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...

200w ago - After Toshiba Corp., the developer of the HD DVD format, releases its Blu-ray disc player by the end of the year, Microsoft Corp. will have to follow and launch Blu-ray add-on for its Xbox 360 game console.

The support of Blu-ray disc (BD) by Toshiba means that the format is finally becoming a de-facto standard for high-definition home video. Toshiba is the last major consumer electronics maker to support BD.

To quote: Microsoft has publicly stated that high-definition video downloads and streaming is the future of video delivering to homes. However, it also had HD DVD add-on for Xbox 360, hence, the company admits that physical media is still popular.

Moreover, with all the consumer electronics making BD players, Microsoft also needs to provide such an option to its consumer electronics video-game platform: it is clear that there will be much higher demand towards Blu-ray hardware in the coming years.

Windows 7 operating systems supports burning of Blu-ray discs and recognizes their file structure. In a recent TV advertisement Microsoft even said that Blu-ray support is one of the advantages that certain Windows-based computers have over Apple Macintosh systems.

The main reason why Microsoft is unenthusiastic regarding Blu-ray is mandatory support of BD-Java interactive...

240w ago - According to XBitLabs (linked above), Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology Corp. has been contracted to manufacture external Blu-ray disc drives for Microsoft XBox 360 game consoles.

Toshiba-Samsung Storage Technology Corporation is a joint venture between Samsung Electronics and Toshiba Corporation. The Blu-ray disc drives are rumored to cost in the $100-$150 range.

To quote: It is still unclear when exactly Microsoft plans to release its external Blu-ray solution for Xbox 360. Hypothetically, the company may launch it slightly ahead of the holiday season in an attempt to steal an advantage from the PlayStation 3. B

ut since sales of Blu-ray are still on a low level, the software giant may decide to postpone the unveiling till Consumer Electronics Show early next year in order to get the most attention of the media with new device.

Microsoft and TSST did not comment on the news story.

267w ago - Toshiba today announced the start of sample shipping of the SpursEngine SE1000, a high-performance stream processor integrating four Synergistic Processing Element (SPE) cores derived from the "Cell Broadband Engine" (Cell/B.E.).

The SpursEngine is a co-processor that integrates a hardware codec for Full HD encoding and decoding of MPEG-2 and H.264 streams. Toshiba say its "dedicated to bringing the advanced capabilities of the Cell/B.E. to consumer electronics, particularly video processing in digital consumer products. We are sure that SpursEngine will accelerate the market for full-HD applications."

Press Release:

Toshiba Corporation today announced the start of sample shipping of the SpursEngine™ SE1000 (SpursEngine), a high-performance stream processor integrating four Synergistic Processing Element (SPE) cores derived from the "Cell Broadband Engine™" (Cell/B.E.™). Sample shipping started from today, and Toshiba expects sales of 6 million units within the first three years of the SpursEngine's release.

SpursEngine is a co-processor that integrates a hardware codec for Full HD encoding and decoding of MPEG-2 and H.264 streams with four SPEs derived from Cell/B.E. These advanced processing elements offer high performance media streaming capabilities, with a clock frequency...

274w ago - Toshiba Corp is planning to give up on its HD DVD format for high-definition video, conceding defeat to the competing Blu-Ray technology backed by Sony Corp, a company source said on Saturday.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK had earlier reported that Toshiba would suffer losses in the tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) as it scrapped production of HD DVD players and recorders and took other steps to exit the business.

The company source told Reuters that Toshiba was in the final stages of planning to exit the HD DVD business and that an official decision would be made soon.