You can get a dual core CPU from intel or AMD which would be more then capable of handling the streams as long as you included a DSP (which is what this new cell cpu has).  A DSP added to an X86 chip will use less power, cost less to make and allow easier options to software programmers then the Cell.  The Cell is still VERY power hungry. 

Nobody programs Cell instructions except for Sony programmers and it's third parties.  Those guys don't write code for TV appliances.  Nor are there enough of those guys who could.  It's just a viscious cycle. 

Also feel free to call the X86 a shitty architecture all you want.  It's beaten all of the supposed good ones in price, performance and power usage etc as well as adoption over the years.  x86 morphs into whatever it needs to be.

No hostility, just simple logic dictates that this is a rather silly move (pointless).  It adds too much to the cost of the TV.  It'll be a niche product with no software support once the systems get pulled from shelves.

The only reason Toshiba is doing this is due to that Fab they bought off Sony that's mostly sitting idle due to the lack of Cell orders.  It's probably at 10-15% efficient at the moment. 

"can record up to six high-definition channels at once and improve the look of any video."

Basically they can use one SPE to decode each channel, since channels are independent of each other (little to no synchronization is needed between the SPEs). Also, the SPE's instruction set is good for decoding video streams as it has SIMD instructions which are usually easily applied to multimedia applications.

You do really have no clue about hardware, don't you? In your small world, you see Toshiba execs looking at each other and wondering "Gee, we bought this $1 billion fab from Sony, now what could we do with it?" Getting a TV signal onto your screen with best results takes a lot of digital signal processing and decoding (forget that X86 processor you wanted to use for that in another of your even sillier posts). Now you can do the signal processing with an expensive DSP and the the decoding with a cheap decoder/array of decoders and all the other nifty stuff required to get a brilliant display with other hardware chips - or you can use a modified cell chip for all of it/ most of it. Much cheaper also, with a fab that runs at much higher yields than your silly quote of 10-15% efficiency implies. If you google long enough, you will find reports of Toshiba / cell driven TV plans years old.

Basically they can use one SPE to decode each channel, since channels are independent of each other (little to no synchronization is needed between the SPEs). Also, the SPE's instruction set is good for decoding video streams as it has SIMD instructions which are usually easily applied to multimedia applications.