$200 Blu-ray players from JVC and Toshiba

If you've been holding off on getting a Blu-ray Disc player until the prices go down, you might want to start shopping. JVC has just announced a new budget-priced BD player, and Toshiba's long-awaited player has been spotted at Best Buy with a price tag of $50 less than previously announced.

JVC's XV-BP11 is a bare-bones Blu-ray player with a $199 retail price. On one hand, it supports several different media codecs, including AVCHD and WMV videos. On the other hand, it only has Profile 1.1 (Bonus View). The player lacks an Internet connection, and as such it can't access BD-Live features. That's a pretty big feature to not include in a late 2009 Blu-ray Disc player. Still, if you don't want to go online with your discs, the XV-BP11 is available now for just two bills.

Toshiba finally goes Blu with the BDX2000

It's been a long time coming, but Toshiba has finally joined the ranks of electronics manufacturers making Blu-ray Disc players. After the years-long HD-DVD/Blu-ray fight, the company has embraced the prevailing high-def format with the BDX2000. It doesn't have many bells or whistles, but it sports a very tempting price point.

At $250, the BDX2000 might be one of the least expensive "big-name" Blu-ray players on the market when it hits shelves in November. It supports BD-Live and Bonus View, and features an SD card slot so you can load photos and videos and use BD-Live features without having a big USB key sticking out from the front or back of the player. It can also play AVCHD video, so users can watch their high-def home movies on the player. It's not the most ambitiously gimmicky Blu-ray player out there, but its low price and core feature set could position it to be one of the more popular ones.

— Will Greenwald

Toshiba's JournE is a touch-sensitive media tablet

It's not the Mac tablet that the internet has been clamoring about for the past few months, but Toshiba's touch-sensitive media tablet is looking pretty spiffy. Behind the 7-inch screen is built-in WiFi and support for a bunch of video codecs including H.264, DivX and WMV. The dock has a built-in HDMI port, which it can use to stream HD video (though, not full 1080p HD) to a TV. The OS supports a bunch of useful web services like Internet Explorer (it's more useful than having no web browser at all), YouTube and Flickr. It's a little puzzling that there's only 1GB of built-in storage, but you can expand that via SD cards.

CES 2009: Toshiba's Combo Platters

Toshiba's showing off a complete line of LCD/DVD combo units. Toshiba's still betting that DVD is going to be around for quite a while -- not a single Blu-ray player in their CES booth . . . this year. 

Toshiba believes there will be a huge surge in the combo market, and are looking to help consumers get the digital TVs they'll need moving forward. Namely, TVs to replace the sets in bedrooms and kitchens, with screen sizes ranging from 15 to 26 inches combined with a DVD player to reduce clutter and offer ease of use.

New for 2009 . . .

CES 2009: Toshiba unleashes Cell TVs

  Unknown to many, Toshiba played a major role in co-developing the Cell Broadband Processing chip with Sony and IBM. This little piece of silicon magic happens to be the brains behind Sony’s PlayStation3 and forms the basis of IBM’s next-generation of Roadrunner super computers. The Cell processor featuring eight accessible Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs) that can all be tasked to run individual program workloads that run in parallel. While Toshiba has hinted at using Cell technology in sets before, they have announced that they will demonstrate working prototype TVs featuring Cell processors.

News was sparse in their press release but here’s the info:

-Prototype Cell TVs
The high performance of the Cell platform brings superb picture quality and networking
interactivity to TVs. Demonstrations at CES will include real-time super resolution
imaging, using a 56-inch, 4k x 2k pixel panel to display images that the Cell platform
upconverts from 1920x1080p to 3840x2160p, and also upconverting of content such as
Internet video to high picture quality by application of “Resolution+” technology in
combination with newly developed noise reduction technology. In addition, a 55-inch
backlit LED panel controlled by the Cell platform will be showcased and demonstrate
high-speed control of all picture parameters, including an innovative local dimming
function. Visitors can also see how the Cell TV goes beyond breathtaking image quality
to deliver extremely fast and easy operation of networking functions.

They said that the massive processing horsepower will produce the clearest picture ever seen, with incredible control over local dimming. And in the time that a current flagship Regza set could analyze an image, the Cell could have done it multiple times ensuring that jaggies are totally eliminated. Additionally, it will offer advanced recording capabilities, such as simultaneously recording up to six HD channels.--John Sciacca

CES 2009: Toshiba Regza line-up reboot

With no mention whatsoever of the whole HD-DVD fiasco which dominated last year’s press conference, Toshiba pressed on with several announcements of interest.

As technology improves and better features continue to find their way ported down to lower priced models, manufacturers need to continue developing bleeding-edge technology to convince consumers to step up and part with more of their dollars for the higher-end sets. Toshiba is incorporating some unique features to its highest-end, Regza, models to do just that. Not surprisingly, the most exciting news of Toshiba’s event related to Regza announcements. 

Generally, manufacturers add just a few new features to a set, but Toshiba is essentially rebooting the entire Regza line-up with tons of new features and a full cosmetic redesign. Among the cool step up features, all Regza models will feature Instaport for faster HDMI switching, which should eliminate the often lengthy HDCP handshake that occurs when switching sources.

Additionally, all Regza sets will feature a new cosmetic design that Toshiba calls “Deep Lagoon” that creates a sense of depth to the frame, based on the concept of a beach disappearing into clear, ocean waters.

The ZV and SV series will feature ClearScan 240, which uses 120-Hertz scanning along with Toshiba’s new Backlight Scanning technologity to create smoother, less blurred moving images.

The ZV and SV series are also the first TVs to offer Dolby Volume, which addresses one of the biggest consumer complaints by reducing the wild volume swings and providing more consistent volume levels between channels.

The flagship, SV series (shown in the opening image) will feature FocaLight LED backlighting with local dimming to produce the blackest blacks without sacrificing peak whites.

While pricing wasn’t available, here is the entire Regza line-up with release dates:

 

REGZA XV645 Series
40XV645U (May 2009)
46XV645U (May 2009)
52XV645U (May 2009)
REGZA ZV650 Series
42ZV650U (April 2009)
47ZV650U (April 2009)
52ZV650U (April 2009)
REGZA SV670 Series
46SV670U (May 2009)
55SV670U (May 2009)

--John Sciacca

CES 2009: Toshiba names TV trends of 2009

Following up on their trends from last year's show (for those who don't remember, they prognisticated: Black is the new black, 1080p is the new 720p, 120 Hertz is the new 1080p and there is no significant volume over $3,000) Toshiba announced what they feel will be the TV selling trends of 2009. Namely, Gradation is the new black, 240 is the new 120, some will say you can’t be too thin, and there’s no real sales volume over $2,500 or in sizes over 55-inches. This prophecy seems to be playing out, as nearly every other video manufacturer today besides Sharp (Samsung, LG, Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony) announced 240-Hertz models and talked about ultra-thin sets.--John Sciacca

Toshiba's HD DVD Updates: Too Little Too Late?

Nothing like beating a dead horse, but Toshiba has just released version 4.0 software updates for their HD DVD players. Umm . . . Does someone want to tell them the format isn't really around anymore?

Granted, there are a lot of players out there, and folks who bought them bought movies, and sure, they should be able to play them forever.

What's this update fix, and which players does it address?

Toshiba's Sexy Little Pocket Pico Projector

Tiny LED projectors aren't on everyone's wish list, but you gotta admit, this is a sexy little projector. The Toshiba LED pocket projector debuted at Europe's IFA 2008 show. This little specimen weighs in at a scant 100 grams, and measures just 10 x 4.5 x 1.7 centimeters. Specs are limited, but supposedly it offers 10 Lumens of brightness.

What's so special about this projector?

Toshiba's Upscaling LCDs

We've got to say this: Perhaps it was good for most of us that HD DVD failed. It seems that failure has prompted Toshiba to really step up the developments for standard-def DVD. Not long ago, we talked about Toshiba's upscaling DVD players.

Now at IFA, Toshiba's showing an upscaling TV that will upconvert SD sources internally. No need to get a new upscaling DVD player when your ZF Series LCD will upconvert for you.  The ZF LCDs have cell-based Resolution+ technology.  This will provide edge enhancement and detail enhancement that smooths edges, sharpens details, with cell power to boot.

What models are available with this new technology?