Gizmodo: spursengine

Toshiba's SpursEngine Chip to Improve Internet Videos with PS3 Tech

Mark Wilson — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:50:00 EDT

Toshiba's new SprusEngine chip can't do anything about annoying internet memes, but it does promise to include their image quality a bit.

The new SpursEngine is a quad-core chip based upon Cell architecture (think of it as a scaled back PS3). Bundled in Toshiba's upcoming Qosmio multimedia laptops, the chip not only assists the Core 2 Duo in intense calculations and decodes MPEG2 and MPEG4, but it will "clean up" internet video like a sort of YouTube upscaler.

This video enhancement only works through Internet Explorer when video is played back full screen. And the technology is Japan-only for the time being, arriving in laptops this week that start at $2,000. Maybe if the SpursEngine simply blocked all YouTube content, we'd have a deal. [Network World]

Video Cards Featuring SpursEngine (Cell Processor) Coming Soon

Mark Wilson — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:00:00 EDT

We've already seen the SpursEngine teased in laptops, but Toshiba is becoming vocal about bringing the SpursEngine—the same technology found in the PlayStation 3 Cell processor—to standalone video cards in 4-core configuration. The first will come from Leadtek later this month for $286, a 128MB card that can fit into a small form PC, and it will be followed in November by Thomson cards that will start in the high $300s. SpursEngine cards have built-in MPEG2 and H.264 codecs which equal smooth video playback and the ability to uprez SD content on the fly. And at least Leadtek's offering sounds like a solid alternative to small media PC packed with integrated graphics. [PCWorld]

Toshiba Bringing PS3 Innards to Notebooks, TVs

Adrian Covert — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:54:00 EDT

Its recently been revealed that Toshiba is planning to use Sony PS3 technology in its upcoming TVs and Notebooks. The OC Register's Gadgetress got her hands on the Toshiba's Qosmio notebook (shown above), which will use the SpursEngine chip, jointly developed between Toshiba and Sony around the Cell. The processor will handle much of the video and multimedia processing, taking the load off the main CPU.

According to Toshiba, HD processing that once took an hour now only takes 10 minutes. And though the SpursEngine chip can handle graphics processing for games, no PC games are currently optimized for the chip, rendering it useless. But game development built around the processor is in the works. Tentatively, the Qosmio will also feature gesture based controls via webcam, but will lack the usual Blu-ray drive, 1080p resolution and TV tuner. But it will only run for $1700, shaving about $1300 off the price.

As for the TV, it will make use of Sony's Cell microprocessor for realtime HD upscaling, recording of multiple channels, and "displaying video as if it is being viewed through opera glasses" (whatever that means). The Qosmio notebook is planned for a 2008 release while the TV will hit stores in Fall 2009. [Electronista and Gadgetress]