CES 2013: Toshiba 4K TVs, ‘Cloud TV’ & Media Boxes

Toshiba hit CES 2013 running this week, unveiling 4K and Cloud TVs in Las Vegas.
“The experience is like looking through a window at real life” says Scott Rameriez from Toshiba US, of the 4K Ultra HD TV L9300 series unveiled today, a technology which boasts four times the resolution of a Full HD TV.

“It’s much better than anything most people have seen before” he added, putting it up against rivals LG, who have already released Ultra HDTVs sold in Oz for $17,999.

Sony, too, announced new 55-inch and 65-inch Bravia 4K TVs at new price points at CES today.

Toshiba will have 84-inch, 65-inch, and 58-inch 4K models. But, wait you don’t even have to have 4K content to enjoy the view.

Because of the processors built into Tosh 4K TVs, you don’t have to have 4K content (which is thin on the ground anyway) but upconverts Full HD (1080p) content from, say, a Blu Ray to make ‘near 4K’ video content, which Toshiba calls ‘resolution restoration’, Rameriez told media today.

However, “its not exactly the same but pretty close..and its going to be better than 1080p,” he says.

“1080p is great…but 4K is so much better,” and 4K TV is going to be big for Tosh this year, the exec adds.

“Its the start of the future of television” and the UHD sets will be released in the US anyway this June although probably won’t be cheap with the electronics giant not disclosing prices of Ultra HD sets, yet.

Toshiba is also showing off the future of Smart TV and taking it to another level with Cloud TV, allowing the user do things they couldn’t do before – adding social interaction, family calendars, photos and messaging to the humble television.

You can send “whole albums of pictures,” messages and a slew of other content from your smartphone and tablet to the TV as its all stored on cloud.

At CES this week, Toshiba is also unveiling Media Boxes, which is a Blu Ray player with Cloud TV built-in, a keenly priced Satellite U845t Ultrabook with Intel Core i3 or i5 processors (which should go for under the $1000 mark), other 50″ and 65″  LED Smart TVs (L7300 and L7350 series) and some non-Smart sets.

We’ll keep you updated on Toshiba new from CES all this week.