CES 2010: Toshiba uses PS3's Cell processor for new Cell TVs
It's a busy morning before the CES show floor opens, and it's the one day of the year when you're guaranteed lots of exciting news from the biggest names in consumer electronics. Betanews' Tim Conneally reports live from Toshiba's press conference.
10:36am PT: That's it...Toshiba's big announcement is the Cell TV...pics pending!
10:34am PT: By 2012 there may be no more ccfl in Toshiba TVs
10:33am PT: kira2 super local dimming LED - 2x brighter than all TVs today
10:31am PT: Tri-vector 2D to 3D uses proprietary software to analyze 2D frames and estimate the depth of each area in the frame, and creates a stereoscopic image. ESPN will have a 3D channel.
10:29am PT: Includes a 1TB HDD and built-in BD Player.
10:29am PT: Video phone includes camera, mic and communications software. "how will you look when you're blown up to 55"?"
10:28am PT: What are the Net TV Channels? Vudu, cinemanow, netflix, pandora, flickr, facebook, twitter, rallypoint.
10:27am PT: Comes with Wireless HD, 802.11n, DLNA "digital Media Server" level, USB playback, built-in NetTV Channels, and built-in Video Phone capability.
10:27am PT: Autoview RGB includes color temperature adjustment, which senses ambient light color and adjusts the screen accordingly. This includes wall color, natural light, artificial light, etc.
10:26am PT: 480 Hz refresh will be included on all Cell TVs.
10:26am PT: Net Super Resolution+ upconverts low-res internet content, utilizing "noise cancellation."
10:25am PT: Tenets of the new cell architecture: "Super resolution technology" upconverts and enhances images.
10:24am PT: Cell Engine: 8 core processors, each processor is 3.2 GHz, 200 GFlops, 10x faster than desktop computers.
10:24am PT: Toshiba Series, Cinema Series, and Cell TV series "we're positioning this as the Ultimate TV." It's going to be the subject of today's presentation.
10:23am PT: 10 new television series will be debuted this year, 7 of them will be LED TVs.
10:22am PT: Consumers now shop for "benefits and value," media consumption has changed, broadband is everywhere and streaming media consumption is up. Everything is connected. So far, there's no complete home theater solution to address the consumer's new demands.
10:20am PT: Holiday sales were up 5.9%, Annual sales were up 27%, but annual revenue was down 4.5%.
10:17am PT: More than half of everything 32" and above are done by the top 5 TV brands.
10:17am PT: The group predicts 32 million LCDTVs will sell in 2010, and Plasma will sell only 3.5 million.
10:15am PT: Vice President of Toshiba's TV marketing group Scott Ramirez has taken the stage to talk about the LCDTV industry in 2009.
10:13am PT: Neither of the devices are actually on stage yet...
10:12am PT: The BDX3000 Blu-ray player will also feature this capability.
10:12am PT: The TV can convert 2D content to 3D in real time.
10:11am PT: He has introduced Toshiba Cell TV, capable of supporting "The Ultimate 3D experience."
10:11am PT: "It's an exciting time to be in the consumer electronics category..."
10:10am PT: Toshiba America's new president and CEO of consumer products Atsushi Murasawa has taken the lectern.
10:08am PT: The company is embracing social media to spread the brand among consumers, including Twitter under #ToshibaCES.
10:05am PT: She's talking about Toshiba's collaboration with ESPN on New Year's Eve, and says the company will continue to associate the brand with other companies/events to grow Toshiba's presence in the U.S.' collective mindshare.
10:03am PT: Maria Repole is taking the stage to introduce the show.
9:59am PT: 2 minutes until the show begins.
9:56am PT:
9:55am PT: Toshiba's Stage setup before the press conference.
9:46am PT: People are now filing in.
9:40am PT: They're going to open doors shortly.
9:33am PT: We're just about 20 minutes until the press conference opens up. These are the small conference rooms, and not a ton of people can be let in. Earlier this morning, LG turned away more than 40 members of the press who had registered for its conference.