CellRegza
Latest
Toshiba's latest Cell Regza LCDs are Slim, but don't go calling them 2D
Ready to climb Mount Fuji and see what the next top Japanese TV will look like? Toshiba has just outed its trio of flag-bearing displays for this fall: the Cell Regza Slim 55XE2 and 46XE2, and the full-bloodied 55X2. Inch-based dimensions are already given in their model names, but you'll also want to know they offer 240Hz refresh rates, 1,000 nits of brightness and 9,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratios on the chunkier X2 (augmented with local backlight dimming), and a 2D-to-3D conversion technology that'll translate your stale old 2D imagery into bodacious triple dimensionality. You're also keeping the 3 terabytes of storage and the capability of time-shifting up to eight channels at a time from the older model, though you're no longer limited to a hard cap of 26 hours per channel. Connectivity is also rich, with options for DLNA and/or up to eight HDDs, while jacking in a Blu-ray recorder will permit you to record straight to the optical media the same way you can do to the Regzas' own storage. All these goodies won't come cheap, however, as the flagship 55X2 will retail for a well-rounded million Yen ($11,430) in late October, to be preceded by its Slim siblings with prices of ¥700,000 ($8,000) for the 55-inch and ¥600,000 ($6,858) for the 46-inch earlier that month. Full press release after the break.
Toshiba Cell Regza 55X1 and Regza Next concepts hands-on (video)
Now that the Cell-powered cat's out the bag, we had a chance to get up close and personal with a number of its 55-inch Cell Regza 55X1 LCD TVs on hand at the CEATEC show floor. It's certainly not the thinnest flat-screen panel, but the screen was crisp and colors bright. The Cell and most of the heavy duty components were housed in a separate Cell Box -- frankly, it was disappointing just how large the box was, out-sizing even the original PlayStation 3. For reasons that weren't quite made clear to us, the 3TB of storage were divided among four separate drives, two 1TB and two 500GB. None of them are accessible, leaving you only an external USB drive as an expansion option. Frankly, the real draw here (at least the multitaskers inside of us) is eight-window display function and hyper-fast channel scrolling, which in our time with the TV worked great without a hitch. Also on hand were the four Cell Regza Next concept models. There's not much to say about the entertainment server and the all-in-one, but we do have to give credit to the 4K2K TV for the expected visual quality. The 3D unit was showing off a hands-only motion-controlled user interface, demonstrated only by a Toshiba rep, that seemed to have a few technical hiccups. As we've said before (Natal, anyone?), waving your arms is a fun concept, but here we're not yet sold on the usefulness over novelty of it -- something Toshi can mull over between now and at whatever point in the future it plans on upgrading it beyond concept phase. Video of the 55X1 and the conceptual 3D UI after the break. %Gallery-74643% %Gallery-74648%
Toshiba details CELL REGZA LCD TV, coming December to Japan (update: video!)
It's a day before CEATEC officially kicks off, but Toshiba's getting a head start on the news, dishing out all the deets on its Cell-powered CELL REGZ LCD TV, now officially due out in Japan in early December. The 55-inch, 240Hz display boasts a mighty impressive 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, self-congruency technology for improved picture detail on the edges, a peak luminance of 1250cd/m², and LED backlits dividing the screen into 512 distinct areas. A 7-speaker sound bar lies just below the display. Want more? How about eight-window simultaneous multi-display, an Opera-based web browser, DLNA, and a 3TB hard disk drive, 2TB for "time-shift" recording recording up to 26 hours of programs, up to eight channels simultaneously. There's a sizable box on display, too, which seems to be where the Cell hardware is being housed. Curious about price? So are we, but there's nothing being said. If that's not forward-thinking enough, Toshi's also outlining its future concepts, dubbed CELL REGZA NEXT. Those four include a 3D set, a 4K2K version that upcoverts 1080p to 3840 x 2160 resolution, a 46-inch model integrating its CELL BOX dedicated TV tuner and HDD, and a 37-inch that works as a home network server. It looks like we'll be getting some hands-on time with the 55X1 shortly, but in the meantime, one more pic after the break. %Gallery-74635%
