Westinghouse Brings LED & Netflix Enabled TVs to Budget Conscious Consumers
by Ganesh T S on January 12, 2011 12:23 AM EST- Posted in
- TV
- Westinghouse
- Broadcom
- Zoran
- DTV
At CES 2011, Westinghouse introduced flat screen TVs ranging from 26" to 60" in size. All the models are targeted towards the budget conscious customer, implying probably lowest cost in that particular class. With a good retail presence in the US, the targeted consumers are going to find it easy to purchase one from their favourite big box stores. Further, the warranty and return grace period provided by retailers like Costco should help cautious consumers.
The new CFL model flat screens are perfect for consumers who are still in the CRT age and those that have taken advantage of the recent DTV box program. Westinghouse is the only value brand which doesn't buy the whole display module, but just the panels and adds the backlighting and other circuitry themselves. The new LED backlit models come with either red or silver trims.
The 26" model is perfect for hooking up notebooks in dorm rooms or other similar situations. Netflix and Vudu (currently planned) only available on one of the 46" models which runs on the Zoran chipset. Other models of larger size running on the Zoran chipset are also capable of Netflix, and are planned for enabling based on demand. Smaller sized models dont get Netflix because there is not enough margin in the smaller TVs to compensate for the licensing costs. Consumers with smaller TVs also run some other Blu-Ray player or media streamer capable of Netflix, so this is not much of a concern.
Other than Zoran, Broadcom DTV chipsets are also being used in the Westinghouse TVs. Both the Broadcom and Zoran chipsets enable a decent level of video postprocessing such as noise reduction, 3:2 pulldown support etc. which are quite necessary in the consumer market segment towards which the models are targeted.
Pricing and full lineup details in the press releases linked below:
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Mr Perfect - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
Is Anandtech adding television reviews to the lineup? It would be fantastic to have a technology oriented site look at them, I've not hear other sites discus things like chipsets when it comes to TVs.HangFire - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
If they are going to be making money again, does that mean they'll be able to ship their products despite the court injunction for violating BusyBox's GPL?softdrinkviking - Thursday, January 13, 2011 - link
It's a different company. the new name is Westinghouse Digital LLC(the old one was Westinghouse Digital Electronics LLC)the company that busybox sued is either defunct or still in bankrupcy, and a new company was formed to take over their assets.
they must have an agreement with busybox, because it would be beyond stupid if they just decided to violate their glp a second time.
HangFire - Thursday, January 13, 2011 - link
Thanks for the clarification. I see they are at least taking a stab at compliance.sgtrock111 - Wednesday, January 12, 2011 - link
Their OS is Linux. Specifically, Busybox:http://westinghousedigital.com/compliance/
Maybe this would be worth an article or two under your Linux heading?
mac2j - Thursday, January 13, 2011 - link
It's sad - in 2008 there were a couple 1440p and 1 1600p TVs being shown but I haven't heard anything in the last 2 years.1080p has been the top for long enough - it's time to move forward rather than trying to push 3D.
quiksilvr - Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - link
Why? 1080p is more than enough. Our streaming video is barely getting into 1080p and very few television broadcasts are hitting 1080p. I'd say stick with it for another 5 years so that internet bandwidth and streaming video can mature. THEN make a push into the higher resolutions, which I still find unnecessary.The reason why I say this is because to the naked eye, people can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p from 8 feet away on a TV that is under 40". It's only when you push it past 50" that you start to see the difference between the two. I've seen 1080p stretched beyond 100" on a projector and feel it looks incredible.
SlyNine - Friday, January 21, 2011 - link
Speak for yourself buddy. I can tell the difference.Desslok - Thursday, January 13, 2011 - link
I hope they have better customer service then they did back in 2008. I purchased one of their LCD monitor and it was dead in four months. Called the help line to see if they wantedme to send it to them or just return it to the store. The call center I got sounded like they were talking through a tin can and the "advisor" barely spoke English so I just ended up taking it back.