It’s been a long haul to get to where commercial mobile TV products in the US are available (even longer here in the UK) but LG Electronics has previewed the devices it is launching at this week’s Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, on its Korean web site.
Information is sparse because most of it has come from the pictures and a Google translation of a Korean web site, but LG will unveil a portable DVD player and either one or two cell phones, and possible a PC dongle, all of which can also receive the mobile digital TV signals which are already being sent out by around 30 US TV stations using ATSC M/H (mobile handheld), a specification which was ratified in October by the OMVC (Open Mobile Video Coalition).
A total of 70 stations will be online by the Spring when these devices are likely to be available.
The LG products include the DP570MH, a portable DVD player, has a 7-inch widescreen display with WQVGA (480 pixels by 234 pixels) resolution, battery life is 2.5 hours when viewing TV and 4.5 hours for DVDs and should hit the market at $249.
If the pictures on its Korean website are right LG will also bring out a modified version of its Lotus smartphone (currently sold by Sprint), with a 2.4 inch widescreen display and a full Qwerty keyboard ‘ almost a cross between a Blackberry and a multimedia phone ‘ yuk, we might add.
Last year Dell and Kenwood introduced devices (a PC and an in-car device) at the CES show, which we have not seen since, because the standard took longer than everyone thought to complete, and analog TV switch off in the US was delayed four months by the Obama administration. But it now looks like they will both introduce completed volume products for ATSC M/H at CES along with new suppliers such as Delphi (which also makes a number of the Sirius XM satellite radio devices) and Hyundai (for its cars).
LG Electronics began shipping its LG2160A ATSC M/H in June last year, but it required another software update in October before the system was good to put into products, and LG seems to be saying that it has a new version of that chip, the LG2161, which is 33% smaller. LG has also helped launch a PC dongle at the CES show, using the same chip (see separate story).
There is a good chance that LG will announce deals with major US retailers at the show, but the critical involvement of a major US cellular operator is thought to be some way off.