CES 2009: Toshiba's Cell TV prototype can record six HD streams at once

Toshiba's leaning TV concept is pretty slick, but it probably won't ever see the light of day in living rooms. Instead, the company is showing off an equally cool TV concept around the Cell processor.

The Cell CPU is best known for being the computing guts inside the PlayStation 3, but Toshiba has also integrated it into its Qosmio laptop line as well. It has a more exciting use in store for it, however, as part of your home theater setup. The company is displaying a prototype at CES that combines a 3,840x2,160-pixel (or 4k) LCD along with a set-top box that can record up to six HD programs at once. Yes, you read that right: a half-dozen high-def streams at the same time. The box's is larger than others of its ilk, but that's the price you pay for HD nirvana.

Toshiba plans to release the Cell TV system sometime later in the year. Cable companies and Tivo can probably breathe easy for the time being, since the units will no doubt cost an arm and a leg: $5,000 to $10,000 according to the EE Times. But the days of only being able to record a limited number of shows (especially in HD) at the same time on a set-top DVR could thankfully be numbered.