Toshiba is set to launch the LCD HD TV and set-top box one package in Japan with a one million yen pricetag.
Even though it is known that Japanese consumer-electronics manufacturers are struggling to control development costs and to turn a profit in the face of a never-ending slide in TV prices, Sony and Toshiba continue to push the technology envelope. The Wall Street Journal reported that Toshiba is moving forward with the product launch of a new 55 inch liquid-crystal-display television that is nearly twice as expensive as other LCD TVs on the market. I just reviewed the Samsung 65 inch LCD TV recently that sells for around $6,000.
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The LCD HDTV will include Toshiba’s “Cell Regza” .  The Cell is short for Cell Broadband engine, a similar chip processor technology to the one in the PS3 (remember the Joint venture with IBM to make the Cell processor?).  This chip is designed with super-computer muscle to churn out intense, high-definition graphics currently on display in the PlayStation 3 videogaming machines. Toshiba says the Cell processor produces sharper video with better definition and color. The Cell Regza will also have LED backlighting, 3D GUI, 3840×2160 resolution, and DLNA streaming capabilities. It will also feature a Blu-ray recorder to go along with the 3TB hard drive.  Backlighting and LED TVs are covered in the LCDTV review buyers guide. Toshiba highlighted the key feature: the ability to display up to eight high-definition broadcasts at once. Furthermore, the hard drive storage capacity will allow viewers to watch large amounts of recorded television. Toshiba mentioned that the last 26 hours of high-definition video on eight different channels are possible. For those following technology, Toshiba had a competing HD DVD format that lost out to Sony Blu-Ray HD DVD format earlier this year.  

Toshiba says the TV display sets new standards in brightness and color contrast, and the set-top box contains 14 different tuners. High-end TVs have about three. Finally, Toshiba is making sure that this LCD TV becomes the multimedia hub in the home.  The Cell TV can take blurry Internet video from YouTube and refine it to near high-definition quality. Toshiba worked with Norway’s Opera Software to develop a high-definition Web browser for the television.  This is more evidence of how the websurfing will become a standard feature on new LCD TVS over the next decade.

Toshiba has lost money in the TV division with the pull back in consumer spending. It hopes the Cell TV is one way it can differentiate its TVs from the competition. As mentioned, the LCD TV and box will be sold as a package in Japan for about 1 million yen, or $11,000, starting in December 2009.  By comparison, Sony’s high-end 55-inch TV sells at Japanese electronics shops for about 560,000 yen, or about $6,200. The Toshiba TV will be introduced to the Japan market first, but Toshiba expects to start selling the television in the U.S. and Europe  next year.  Toshiba plans to produce 1,000 units a month for the Japanese market.

In terms of marketshare, Toshiba has yet to make ground on the world’s biggest brand-name LCD television companies, trailing Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Sharp and Sony.

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