Toshiba Builds New Dual-Core Platform for Regza HDTVs

If you've thought that dual and multi-core processors are only encountered in computers, tablets and smartphones, think again, because, according to Toshiba, such a device will also power the company's future Regza HDTVs.

Dubbed “Regza Engine Cevo”, the new platform from Toshiba is an MCP (multi-chip package), that's formed out of three different chips, with the main (or logic) chip being a dual-core, 40nm unit, according to a report by TechON.

The secondary chips are used for AD/DA conversion and for double-speed processing, respectively, Toshiba opting to separate the two function, unlike the case of the first Regza Engine.

Up until now, Toshiba's HDTVs were powered by the Cell processor, the same chip found within the PS3 gaming console from Sony, that was at the heart of the original “Regza” engine, this configuration being used by the Japanese company, in fairly the same manner, over the past 4 years or so.

However, as the company's reps claim, the improved Regza engine is actually capable of offering some pretty serious performance enhancements over its predecessor, given the fact that, after all, the processing capacity of the main chip alone is 3.4-times higher than the one on the original Regza.

But the new Cevo engine will not bring about just an increase in speed, the new and advanced image processing circuits also supporting a super-resolution function (that will most likely be useful at some point over the next couple of years, when such extreme resolutions will actually become a reality, at least on the Japanese market, and a graphics function that use multiple frames.

As Toshiba revealed, the new “Regza Engine Cevo” will first be implemented in the company's Regza Z2 series of LCD TVs, set to arrive on the market at some point over the course of 2011, although no specific details on this matter have been yet provided.