Cricket is a religion in India; even rivalling the traditional festivals celebrated in the country. Understanding this phenomenon, Toshiba launched 3 new
Cricket Series of LED TVs in India in collaboration with none other than our very own cricketing living legend Sachin Tendulkar. The P2305, L2300, and L3300 series of TVs incorporate a new Cricket Mode, which enhances the image quality to deliver richer colours, sharper details, and crisper images. In fact, the company mentions that the new mode "enhances the green of cricket field, the cracks on the cricket pitch, and the fast moving cricket ball". Motion blur is also reduced to make the fast moving ball appear sharp.
Toshiba says that Sachin Tendulkar himself provided valuable inputs and feedbacks while the TV was being designed, to deliver a stadium-like experience right in your living room. The TVs feature slim bezels to enhance the viewing experience. The audio quality is said to be improved as well with a few models featuring a sound bar like design. Each model adorns a personalised signature of the little master on the bezel or the sound bar.
The Toshiba P2305 LED TV Cricket Series consists of Full HD LED TV of 39", and HD Ready LED TVs with screen sizes 32", 29", and 24". The prices of these models are Rs 47,490, Rs 28,990, Rs 25,990, and Rs 16,990 respectively. These feature a slim silver sound bar at the bottom of the screen with 20 W audio output and Power Bass Booster. These also come with Auto Clean (to reduce picture noise), Auto Signal Booster (improves sensitivity when signal strength is weak), and AutoView (adjusts the backlight and various other parameters according to ambient light) technology in addition to 10-bit video processing for better colour reproduction.
The L3300 series has got two of Toshiba's innovations: Turbo LED and Detail Booster. While the former boosts brightness by 50%, the latter claims to enhance the detail levels, such as while upscaling. There is also Screen Mirroring technology to wirelessly connect the TV to your smartphone, tablet, or PC. There are two models in this series with screen sizes 32" and 39" and priced at Rs 36,990 and Rs 50,990 respectively.
The 50L2300 is the flagship model with a 50" Full HD LED-backlit panel. In addition to the Cricket Mode, it features the 100 Hz Active Motion Rate (AMR) image-processing technology that smoothens fast motion and reduces blur such as during a cricket game. It comes with two powerful 10 W speakers, Dolby Digital decoder, Power Bass Booster, and Audio Distortion Control, and is available for Rs 85,990. The new TVs are already available for purchase off the shelf at major retail outlets across India.
I got a chance to take a look at a side-by-side comparison of the new Toshiba TV's cricket mode and a regular LED TV. With all parameters such as contrast, brightness, and saturation, kept at default levels, the Toshiba does appear brighter and the image is better defined. The colours also appear vivid and motion blur is reduced. However, there is one undesirable effect of extra noise getting introduced, which is likely to be a byproduct of the image processing in the Cricket Mode. However, this noise is not always visible and depends on the scene type.
Interestingly, Toshiba has stayed away from the 3D gimmick, which is
actually a good thing because there is just not enough 3D content
available for it to go mainstream and it is still a very imperfect
technology. Do you think that the Cricket Mode will be enough to help
Toshiba stay in the television race in India?
