CES 2008: 'Black is the new black' - Toshiba announce five series' of black high gloss LCD high definition TVs.

Toshiba may have had some bad news this week, but that didn't stop them from getting excited about their new TVs. Five series' of new tellies were put on show at the press conference, all LCD (which apparently now makes up 84% of the market when it comes to flat screen TVs - at least Tosh backed the winner in one format war, eh?). Ranging from $429 to over $3000, there's supposedly a telly for everyone, all in shiny black high gloss (black is the new black when it comes to tech, apparently). I'll warn you there's a lot of jargon under the cut, but if you want to know more about some of the many new HD tellies to be launched at CES, all the info is coming up...

Starting on the lower end, the AV500 Series of 720p HD TV's start at 19" and go up to 42" (diagonal). They've got Tosh's DynaLight™ dynamic backlight control for deep black levels, and ATSC/QAM Digital Tuning for over-the-air and cable-in-the-clear digital tuning capability. You also get HDMI and PC inputs, and a choice of black or white.

Next comes the REGZA CV510 Series in 32" & 37" (diagonal) sizes with 720p resolution and enhanced picture quality. As well as all the usual inputs and the same shiny black finish as all the other models in this new line-up, these babies have got Toshiba's PixelPure 4G™ 14-bit Internal Digital Video Processor and a thinner bezel. The interesting bit comes in the built-in gaming mode, which shortens the delay sending pictures to the screen so hardcore gamers get a faster response. This is built into all REGZA models, rather than just one specific gaming TV.

Going even higher end, the REGZA RV530 Series are the big boys - 1080p Full HD resolution, DynaLight™, a High-Res PC Input and sizes ranging from 32" - 52". These also come in a two-tone 'Surface Tension' design which we'll hopefully be able to tell you more about tomorrow when we see it close up.

Up yet another step, you have the REGZA XV540 Series in 42", 46", and 52" (diagonal). Justifying the price hike on this high-end series is the addition of Toshiba's ClearFrame 120 Hz Frame Rate with Film Stabilization, and 14-Bit PixelPure 4G Internal Digital Video Processing with 10-Bit LCD panels. Colorburst gives a boost to the contrast and all the usual inputs and bells and whistles from lower models are also included.

Finally, an award-winning "Super Narrow Bezel" (the world's thinnest LCD TV bezel at only 0.9") is part of the pulling power of the top-end XF550 Cinema Series REGZA models. As expected, these have 1080p Full HD resolution and 14-Bit PixelPure 4G Digital Video Processing with 10-Bit LCD panels. Then there's DynaLight SuperContrast, ColorBurst and ClearFrame 120 Hz Frame Rate with Film Stabilization, just like lower models. Available in 40", 46" and 52" (diagonal) screen sizes, these - along with all the other series' - will be shipping in the USA in early Spring, and hopefully hitting the UK not long after.