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CES coverage - Part 2

Next up was Toshiba… nothing really stood out here, mostly because they spent more time talking about their products than showing them… one big PowerPoint presentation… I’ll have to see these in action on the floor before I form a real opinion…

Quick question… what was the name of the company with their name directly under the Times Square NYE ball? Can’t remember? Me neither. Turns out it’s Toshiba. Money well spent.

But, their Times Square sign is tied in with their 51 foot x 52 foot HD LED display. Now there’s a TV! Forget 52 inch, when you measure your TV in feet, you’re getting somewhere!

We’ll breeze through a couple thoughts, just for fun…

-Toshiba will have a new 26” model of their popular TV/DVD combo LCD, which they tout as “perfect for any room in the house”. Really? What if I want a big TV in the living room? I hate over-hyped PR.

-they’re going to integrate “TV Widgets” into their TVs featuring partnerships with Intel, Yahoo and Microsoft. Sounds cool, but it was a lot of fluff with no details, too bad.

-Quick question #2- what’s Toshiba’s high end LCD called? Sony has the Bravia, Sharp has the Aquos, Pioneer had the Elite, Toshiba has the….???? Regza. Don’t worry, I didn’t know either. Maybe I missed it, but typically I’ve at least heard of the names.

-Quick question #3- what percentage of flat panel TVs are LCD (vs plasma)? 87% That blew me away. I didn’t realize it was that lopsided.

-One of the themes here at CES is “ultra flat” TVs- OLED and the like. I completely agree with Toshiba when they pointed out “I’ve never heard anyone complain their plasma is too thick”.

-From here, Toshiba launched into a cornucopia of an LCD TV lineup- first “non-Regza” and then Regza. It’s a tiered system where the more you pay, the more you get. They kept showing models, adding more features, and all of a sudden I felt like I was in a car showroom. “On the base model, you get cloth seats… but if you pay a few dollars more, you get the leather seats… a little more and you get heated seats.” A little overwhelming.

-One promised feature that did stand out was called “Resolution+”- the ability to up-convert all SD content to HD-like quality. That’s a big one for me. I hate that on the HDTV I have, HD looks great, but SD looks worse than it ever did on my old TV. Have to see it to believe it, but if it’s true…

-Another promised feature is 4k x 2k resolution (technically, 3820x2160- but that doesn’t look as good on your marketing materials). That’s 4 times “better” than current 1080p HDTV. Anyone heard complaints that 1080p was too fuzzy? Me neither.

-There’s a slew of other new features that went into what Toshiba kept calling a “game changer” of a TV, I just don’t see it on paper. I’m curious to see it in person. I’ll report back.

-Toshiba also unveiled “Cell TV”- basically an HD server that connects to your Regza TV. Among other things, it can record 6 HD channels simultaneously. Sounds great, but that’s taking a big leap. I’m guessing you’ll need a cable card or some partnership with DirecTV. The example given was: you go away on vacation for a week, but instead of worrying about what to record & when, you tell your Cell TV to record all primetime on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Discovery, & MTV for the full week while you’re gone. You’d need one heck of a hard drive, but hey, sounds cool.

-- Peter Szabo






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“CES coverage - Part 2”