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Toshiba has announced some flashy new TVs, to further distract us from the ignominious defeat of HD DVD, with two new ranges available in the next few months. The CV and XV ranges replace last year’s C and X lines, and offer a flock of hot-diggedy improvements over the older models.
The CV range, which is due in February, offers screens in sizes of 32, 37 and 42 inches, all of which are WXGA 1,366×768-pixel panels. That’s 720p screens to the likes of us. All the CV TVs feature a contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and three HDMI sockets.
The XV range, coming in March, is the entry-level 1080p series. With three sizes available, namely 32, 37 and 42 inches. This is especially interesting, because 2008 is the first year we in the UK are seeing 1080p screens in 32 inches. This is something gamers have been gagging for for a while now. The XV TVs also feature three HDMI inputs and the same 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio as the CV.
Both ranges also have some new gubbins, including full power down mode, to reduce the TV’s power consumption to zero. There’s also a game mode, which adds 1:1 pixel mapping, an important feature if you want gloriously crisp pictures with a full view of what’s happening in-game.
Toshiba has also included another new feature, known as ‘lumasens’, which is designed to monitor the lighting conditions of the room and adjust the LCD backlight to take advantage of ambient light. Dark rooms will have the backlight dimmer, to increase contrast and black levels, and bright rooms will have the backlight increased, to make the picture more easily visible. A handy side-effect of all this is that in dark rooms you’ll save electricity, because less power is needed to run the backlight.
There is also a ZF range due, but it’s not expected until this summer, but it will add extra features to the XV, including a slim bezel design and 100Hz modes for smoother motion. –Ian Morris
