Toshiba announced in Japan the launch of a new global brand it will use to market a line of large-screen LCD flat-panel TVs that incorporate its “PixelPure” image processing technology.
The brand, REGZA, will be used on all of Toshiba’s flat-panel TVs that incorporate the company’s proprietary “PixelPure” high-bit image processing technology, Toshiba said.
Initially, in the U.S. the brand will apply only to LCD TVs, since Toshiba’s plasma models don’t use the PixelPure technology, Scott Ramirez, Toshiba U.S. television marketing VP, told TWICE.
New surface conduction electron emitter display (SED) models, which are expected to arrive later in 2006, will employ “PixelPure,” but no announcement has been made about using REGZA on SED, said Ramirez.
Toshiba will deliver the first REGZA TVs in Japan on March 1. Product launches will follow later in overseas markets including North America, Europe, China and other Asian countries, the company said.
The move is similar to steps taken in recent years by Sony, which uses the BRAVIA brand for step-up LCD TVs; Sharp, which uses AQUOS for higher-end LCD TVs; and Panasonic, which uses the VIERA brand on plasma televisions.
Ramirez said Toshiba’s U.S. sales and marketing company will carry 11 REGZA LCD models ranging in screen size from 26W- to 47W-inches.
REGZA will have no impact on Toshiba’s use of the Cinema Series brand for step-up electronics, said Ramirez, explaining that series name is used to identify more select distribution lines. REGZA models will be carried under multiple distribution series, he added.
