Battery powered gadgets and gizmos have come along way in the past few decades. Think back to the time when your walkman took four AA batteries and ran out of power half way through forward-winding track three of an album. In fact the advancement of battery technology has gone hand in hand with the advancement of mobile technology. It’s great that you can take out your iPad and watch films on the train without having to carry a car battery around with you. It’s great that you can carry around your smart phone or mobile games console and actually use them for a few hours without having to constantly feed them the batteries like some energy hungry monster. So many of today’s gadgets are built around the premise of being portable and not needing to be constantly plugged in to be enjoyed, but
What about your TV?
Well Toshiba have come up with a battery powered TV. The Toshiba REGZA 19P2 can run on both battery power and be plugged into the mains but with a 19” screen it’s hardly what you would call portable. According to Toshiba’s own research the removable battery pack (roughly the size of a chunky laptop battery) of the REGZA 19P2 can keep it running for up to five hours, more than enough time to watch a football match in the afternoon sun, or host a midnight matinee in your garden. The set could also prove very handy if you have a blackout and really can’t miss the end of the programme you’re watching.
The 19” screen has a resolution of 1366×768 pixels, so while it’s not quite full HD it’s still a very sharp image. Like most new TV’s it has a built in TV tuner and a HDMI port and additional batteries can be bought for 85 USD.
The only question that needs to be answered is, is there a market for it? It’s size means it’s not truly portable (fellow passenger may complain if you were sat next to them watching it on a train for example) and therefore it could really only ever be used at home. But why would people pay out for a non HD battery powered TV for use at home when they could simply buy an extension cable and move the TV they already have? We might not have an answer to this question in the near future as the TV is only being aimed only at the Japanese market at it’s launch.
Price: Toshiba REGZA 19P2 is priced around 500 USD
Ian writes for Audiorent.co.uk and AVRent.co.uk, PA hire and AV Hire London websites