Skip to main content
DEAL WATCH: Keurig K-Express | 22% off $69.99

Keurig has changed the face of coffee, and snagging one of these for less than $70 is a solid deal. Read Review

BUY NOW
  • Tour & Design

  • Performance Features

  • Connectivity & Media

  • Controls, Menu & Remote

  • Conclusion

  • Series Comparison

  • Tour & Design
  • Performance Features
  • Connectivity & Media
  • Controls, Menu & Remote
  • Conclusion
  • Series Comparison

Tour & Design


The design of the Toshiba Cell TV is still up in the air. The models on the show floor were merely there to showcase the display. The look of the casing, as far as we could tell, was an afterthought. A rectangle with semi-gloss black, the design could not have been more unadorned. Expect changes before the August 2010 ship date.

**

Back**


Unavailable for photo.
**

Sides**


The sides were not particularly thin, which is unusual for an LED-backlit TV. This seems to underline the fact that these models on the CES show floor are not the final product. Expect changes.

**

Stand/Mount**


All the Toshiba Cell TVs at the booth were mounted to the wall, so we don't know what the stand will look like. However, we can't talk about a 'tour' of the TV without considering the very large hub that comes with the TV. Alternately called the 'Cell,' the base, the hub, or the hunk of wood and plastic, this thing houses the 1TB media drive, the titular Cell processor, and more ports. Toshiba stated that the final model that ships in the US will be slightly smaller than the one picture here (which is the Japanese version). The Cell base and the TV interact wirelessly over 802.11n.

**

Aesthetics**


Talking about the aesthetics of the Cell TV is a bit of a moot point, because the models on the CES show floor are likely a far cry from what the final product will look like. The models we did see could not look more ordinary: a plain, black finish.

Performance Features

Display Size & Technology


The Toshiba Cell TV has a number of impressive display technologies. First of all, like every other HDTV at CES, the Cell TV supports 3D. The television uses an active shutter system, which is what Panasonic, Samsung, and other manufacturers are also using. You do need glasses, and you should not expect them to come cheaply. At least in the show floor demos, the quality of the 3D looks pretty much the same as everyone else's: mediocre. These first-generation 3D HDTVs still feel like a novelty, and the only people buying into the gimmick are the manufacturers themselves.

The Cell TV, like Samsung and others, is also offering realtime 2D-to-3D upconversion. The process, as it was explained to us, is actually pretty simple: the image is simply doubled and offset; the glasses do most of the work in creating a mildly convincing illusion. We thought the results of this processing are less impressive than native 3D content: they lack the depth, or 'immersiveness' of Blu-Ray 3D.

Net Resolution + is a technology that reduces compression artifacting from online video (think of the blocky video quality in a YouTube video and you have the right idea). The demonstrations that Toshiba was running on the show floor were really not much of an improvement. One of compression artifacting's biggest issues is disjointed color transitions. While the Net Resolution + appeared to smooth edges of the blocks, the color transitions still looked pretty bad. Also, the technology does nothing to increase resolution (which is not really possible anyway). This means your YouTube videos will still look pretty bad on a giant TV.

KIRA2 is Toshiba's trade name for the LED backlighting technology. In an interesting cutaway model on the show floor, you could actually see what 512 LED zones looks like. This is a big improvement over last year's Toshiba models, which had just 96 zones. More zones means finer contrast between bright areas and dark areas on the screen that appear side-by-side. The TV will be able to produce a blindingly bright 1000 cd/m2, which seems unnecessarily high. Whether this spec actually comes true in our lab testing is a different story. We can tell you that one of the floor models was bright enough to make us wince. Great feature, huh?

**

Formats & Resolution**


The Toshiba Cell TV goes a bit beyond your ordinary HDTV. The resolution isn't 1280 x 820 or 1920 x 1080. It's actually a 4K display, meaning the resolution is 3840 x 2160. That 5,443,200 more pixels on the screen than a 1080p TV.

Do you need all those pixels? Right now, no. The Blu-Ray standard is limited to 1080p, as is HDMI 1.3, so there's no consumer-friendly container and no means of transferring the data from point A to Point B. Anything you watch on the Cell TV will simply be upconverted. At least you can be sure of a good upconversion process, though, because the processor is a monster compared to most TVs. All the demo units on the CES show floor looked good.

**

Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio**


The new KIRA2 LED backlighting system debuting on the new 2010 Toshiba TVs looks impressive, at least on paper. There are now 512 individually controllable LED zones—an increase from 96 zones on last year's models. The increase in zones should make for better tunnel contrast, meaning the blacks stay dark no matter how much white is surrounding them.

For whatever reason, Toshiba is also pushing the maximum brightness on their new Cell TV, supposedly up to 1000 cd/m2 (incredibly bright). As far as we can tell, few people in the modern day ever ask for a brighter TV. It's a technological breakthrough no one asked for.

**

Color**


No details were mentioned about color performance. However, there is a new feature, called AutoView RGB, which reads the room's ambient light. It then adjusts color, brightness, gamma, sharpness, saturation, and color temperature to be the ideal setting for your specific viewing environment. The technology itself is not new at all, but previous versions we've seen only adjust the backlight according to your room's brightness.

**

Motion & Refresh Rate**


The Toshiba Cell TV has a refresh rate of 480Hz. Yes, you read that right: 480Hz. Does it seem like overkill? It is. There's really no benefit that we've found to anything over 120Hz, which is the minimum needed for 3D displays. It's a numbers war between manufacturers, and Toshiba clearly wanted to come out on top (they didn't, though, since every major manufacturer except Sony seems to have a 480Hz feature).

The 480Hz refresh rate occurs when you're watching 2D TV. If you switch to 3D, you'll actually get a refresh rate of 240Hz in each eye.

**

Viewing Angle**


No details were given about viewing angle.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports


The Toshiba Cell TV is far from ready for market, so the models on the CES show floor are not the best indicators for what to expect on ports. There were various TVs scattered across the Toshiba booth, and the ports were not always visible.

On one model we saw, the TV had a composite AV, VGA, and two HDMI ports along the right-hand side. We could not see the back of the TV.

The included media hub, which contains the processor, the WiFi unit, the 1TB drive, and more, is likely to contain several ports, as well. The model on the show floor (not the final version) had another composite AV, HDMI, USB, and a card slot. Do not consider this report a comprehensive list. Toshiba (reminded us many times that they) may change ports before the product is delivered to market.

**

Media & Other Connectivity**


The media base, or hub, or 'Cell,' or whatever they decide to call the big black box, will connect over 802.11n WiFi to the TV. The press release also states that the stills and video can be transferred from networked Windows 7 computers to the TV wirelessly. The 1TB drive in the hub should be enough to hold a lot of your favorite TV shows and movies. It's unlikely that Toshiba will make it easy for you to upgrade the drive for something bigger, but some enterprising internetter will surely post instructions within weeks of the product's release.

In addition, the TV also has some other neat tricks. For starters, third-party content that can be streamed over an internet connection. The current line-up includes VUDU, NetFlix, Pandora, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, as well as some other content providers. Additionally, the TV can perform video phone calls over an internet connection.

**

Placement**


The placement of the ports on the final product is unknown at this time. The models we saw on the CES show floor were not final.

**

Audio**


No mention was made of any audio features on the Cell TV.

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote


The remote control for the Toshiba Cell TV is an unknown factor at this time. We tried to snatch the remote that was velcroed to the back of a floor unit, but were quickly subdued. Sorry. It seemed that Toshiba was only using universal remotes for now. 

One of the most intriguing features showcased for the Cell TV was a gesture control. Think Minority Report. Now think less high tech. Think Lawnmower Man and you're in the ball park. This is definitely a first generation technology. If you bought the TV, ti seems likely that you'd use it a few times then discard it forever. The system works by detecting very large hand movements that you make in the air. The menu options are displayed as a slowly rotating globe composed of dozens of selections. You wave your hand towards the desired block, then hold your hand in place until the item is selected. It's slow and cumbersome, despite how smoothly the presenter tried to make it look, precisely because it's not a multi-touch interface. You move, and you hold. Those are the only two recognized gestures.

**

Controls**


Because the bodies of the Cell TV that we saw were not final production models, we can't know what the controls will look like. The model that we did see had very basic buttons running along the right side: volume, channel up/down, menu, source, and power.

** Menu**


The menus were not available on the display models. Strangely, we actually pushed the menu button on one of the TV.... nothing happened. Spooky, huh?

Conclusion

 

Series Comparison

Cell TV Series


TKTKTK

Meet the tester

David Kender

David Kender

Editor in Chief

@davekender

David Kender oversees content at Reviewed as the Editor in Chief. He served as managing editor and editor in chief of Reviewed's ancestor, CamcorderInfo.com, helping to grow the company from a tiny staff to one of the most influential online review resources. In his time at Reviewed, David has helped to launch over 100 product categories and written too many articles to count.

See all of David Kender's reviews

Checking our work.

Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.

Shoot us an email

Up next