Westinghouse Readies UWB-Equipped Monitors for Commercial Market
Westinghouse Digital Electronics will ship ultra- wideband -equipped 42W and 47W LCD monitors for commercial applications in Q3 and will deliver consumer versions in 2009, Rey Roque, vice president of marketing, told us at a New York product briefing Tuesday.
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The 1080p monitors will have Pulse-Link’s CWave PL3100 UWB chipset consisting of baseband and RF transceiver ICs, Roque said. Its first target installations will be bars and restaurants, he said. Chi Mei Optoelectronics will supply the LCD panels, he said. The UWB feature initially will carry a $100-$200 premium and require a separate $200 receiver, Roque said. Pulse-Link’s UWB technology is HDMI- based and is capable of data rates up to 1.35 Gbps, he said. The baseband chips handle UWB mod/demod and have 32-bit PCI bus and double-data rate-266 DRAM interfaces. It also has a 40-foot operating range.
“We're going to embed the technology more in commercial environments and see what the profiles are and what the ideal business is before hitting the consumer market,” Roque said. Westinghouse, which originally had plans for just a 47W monitor for the commercial market, will unveil the products at the Infocomm trade show later this month. Pulse-Link originally planned to ship its UWB chipset in 2005, but postponed delivery as products were slow to emerge. In addition to Westinghouse, Geffen is expected to ship a device with Pulse-Link’s chipset this year.
Meanwhile, Westinghouse next week will make a software upgrade available from its Web site to activate V-chip technology in its LCD TVs, Roque said. Westinghouse agreed to pay a $210,000 fine earlier this year as part of a consent decree with the FCC to settle allegations that it violated V- chip requirements (CED April 11 p2). Many of the TVs cited in the FCC investigation contained V-chip software that hadn’t been activated, Roque said. The new firmware can be downloaded from Westinghouse’s Web site to a USB drive and then transferred to an LCD TV via a USB connector, Roque said. The upgrade applies to sets sold prior to this year as all 2008 models are V-chip compliant, Roque said. In addition to paying a fine and fixing non-compliant TVs, Westinghouse also was required to train workers on FCC rules.
Westinghouse also is narrowing its assortment of 720p LCD TVs to 32W and smaller models as it focuses 40W and up on 1080p, Roque said. Westinghouse marketed 40W and 42W 720p sets a year ago, but dropped them as the premium for adding 1080p was halved to $150, Roque said. Westinghouse expects to sell through the last of its 42W 720p sets in Q2, he said. Westinghouse panel supplier Chi Mei also has shifted more large-size LCD production to 1080p, Roque said. Among the models is a 1080p 40W DVD player/LCD TV that’s being promoted through Target at $999. “It doesn’t make any difference any more” price-wise and “for our brand, it’s better to be associated with 1080p,” Roque said.
Westinghouse will continue to target its better-featured 52W LCD TV ($1,799 street price) at regional dealers, Roque said. The 1080p model, which switched to a Chi Mei panel this year from Samsung, contains four HDMI connectors, a subwoofer and equalizer. “We wanted to fully load that product,” Roque said. Westinghouse’s national retailers, including Best Buy and Target, will carry a line that tops out at 47W ($1,599), Roque said.
The 720p products will include the SK series of 26W ($599), 32W ($749) and 26W ($649) and 32W ($849) LCD TVs/DVD players. Westinghouse also will have standard and flip-up style 16W ($279, $329)) LCD TVs, along with a 19W model ($379).
In the commercial market, Westinghouse will add 802.11g technology to 15.6W, 14.1W and 10.2W LCD digital photo frames for the commercial market that will be designed for retail shelf promotions, Roque said. Its consumer line will include 15.6W ($329), 14.1W ($279), 10.2W ($199), 8W ($159) and 7W ($99) LCD digital photo frames with resolutions ranging from 1,366x768 to 800x600. A 5.6W model was dropped from this year’s line, Roque said.
A 26W PC monitor with 1,920 x 1,200 resolution ($499) that’s being sold through Target, tops a line that also features 22W (2 models ($299, $349), 19W ($269, $239) and 16W ($169) models. While Westinghouse showed a 24W LED-based monitor at CES in January, it has no plans for introducing it this year due to the higher cost of LED-based models, Roque said.
Target is rivaling Best Buy as one of Westinghouse’s top customers, company officials said. The chain is carrying five LCD TVs and combos this year along with three PC monitors. Best Buy, which has been selling Westinghouse sets since 2004, typically sells six LCD TVs. While Best Buy has added private label Insignia and Dynex brand LCD TVs, the move hasn’t affected Westinghouse’s business with the chain, Roque said. “As the market increased they added their private label rather than other brands so that actually may have helped us,” Roque said.