Cuts your energy bill thanks to the addition of an Eco Chip

Nov 28, 2011 21:01 GMT  ·  By

Toshiba continues expanding its portfolio of green products and the company has recently unveiled in Japan a new HDTV that draws zero Watts from the power outlet when in standby thanks to a new built-in Eco Chip.

Toshiba claims that the new chip added to the Regza 32BE3 will be able to detect and receive signals from the remote even when the TV is completely shut down, sporting a consumption current that is as low as about 95μA.

In order to achieve this feat, the Eco Chip is seconded by a large capacity capacitor which is incorporated into the HDTV and has the role of providing it with the energy needed when the 32BE3 is turned off, while AC power is cut by a relay.

What this means is that no current will be drawn from the power outlet when the HDTV is in stand-by mode, or at least that’s what Toishiba seems to claim.

In addition to this advanced power saving feature, the Toshiba Regza 32BE3 also comes with a series of more standard power saving technologies, such as an Eco button which changes the brightness and contrast based on ambient lighting in order to save more power.

Furthermore, users can also select the intensity of the LED backlighting on their own to cut it by 50 or 75 percent.

While all these technologies should provide quite some decent energy savings, the downside of the Regza 32BE3 is that the HDTV is limited at supporting 1,366 × 768 resolution, according to the New Launches website.

For now, the new Toshiba TV set will only be available in Japan where it will go on sale starting in December for 90,000 Yen, or roughly $ 1200 USD (897 EUR).