LG's DP570MH Portable Television Handles Mobile DTV And DVD

Mobile DTV quietly became a reality in the United States earlier this year, and now LG Electronics is hoping to be one of the first company's to market with equipment to take advantage of the broadcasting protocol. As the new year kicks off, LG is introducing the planet's first "portable, battery-operated mobile DTV in the United States," which is designed to receive new rugged over-the-air signals being transmitted by local broadcasters. In case you're unaware, this new Mobile DTV protocol works a lot like mobile broadcasting signals in other nations, where--like in South Korea and Japan--they've been widely available and in use for years. Local TV stations already broadcast their signals as to be received by OTA antennas connected to televisions, and now they'll be broadcasting those same signals in a new format that can be grabbed by portable devices within vehicles on the move.

Hundreds of stations are expected to go live with their broadcasts throughout 2010, as only a few have done so up until now. Set to officially debut at the Consumer Electronics Show, the DP570MH Mobile Digital Television with DVD Playback will bring local TV reception on the go as well as DVD playback when those local stations are out of range. It's a great combination of technologies, so you'll have entertainment regardless of whether or not you're driving in the city or far, far away from TV antennas.

According to Tim Alessi, director of product development at LG: "It's easy to receive Mobile DTV broadcasts with LG's new Mobile Digital Television set, which comes equipped with a built-in antenna and the ability to play DVD and CD discs. Even on a fast-moving train, a viewer should expect robust reception from favorite local channels - unlike some small digital TV sets currently on the market."

As for specs, you'll find a 7" display (with a resolution of 480 x 234), built-in DVD player, a clamshell design for easy portability, twin headphone jacks and a removable battery that powers the device for up to 2.5 hours in TV mode or up to 4.5 hours during DVD playback. LG also ships the device with AC and auto adapters, which is a nice surprise given how most of the time you have to pick up one or the other afterwards. The player will be available at some point later in the year (probably when more broadcasters commit to the technology) for $249.

Mobile Digital TV: LG's Latest Innovation

"At every stage of the digital TV transition over the past decade, LG has assumed a leadership role," Alessi said. We started by shipping giant HDTV projection TV sets, which became the stunning flat-screen LCD and plasma HDTVs that are now the hub of today's home entertainment systems. We are proud to have sold millions of converter boxes last year for consumers with analog TV sets.

"Now we're taking digital TV to a whole new audience - the mobile viewer. Whether it's at the beach house or in the back seat of a car with the kids, viewers want mobile broadcast TV wherever they go, and LG will meet that demand with products like our new mobile DTV-DVD player," he said.

Co-developer of the technology at the heart of the Mobile DTV standard, LG began mass production of the critical component for Mobile DTV reception - the LG2160A integrated circuit (IC) chip - in June 2009. The latest version, the LG2160R single chip design that includes both the tuner and demodulator, is being released at CES. And, by March 2010, LG plans to release its next-generation mobile DTV chip, the LG2161R receiver IC, which is even smaller, consumes less power, supports various interfaces and provides improved performance.

LG Mobile DTV chips already can be found in a variety of new products being introduced by various manufacturers at CES, from laptop USB accessory receivers to netbooks with integrated Mobile DTV tuners and a range of prototype devices being shown to retailers this week. At CES, LG will demonstrate mobile phone prototype LG handsets as well as in-vehicle prototype products that could be available through automobile dealers or after-market retailers.

Standardized by the Advanced Television Systems Committee and formally adopted as the Mobile DTV standard just 12 weeks ago, the new Mobile DTV standard allows broadcasters to use a portion of the existing 19.4 Megabit-per-second DTV channel capacity to transmit data with extremely robust characteristics suitable for mobile, pedestrian and handheld applications. The Mobile DTV signal is also compatible with 8-VSB DTV, which was also developed by Zenith, LG's U.S. research and development lab.