Toshiba is Set to Detail Its Cell-based TV in Early October

190w ago - According to PCWorld (linked above), Toshiba will soon unveil its first television based on the Cell processor, the same multimedia chip that sits at the heart of the PlayStation 3 games console.

Toshiba has been showing prototypes of the television and Cell technology for the last couple of years and its unveiling on Oct. 5 will come just before its first public showing at the upcoming Ceatec electronics show.

While a launch date has not yet been announced, the timing of the unveiling suggests it should be on sale in Japan before the end of this year.

To quote: "The Cell chip was developed by Toshiba, IBM and Sony and each chip contains a single Power PC core and eight co-processors. Together the chips make heavy-duty processing of video a breeze.

During previous demonstrations of Cell TV prototypes, Toshiba has put the chip to use providing real-time upscaling of standard definition to a quality closer to that of high definition.

It has also been shown streaming multiple chapters from a recorded TV show to make navigating to a desired part of a program easy. It's similar to the multiscreen menus on some DVDs.

But for all the neat tricks it can do with video there's one thing it almost certainly won't do: run PlayStation 3 games. Toshiba has said several times that it has no intention of offering any sort of PlayStation compatibility in a Cell-based TV."