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Is that Broadcom in your new TV?

October 12th, 2009, 2:00 am by

LG's Broadband HDTV is powered by Broadcom.If you’ve kept up with the latest in TV technology, you know that many TV manufacturers have either released their first Internet TV or are about to.

But what you may not know is that Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. is providing its ‘connected’ chip to enable Internet in many of these TVs. And it’s overseeing what content gets included.

Features like watching YouTube videos or checking stocks and local weather are activities that TV watchers will get access to in these new TVs.

But integrating Yahoo Widgets into the TV, for example, is not a simple task, said Stuart Thomson, Broadcom’s senior director of product marketing for Digital TV. TVs don’t have as much memory as computers so engineers must work more efficiently, for one thing.

Yahoo Widget, Netflix and other features are now available on some Internet TVs. Pictured is LG's Broadband TV, powered by Broadcom.“We worked very hard on the responsiveness to make sure Yahoo Widgets worked well in an embedded environment,” Thomson said. ”We worked a lot with Yahoo to make this work.”

And Netflix, apparently. The only TV offering Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” streaming service are the LG Broadband TVs, which have Broadcom’s chip inside. The LG TVs went on sale in early summer.

Besides LG TVs, upcoming TVs with Broadcom’s “connected” chip include Sharp, Humax (in Europe) and Zinwell (in Taiwan). The company is also working with Irvine-based Vizio not just on TVs but on Vizio’s noteworthy QWERTY remote control. (Other TV manufacturers with Internet TVs include Sony, Samsung and Panasonic.)

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Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Qualcomm’s tiny 3.5-inch TV coming this holiday

October 9th, 2009, 11:21 am by

The folks at Qualcomm Corp. are doing some interesting stuff down in San Diego.

The chip maker’s FLO TV division, known for providing MediaFLO TV service for cell phones, unveiled FLO TV Personal Television, a mini digital TV this week. This isn’t a prototype but a working 3.5-inch TV that will be available this Christmas.

FLO TV Personal Television, a mini digital TV

Flo TV by QualcommIt’s unusual for a chipmaker to offer a product straight to consumers. Intel may be inside many computers, but the company doesn’t really sell a gadget of its own. Neither does Irvine’s Broadcom Corp., which has its chips in iPhones and other cell phones, Internet TVs, set top boxes and Wi-Fi routers.

But for Qualcomm, it’s not the first time the chip maker has wanted to deal with consumers directly. Last year, it was showing off its own netbook-ish computer powered by company made chips. The Qualcomm SmartBook seems to be going the Intel route, however, with Qualcomm offering its chips to PC makers.

FLO TV Personal Television, a mini digital TVHow does it get TV? Qualcomm bought and built its own wireless network so the TV receives live and broadcasts over the air. Technically, Qualcomm is using airwaves that were once filled with analog TV broadcasts. But after the government transitioned the nation to digital TV back in June, that spectrum became available for commercial use. Qualcomm has been working on this for years, says Melinda Hutcheon, with Qualcomm.

“The FLO TV Personal TV is running over a purpose-built dedicated network for television, not any cellular network,” she said. “Qualcomm purchased channel 55 several years ago and with the recent DTV the 700mhz spectrum block is now clear and FLO TV can provide a nationwide mobile TV network in the US.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Gadgets • Video & TV • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

Vizio sues TV rival LG, wins small battle with pesky Funai

June 9th, 2009, 11:50 am by

Vizio Inc., an Irvine HDTV sellerCatching up: Irvine’s Vizio Inc., which has been fighting pesky rivals who seek ‘unfair’ license fees, announced a big move over the weekend: It sued LG Electronics for infringing on its patents.

Vizio also won a small battle against Funai Electric Company, a rival that sells Emerson, Sylvania and Symphonic HDTVs.

Vizio filed its lawsuit on Friday against Korea’s LG Electronics in the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland alleging that “LG infringes on numerous Vizio patents in its manufacturing, importation and distribution of certain products including high definition televisions,” according to Vizio.

The Irvine company wants LG to stop and seeks an injunction prohibiting LG from importing and selling infringing HDTVs. Vizio also seeks damages for past alleged infringing sales.

As DigiTimes reports, LG first sued Vizio last year for patent infringement. Vizio, which became the top seller of LCD HDTVs in the U.S. earlier this year, said that it has been unfairly targeted for patent fees because of its success.

Separately, a U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied Funai’s attempt to delay an antitrust lawsuit claiming Funai unlawfully restrains trade, misuses its patent rights and monopolizes the marketplace for digital TV technology. Vizio, which filed the lawsuit in February, also claims Funai unlawfully acquired the rights to U.S. patent No. 6,115,074, a digital TV patent.

Vizio has called the fees excessive and unfair because it is one of the few HDTV sellers that Funai is targeting. Such fees could add up to $30 per TV, a cost that Vizio would have to pass on to the consumer (see earlier: “Vizio TVs could be $30 cheaper.”)

“We are pleased that the court recognized the importance of our antitrust claims and denied Funai’s attempt to delay our efforts to prove our case. We cannot allow a foreign competitor to misuse its patent and monopolize the marketplace, or to divert us from our mission to bring affordable, high quality HDTVs to Americans,” Laynie Newsome, a Vizio co-founder and vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement.

More from the web:
Vizio files TV patent suit against LG in U.S. (Reuters)

Vizio Sues LG For Patent Infringement (Twice)

Vizio files patent lawsuit against LG (DigiTimes)

Past Gadgetress stories about Vizio:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Broadcom TV chip to offer 1,000+ apps for TVs

February 23rd, 2009, 10:17 am by

Internet TV hasn’t become “the promised land of couch potato commerce” as some anticipated last decade, but we are getting closer this year as TV makers like Vizio add Ethernet ports and software makers move widgets from the computer to the small screen.

Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. is the latest to join the widget game and announced today it is teaming up with San Diego’s Chumby Industries, makers of the adorable Internet media player (on right) that scrolls through news headlines, offers weather updates and 999 other applications.

By adding support for Chumby’s service, Broadcom’s digital TV chip can offer the widget technology to any manufacturer of TVs, set-top boxes, Blu-ray Disc players or other Internet-TV machines.  Chumby has over 1,000 widgets, from one that lets users check Facebook status, another that shows scenes from webcams around the globe, and one that paints Jackson Pollock-inspired art scenes. While many TV watchers could care less about Pollock’s paint drips on their TV, there are many useful widgets, such as live traffic, current weather and stock tickers. Check out Chumby’s collection HERE. 

For TVs, Chumby widgets can be configured to hover at the bottom or top of a TV screen, like this:

The widgets can be enlarged or made transparent so you can still see the video behind the widget. Here’s an image of Chumby widgets at the bottom of the screen that you can click to enlarge: Read the rest of this entry »

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What has Time Warner Cable done for you lately?

December 30th, 2008, 5:04 pm by

A higher cable TV bill is always a bummer, especially when you feel like you’re getting inferior service in the first place.

But I continue to believe that the local branch of Time Warner Cable is trying to make amends for the appalling transition it forced subscribers to go through when it merged three O.C. cable systems together last year. Darryl Ryan, the company’s new regional director of media relations, always returns my phone calls and e-mails, even if it’s not the response people want to hear. And did you see this? Fred Stefany, the president of the regional office, responded to reader comments this morning.

Time Warner is watching and, hopefully, listening, to what you all have to say.

As some readers — OK, maybe 2 — mentioned, Time Warner still provides an OK service. So, let me count it up, without being too sarcastic: What has Time Warner done for its customers this year?

1. New HD channels: About a dozen new HD channels just showed up on my TV in the past week, including CNBC HD, Travel HD and the Science Channel HD. This is in addition to about a dozen that popped up over the summer (FoodTV HD, CNNHD, Disney HD, Discovery HD …) I don’t get 50, as the company said Orange County subscribers would by the end of the year. But I’m close: I get 49! But this is only in Huntington Beach. Other cities may not be so lucky. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • | 9 Comments »

Is that a cell phone in your TV? Broadcom hopes so

August 25th, 2008, 4:23 pm by

Broadcom Corp.’s purchase of AMD’s TV group today could mean lower-priced digital TVs for everyone. But the Irvine chipmaker hinted at other high-tech possibilities, such as a Bluetooth TV that will talk to your cell phone.

Its engineers have a bunch of technologies to choose from: Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and cell phone communication. Broadcom chips, after all, have made it into the Apple iPhone and Nintendo Wii. By mixing and matching, Broadcom gave me some examples of how else the TV can change.

“We’re looking to add Bluetooth so when your cell phone would ring, the caller ID pops up on TV. Or use Bluetooth headsets to listen to TV. Or beam a picture taken on the phone and show it on the TV. We obviously want to take advantage of what we have,” said Daniel Marotta, Broadcom’s senior vice president and general manager of its Broadband Communications Group.

Marotta said that Broadcom has already shown how to integrate wireless with TV.

“We see customers today putting in Ethernet ports but asking for Wi-Fi because even though Ethernet is inexpensive, it requires some consumer saavy. But if you have Wi-Fi, like on Nintendo’s Wii, it’s pretty straightforward,” Marotta said.

Wi-Fi TVs aren’t new. Sharp launched and abandoned its Wi-Fi AQUOS TV in 2005. Neither is a Blutooth TV, which Samsung introduced in Korea last year (UPDATE: According to Samsung, this TV never made it to the U.S. and there are no plans for its arrival. Boo!). Samsung also has a DLP TV with Bluetooth.

(And for those wondering, most cable TV services that also offer home-phone service can route the caller ID to the TV so you don’t even have to pick up your phone to see who’s calling.)

Related:

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UPDATE: Is Broadcom getting into digital converter boxes?

August 25th, 2008, 10:20 am by

AMD’s Xilleon chip for digital TVs**UPDATE: Broadcom interview added below**

Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corporation this morning plunked down $193 million for AMD’s digital TV business because it wants to be in every piece of the digital TV market possible “from low-end value and mid-range quality to high-end interactive platforms and panel processors,” according to the press release.

Low end? Cody Acree, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus analyst told Reuters that this could mean cheaper televisions — like 20-inch flat TVs for less than $300.

“If Broadcom gets into a lower end DTV box, it allows them to target markets like China, India and Brazil,” Acree told Reuters.

The prices of flat TVs have been falling and it’s rare to find a TV for less than $300. But they still exist. This week at Best Buy, there’s a 19-inch Dynex TV for $240. Circuit City has a 19-inch Apex LCD for $250.

**Just spoke to Broadcom’s Daniel Marotta, who heads up the company’s Broadband Communication’s Group that includes the TV unit. The company wants to offer chips for low-end TVs so customers of its high-end chips won’t have to look elsewhere for low-end lines.

“What they’d like to do is be able to reuse our software at different (priced products),” said Marotta, senior vice president and general manager of the broadband group. “Because if you don’t have the right product, they’ll go elsewhere.”

Broadcom and AMD do overlap on the high-end chips. Both offer chips that provide 3D graphics and an Internet connection to TV (for watching YouTube or your music stored on a PC).  The plan is to take those advanced features and move them quickly into lower-end TVs.

“Given the very technical team we have, we want to drive that down (to lower-end TVs) as fast as we can,” he said.

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Yell at the FCC on its Digital TV transition tour

August 19th, 2008, 2:45 pm by

Get your questions answered about the Feb. 2009 transition to digital TVI mentioned this yesterday but it got buried in the digital-transition post: Members of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission will be traveling to 80 cities starting Aug. 27 to educate consumers about why we’re moving to all-digital TV broadcasts.

The switch to digital affects people who own an older, analog TV that relies on an antenna to get pictures (Others with cable or another paid-TV service are being taken care of by their provider). On Feb. 17, 2009, major TV networks will stop broadcasting in analog signals and will switch to digital. Analog TV watchers will need to buy a digital-converter box to continue watching favorite shows. The government is providing up to two $40 coupons to offset the price of these boxes.

But many readers have complained that they don’t understand why this is happening (answer HERE) and why the coupons expire after 90 days (answer HERE). I’ve even listened to a reader who believes these digital converter boxes are an elaborate spy operation by the government, like a sinister version of the Clipper Chip.

Well, if you’re one of those readers, you can yell ask the government yourself.

The DTV tour targets cities where more than 100,000 households, or 15 percent, rely solely on the over-the-air signals for TV. (People who have cable, satellite or other paid-TV service are not affected by the switch, even if they have an old, analog TV.)

Orange County isn’t on the list of 80 cities, but Los Angeles and San Diego are. Dates are to be announced in the future. As part of the tour, the FCC will hold a public event in the community. I will post local information as soon as I hear about it.

The first batch of cities and dates: Read the rest of this entry »

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