Toshiba will be unveiling its first television based cell processor. This is the same chip that sits at the heart of the Playstation 3 game console. Each chip contains a single power PC core and eight co-processors.
The cell chip was designed and developed by Toshiba, IBM, and Sony. This chip makes heavy-duty processing of video easier and faster. The chip provides real-time up scaling of standard definition to a quality closer to that of high definition. It streams multiple chapters from recorded tv shows, similar to the multi-screen menu on some DVDs. Toshiba, however, has no intention of having Playstation be compatible with this cell based tv.
Toshiba has been showing prototypes of this cell technology in televisions for the past few years. The unveiling of this project for the public will be October 5th at the upcoming Ceatec Electronic Show. With the launch date not yet announced, the unveil timing suggests it should be on sale in Japan by the end of this year.
