Hasta La Gadget!

Toshiba’s showing it has moved on from the horrors of the format war, today announcing Three Non-HD DVD Recorders and a few other Japan only Blu-ray products. The top of the line D-BW1005K DVR connects with the future via a 1TB HDD, several tuners and the aforementioned disc burning capability but also gives a nod to the past and our old copies of Days of Thunder, A History of Violence and The Young Teacher thanks to its included VHS deck. Ditching the tape player, 1TB HDD or recording capability saves a few yen, while all-in-one fans can opt for the R1BDP series of REGZA LCDs, an offshoot of the R9000 line in 32- and 26-inch sizes with Blu-ray burning drives tucked in behind just like Sharp & Mitsubishi’s HDTVs. All are due over the next few months, check Impress for the prices and dates, but we’d wait to see what kind of Blu-ray upgrade is heading the Cell TV’s way before buying, even with the potential return of sweet, sweet VHS to our lives (it’s amazing how a few years of nostalgia has made us forget all those worn out rentals, poor quality and the need for something called a “rewinder.”)

Toshiba updates VARDIA line of DVRs with Blu-ray, VHS… wait, what? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We like to think of ’em as the SSDs for the little guys, and we couldn’t be happier to hear that they’re getting bigger and bigger in terms of capacity. Toshiba introduced the first solid state drives to use the mini-SATA interface back in September of ’09, and while those 32nm units were made available in 30GB and 62GB sizes, the pack rats weren’t satisfied. Now, the company has introduced a 128GB flavor with an mSATA interface, offering up a maximum sequential read speed of 180MB/s and a maximum sequential write speed of 70MB/s. The 128GB modules are said be one-seventh the volume and one-eighth the weight of 2.5-inch SSDs, and in case that’s not enough, the third-generation HG SSDs will bring nearly twice the aforesaid speed and will ship in capacities of 64GB, 128GB, 256GB and 512GB. Hit the source link for all the dirt… except for the pricing, naturally.

Toshiba bolsters 32nm mSATA SSD lineup, your future netbook nods approvingly originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LAS VEGAS — Toshiba this week introduced a high-end notebook powered by the newest Intel chips.

The Satellite A505 is a 16-inch notebook focused on home entertainment. Customers can choose between the Intel Core i3 (2.13GHz dual-core), Core i5 (2.2GHz dual-core) or Core i7 (1.6GHz quad-core) processors.

That’s a lot of numbers, right? What you mostly need to know is the Core i7 is Intel’s high-end mobile chip at the moment, and having a quad-core notebook will be pretty intense. Most premium notebooks last year shipped with dual-core processors, such as Intel’s Core 2 Duo, which is now the previous-generation Intel mobile chip.

The A505 features a high-definition widescreen display and “Resolution+” upconversion software that Toshiba claims will make even standard-definition DVD look more like high-definition. Configurations are available to add a Blu-ray player, an LED backlit keyboard and a slot-loading DVD drive.

The A505 is priced between $770 and $1,250 depending on the options you choose. More specs are as follows:

• Optional NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 1GB DDR3 discrete graphics memory
• Optional NVIDIA GeForce 310M with 512MB DDR3 discrete graphics memory
• 6GB DDR3 memory (max 8GB) memory configurations available
• Premium A/V components and upscale styling
• Two harman/kardon speakers
• Dolby Sound Room audio
• HDMI-CEC output

Photo: Toshiba

LAS VEGAS — The future of television isn’t just 3-D. It’s getting content from the web, too, says Toshiba, who introduced its internet-connected Cell TV on Wednesday.

Powered by LED (KIRA2) backlighting, the 55- or 65-inch Cell TV features multiple eight-core 3.2-GHz processors. What does that mean? It’s 10 times faster than standard desktop computers and will have 143 times the processing power of today’s televisions, claims Toshiba.

“The possibilities of what we can do are really endless,” said Scott Ramirez, vice president of marketing for Toshiba’s TV group, during a press conference.

Indeed, Toshiba is promising the Cell TV will deliver exciting new features. The Cell TV includes a converter to make everything that’s normally 2-D on your screen — football games, videogames, Blu-ray movies and so on — pop out in 3-D when viewed through active shutter glasses. That’s where the processing power comes into play — frame-rate conversions and rendering.

The Cell TV gets even more intense. It also features a video camera, microphone and software for video conferencing over an internet connection. (Hello, George Jetson.) To get on the web, there’s an ethernet port and 802.11N Wi-Fi connectivity. Also, the Cell TV will have a software menu called Net TV Channels to download streaming content from Netflix, Vudu and other web-based video services. On top of that, the TV uses a technology called Net Super Resolution+ to reduce compression artifacts seen in web video content.

A number of manufacturers are claiming 2010 will be the year of the 3-D TV, but Toshiba is the first we’ve seen announce a full-blown internet TV. The Cell TV underscores a trend we highlighted prior to CES — it’s not just a device; it’s also a platform that can be increasingly expanded with the power of the internet and downloaded applications. Other gadgets that operate with a similar idea include the Xbox 360, the iPhone and the PlayStation 3, which each also have online stores that enable consumers to add to the capabilities of the respective devices.

Sounds insane, right? Interestingly, Toshiba has not announced a price, though the company did say the Cell TV would debut “later this year.” (Don’t expect this to be anywhere near affordable to the average consumer.) We’ll post more details as we receive them.

See Also:

• 3-D TVs Grab Curious Eyes at CES 2009
• Wired Explains: How 3-D Television Works
• Philips’ 3-D HDTV Might Destroy Space-Time Continuum, Wallets

Photo: Toshiba

Originally envisioned last year as a 4k x 2k monstrosity, Toshiba’s ZX900 Cell TV has been humbled slightly for its market debut. Still, the processing power is what’s really on display here, and Toshiba claims that it’s packed 143 times the processing power over existing televisions. That processing makes way for Toshiba’s Resolution+ upscaling, a 480Hz frame rate (completely ready for 3D), and some home media server capabilities as well. The centerpiece is the Net TV applications, which include Netflix, VUDU, CinemaNow and Pandora, and there’s 802.11n WiFi and 1TB of HDD for streaming and storage. There’s also mention of video phone capability, but it’s unclear if has a built-in webcam (doubtful) or if you’ve got to bring your own USB number. Unfortunately, the biggest draw of this TV in its Japanese incarnation is its eight tuners, and for whatever reason that special distinction has been removed from this US version. The 55-inch and 65-inch displays use KIRA2 LED-backlit displays with 512 zones of localized dimming, and just in case this was wasn’t enough, the sets have built-in Wireless HD and to connect the Cell-packing set-top box to the display wire-free. Of course, once you involve a set-top box you’re kind of nullifying some of the magic of building a TV “with a Cell processor,” but we’ll let it slide. Just this once, Toshiba. Both TVs will be out “later this year” for an undisclosed, sure-to-be-huge price. A press release is after the break.

Continue reading Toshiba introduces ZX900 Series 55-inch and 65-inch Cell TVs for the US

Toshiba introduces ZX900 Series 55-inch and 65-inch Cell TVs for the US originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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