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Technology Stocks : Zenith - One and Only -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Robert Utne who wrote (3529)	12/3/1997 10:40:00 AM
From: Robert Utne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 6570

Zenith...First out of the HDTV gate. According to press release below, Zenith will be selling HDTV sets in second quarter 1998. Also note that Intel could be the next LGE/ZE cable modem "best of breed" partner. Electronic Engineering Times: LG Electronics Inc. showed working silicon of its first-generation digital TV chip set and detailed plans for the chip set's future at the recent Comdex show here. The Vestigial-sideband Super Star(VSS) chip set is sampling now for a whopping $1,000, a price the company hopes to trim to below $200 by the end of next year. "This chip set is too expensive, but that is its only problem," said Hee-Bok Park, a senior research engineer in LG's DTV group (Seoul, South Korea). The first-generation set consists of five chips: two handle the vestigial- sideband (VSB) decoding and three deal with video signal processing. The set decodes all 18 formats defined by the Grand Alliance but displays only high-definition, 1,080 interlaced output. The VSB parts were developed in cooperation with Zenith Electronics, which holds key VSB patents. LG has a majority interest in Zenith. The LG chip set will be used by Zenith in a set-top box slated to ship with a projection TV monitor in the second quarter of next year. Zenith also plans to build it into a direct-view HDTV set by the end of next year, Park said. Intel is sampling the VSB portion of the chip set for possible use in a high-speed modem, Park added. LG is also sampling the chip set to Sharp, Philips and JVC, among others, although it does not expect the chips to see mainstream use, due to their cost. Instead, the company has turned its attention to crafting a second-generation chip set that would display only standard-definition TV (at 480 interlaced or progressive) and sell for as little as $100. It's also planning another chip set that could output standard or high-definition pictures and sell for about $200. Both chip sets are expected to be available before the end of next year. The new chip sets will be fabricated in either a 0.35- or 0.25-micron process to help reduce costs and aid integration, said Park. The first-generation parts were made in a 0.6-micron process. The standard-definition (SD) chip set will likely consist of just two chips-a VSB device and a video processor. The high- definition/standard-definition(HD/SD) chip set probably will have three components, two of them dedicated to video processing. The second-generation designs will also move from synchronous DRAM to Rambus to further lower costs and reduce parts and pin count, Park added. "We have plenty of room to optimize this design," he said. By supporting only 1080i-out in its first-generation part, LG believes TV makers can deliver a less expensive HDTV set than one using a competing chip set from Lucent Technologies and Mitsubishi. Their chip set supports either standard or high definition, but requires a more expensive multisynchronous monitor to support the two modes. In addition, Park said the LG chip set includes a number of conventional TV features-such as multiple picture-in-picture and zoom-not found on the Lucent/Mitsubishi chips. Sanyo supplies an analog demodulation chip used at the front end of LG's VSS chip set,which Park claimed gives the system a performance boost over a digital demodulator used in the Mitsubishi/Lucent chips. However, LG does have plans to replace the part with its own digital demodulator in a future version. The VSB portion of the first-generation chip set has a channel equalizer, which Park claimed boosts the robustness of the chip set by a hundredfold over a similar chip set used in an early Zenith prototype TV in terms of reliably receiving a terrestrial broadcast signal. ------------------------------------------------------------------ I've been waiting three years for this announcement. It's exactly what I hoped would happen. Zenith will be first out of the gate with a supply of 64" projection HDTV models HDTV with the wide screen by second quarter '98. I especially like the fact that its focused on the 1080 interlaced output and does not combine the other digital formats. Keeps it simpler, less expensive to produce (especially the screen) and sets the standard for the future of Home Theater. The smaller, direct-view digital sets (not requiring 1080 interlaced quality) will be for the bedroom, office, etc. and will be introduced late next year. HBO and DISH, are you ready for HDTV, too? Thanks to all at LGE and ZE for coming through....