking over in the little store, you’ll see that Amazon’s already selling the HD-A20 for just a little less than the $399 price it’ll be at when the rebate kicks in. The XA2 is being offered at just under $599.

In a quick comparison with other participants in the rebate programs, like BestBuy or Crutchfield, you’ll see that they’re still offering these players at the regular prices right now.

I’m not sure what prices these items will have when the official rebate pricing kicks in. Will it be the official $499 and $599, or will it stay at a few dollars below as it is right now? Does Amazon have some special arrangement that allows them to do the rebate without officially doing the rebate? Being such a high-volume dealer, it’s logical that they’d have this ability, but I really have no idea. What I do know is that it’s possible to purchase an HD-A2 or XA2 HDDVD player today for less than the expected June 10 pricing.