Toshiba rolled out a prototype of its next HD DVD player at CEATEC in Japan, and from the looks of it, it's about half the height of Toshiba's first outing into the HD DVD player world, the HD-A1. The remote looks to be slightly improved as well with its easier-to-read labels, but still suffers from ranks and rows of nondescript chiclet-like buttons.

This HD DVD player is a more attractively-designed box than its predecessor, which looked like its makers took an old VHS case and crammed HD DVD innards inside. But we're still thinking Toshiba is feeling the flop sweat for HD DVD, and might have a difficult time recovering from the shameful showing of its debut models as well is the paucity of studios delivering movies in the doomed format. - Charlie White