An interesting day spent at Toshiba's 2010 product launch. The company's rightly proud of the progress it's made in the last year – it's now the number two player in the UK behind Samsung – but it's equally a little miffed that its biggest sales successes have come with cheaper (read: less profitable) televisions.
Hence the emphasis on new tech for 2010: with a few exceptions, this year's Toshibas promise to be as feature-laden as the best of the competition.
That said, there was precious little talk of 3D at this year's event. The super-sized, super-smart and super-expensive Cell TV apart, there was only the most non-specific mentions of active-shutter-enabled 3D kit being released 'later this year'.
Instead, the emphasis was firmly on a performance-enhancing technology available to many Britons right now: Freeview HD. Aside from launching Freeview HD-enabled TVs in several screen sizes, the company plans a twin-tuner HD PVR, the HDR-5010.
And the Japanese company's rehabilitation from its failed HD DVD project continues apace too, with a new Blu-ray disc player, the £129 BDX-2100, plus 'at least' three more players to come later this year.
Model details are as follows, with smallest/cheapest models first (product deliveries begin in April, with roll out to stores due to be completed for most models by June):
Televisions
AV Small Screen Series, available in 19in and 22in sizes
• HD-Ready (1366 x 768)
• Freeview tuner
• 50Hz
• USB viewer (JPEG/MP3)
• PC input
• 2 x HDMI
• Gloss black or white finishes available
DV DVD Combi Series, available in 19in, 22in, 26in and 32in sizes
• HD-Ready (1366 x 768)
• Freeview tuner
• 50Hz
• CI+ card slot
• PC input
• 1 x HDMI (19in), 2 x HDMI (other sizes)
• Gloss black or white finishes available, black only for 32in
AV Series, available in 26in and 32in sizes
• HD-Ready (1366 x 768)
• Freeview tuner
• 50Hz
• USB viewer (JPEG/MP3)
• PC input
• 2 x HDMI
• Gloss black finish
Toshiba Regza AV Series
LV Series, available in 32in and 40in sizes
• HD-Ready 1080p (1920 x 1080)
• Freeview tuner
• 50Hz
• USB viewer (JPEG/MP3)
• PC input
• 3 x HDMI
• Gloss black finish
XV Series, available in 32in, 37in, 40in and 46in sizes
• HD-Ready 1080p (1920 x 1080)
• Freeview tuner
• 100Hz
• CI+ card slot
• Resolution+ upscaler
• Dolby Volume
• SoundNavi
• Wireless ready with DLNA
• USB viewer (JPEG/MP3)
• SD card slot
• PC input
• 4 x HDMI
• Gloss black finish
Toshiba Regza XV Series
RV series, available in 32in, 37in and 40in sizes
• HD-Ready 1080p (1920 x 1080)
• Freeview HD tuner
• 50Hz
• CI+ card slot
• Resolution+ upscaler
• Dolby Volume
• Wireless ready with DLNA
• USB viewer (JPEG/MP3)
• PC input
• 4 x HDMI
• Gloss black finish
Toshiba Regza RV Series
SL series, available in 32in, 40in and 46in sizes
• HD-Ready 1080p (1920 x 1080)
• LED backlighting
• Freeview HD tuner
• 100Hz
• CI+ card slot
• Resolution+ upscaler
• Dolby Volume
• SoundNavi
• Wireless ready with DLNA
• USB viewer (JPEG/MP3)
• 4 x HDMI
• Gloss black finish.
Toshiba Regza SL Series
WL series, available in 40in, 46in and 55in sizes
• HD-Ready 1080p (1920 x 1080)
• LED backlighting
• Freeview HD tuner
• 200Hz
• CI+ card slot
• Resolution+ upscaler
• Dolby Volume
• SoundNavi
• Wireless dongle included in the box, with DLNA
• USB viewer (JPEG/MP3)
• 4 x HDMI
• Gloss black finish
Toshiba Regza WL Series
All Toshiba's TVs have been endorsed by the Energy Saving Trust, and will have at least a B+ energy rating, with many earning the full A-rated mark.
Other key product launches include a new Blu-ray player, with more to follow later this year:
BDX-2100, £130
• USB input
• Profile 2.0 with 256MB flash memory internal
• Ethernet port
• DivX, JPEG, WMA, MP3, AVC HD and MKV file support
• 7.1-streaming of HD codecs via HDMI
Toshiba BDX-2100 Blu-ray player
Plus five new DVD players:
SD1010, £35
• DivX playback
• MP3/JPEG playback
• Scart, composite video outs
• Coaxial digital out
SD2010, £40
• DivX playback
• MP3/JPEG playback
• Component, Scart, composite video outs
• Coaxial digital out
• USB port
SD3010, £45
• 1080p upscaling
• HDMI output
• MP3/JPEG playback
• Scart, composite video outs
• Coaxial digital out
Toshiba SD5010 DVD player
SD4010, £50
• 1080p upscaling
• HDMI output
• HDMI-CEC support
• DivX/MP3/JPEG playback
• Scart, composite video outs
• Coaxial digital out
SD5010, £55
• 1080p upscaling
• HDMI output
• HDMI-CEC support
• USB
• DivX/MP3/JPEG/HD JPEG playback
• Scart, composite video outs
• Coaxial digital out
The XDE600 player carries on from last year and there's a range of portable DVD players too, including the Toshiba SPD94 shown below.
To finish, we've a bevy of video recorders. First, four DVD recorders:
DR20KB, £180
• 1080p upscaling
• HDMI output
• Freeview
• DivX/MP3/JPEG/WMA playback
DVR20KB, £230
• 1080p upscaling
• HDMI output
• DVD and VHS drives
• Freeview
• USB
• DivX/MP3/JPEG/WMA playback
Toshiba RDXV60 DVD/HDD/VHS recorder
RD100KB, £270
• 1080p upscaling
• HDMI output
• 320GB HDD
• Freeview+
• USB
• DivX/MP3/JPEG/WMA playback
RDXV60K, £330
• 1080p upscaling
• HDMI output
• DVD and VHS drives
• 320GB HDD
• Freeview+
• USB
• DivX/MP3/JPEG/WMA playback
And finally (!) a twin-tuner Freeview HD PVR:
HDR5010, £350
• Freeview+ HD
• HDMI output
• 2 x HDMI inputs for external sources
• 500GB HDD
• USB x 2
• DivX/MP3 playback
• Ethernet
Toshiba HDR5010
For more on Toshiba's 2010 product range, and the forthcoming Cell 3D TV, watch our video reports on whathifitv.