Toshiba has exclusively spoken to TechRadar regarding its much publicised Cell TV, explaining that the television was just too powerful for the European market.
AV enthusiasts have been drooling over Cell TV for getting on two years now. Powered by the same chip that is in the PlayStation 3, the television is out in Japan where the country makes good use of its eight HD tuners, massive set-top box component with hard drive and 4k picture quality.
While this sort of technology, was teased and shown off in the UK it never actually arrived.
Then Toshiba chose IFA 2010 to announce that Europe would see the arrival of Cevo and not Cell – a modified chipset which will be built into Toshiba's next generation of TVs out Easter next year.
Cevo chip
"Cevo uses Cell DNA but has been modified for the European market," explained Andrew Line at Toshiba to TechRadar.
"The technology has been optimised to suit Europe, which doesn't need eight HD tuners but does need things like catch-up TV, access to the web."
When asked if would ever see Cell TV on UK soil again, Line noted: "At the moment it's not the right fit for Europe and we have to hit the right price point, which we will do with Cevo."
Easter 2011 is the proposed UK release date for Cevo TVs, but this may well change depending on market conditions.
From what we've seen, Cevo will bring a lot of what Cell TV does in Japan but without the accompanying set-top box and at a cheaper price, so we can't wait for CES 2011 where we will hopefully see some of the TVs in action.
Your comments (5) Click to add a new comment
si_smith
September 4th 2010
5. @shyguy.
I used to work in the electronics service trade, and I can tell you right now that EVERY NO-NAME TV you can buy in a supermarket will have graded panels/tubes in them. It's how it works, when Philips reject a panel/crt it does not go in the bin, it's gets sold as b-grade to the scheiders/wharfdales/bush/albas of this world. Your chances of getting a pixeldefect free TV from these manufactuers is exactly nill (unless a process/product is so perfect in it's manufacturing that they number of defective panels is lower than the demand for £100 TVs).
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shyguy
September 3rd 2010
4. @ si_smith
I disagree and reckon that's a bit harsh... I've got a massive mix up of no-name and branded products. TBH half the time you buy new technology for the first five years you are paying well over the odds and to pay back for the R&D costs. If you are buying mature products no-name tech can be a good punt. Some no name gadgets contain the exact same components as the branded gadgets but you aren't paying for that brand.
Some people can't tell the difference between an hd tv picture and a normal one and don't even have hd sources to use on them, so why pay ridiculous money for it? They just want a shiny flatscreen. In Japan they actually have a use for much of this technology as they have many more choices for hd content. I just don't think European punters will pay for something unless it's really worth it or they just don't believe the over exaggerated hype about these products. The Japanese love innovation and product differentiation or else they get bored. As bravadon says why do you need a tv with 8 tuners? So you can watch 4 channels at once and record 4? That is a little bit excessive. I would love one if someone gave it to me but I'm not gonna pay for something that is over the top.
...also, how do no-name brands provide slick marketing?... The very point is that they have no name and/or marketing apart from their cheap price tag. Think about it.
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shadowtd
September 3rd 2010
3. The Cell would have been well positioned as a halo product for Toshiba. They've moved massively downmarket in recent years and are now trying to raise their image again. Having the Cell as a flagship might have done a lot to help them with this.
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bradavon
September 3rd 2010
2. I'm amazed Japan needs a TV with EIGHT TV tuners. That's ridiculous.
I agree with Si_Smith too.
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si_smith
September 3rd 2010
1. The sad fact is most European consumers are pikeys when it comes to tech shopping, they don't think twice about buying a non-name HD TV from a supermarket and will choose cheap gimmicks and slick marketing over technological superiority.
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