Homegrown digital TV in Korea, and Intel digital TV PC card...............
koreaherald.co.kr
11-25-97 : MIC to Support R&D into Digital TV Equipment
Following its adoption last week of the American standard for digital TV broadcasting in Korea, the Ministry of
Information and Communication came up with a plan to localize transmission equipment, digital TV sets and other
related equipment. The ministry said that Korea currently relies heavily on foreign broadcasting equipment for
production and transmission of TV programs.
It decided to push for localization of equipment for digital TV service to cut down on the cost involved in the switch
from analog to digital and spur improvement of domestic digital TV broadcasting technology. ,b>Under the ministry's plan,
the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) will assume responsibility for developing 1-kilowatt
digital TV transmission equipment by 1999 and core parts of digital TV sets and program production equipment by
2000.
Korea plans to launch commercial digital TV service based on the American ATSC standard in 2001 after a one-year
pilot service in 2000. The ministry also intends to provide loans to private firms which manage to independently develop
ATSC-compatible broadcasting equipment. Loans will also be offered to those which develop European-type digital
TV sets or audio equipment for export.
To finance its plan, the ministry will secure 60 billion won, of which 20 billion won will be provided to ETRI and the
remaining 40 billion won to private firms in the form of low-cost loans. The plan is hoped to save 500 billion won in
import substitution of transmission equipment by 2006. Meanwhile, domestic TV manufacturers are stepping up efforts
to develop digital TV sets in their bid to make inroads into the American market where terrestrial digital TV service is
scheduled to begin next year.
LG Electronics, which introduced a set of five chips enabling production of low-cost digital TV sets last month, is
focusing its R&D on integrating the five chips into two. Using the integrated chip set, LG will initially develop a 64-inch
projection TV in the first half of next year and then a low-cost 40-inch ordinary digital TV in the second half. The
company is also developing a set-top-box which enables people with an analog TV set to enjoy digital TV service.
Another item LGE will offer is a digital TV broadcast reception card for computers. The company is developing the
card in cooperation with Intel. [Have we heard about this from Intel?]
Samsung Electronics, which developed a video decoder chip ahead of LG Electronics last year [?????], is redoubling efforts to
develop a complete chip set by the end of this year.
Daewoo Electronics has recently agreed with SGS-Thomson, a
French-Italian firm, to establish a joint-venture nonmemory semiconductor design center to develop core chips for
digital TV by the latter half of next year.
The three Korean firms will demonstrate their digital TV solutions at the winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
slated to be held in Las Vegas in January next year. They are expected to compete for attention with such foreign
makers as Mitsubishi of Japan, Philips of the Netherlands and Thomson of France. |
