LG's DP570MH Portable Television Handles Mobile DTV And DVD

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

Hundreds of stations are expected to go live with their broadcaststhroughout 2010, as only a few have done so up until now. Set toofficially debut at the Consumer Electronics Show, the DP570MH MobileDigital Television with DVD Playback will bring local TV reception onthe go as well as DVD playback when those local stations are out ofrange. It's a great combination of technologies, so you'll haveentertainment regardless of whether or not you're driving in the cityor far, far away from TV antennas.

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

As for specs, you'll find a 7" display (with a resolution of 480 x234), built-in DVD player, a clamshell design for easy portability,twin headphone jacks and a removable battery that powers the device forup to 2.5 hours in TV mode or up to 4.5 hours during DVD playback. LGalso ships the device with AC and auto adapters, which is a nicesurprise given how most of the time you have to pick up one or theother afterwards. The player will be available at some point later inthe year (probably when more broadcasters commit to the technology) for$249.

Mobile Digital TV: LG's Latest Innovation

"Atevery stage of the digital TV transition over the past decade, LG hasassumed a leadership role," Alessi said. We started by shipping giantHDTV projection TV sets, which became the stunning flat-screen LCD andplasma HDTVs that are now the hub of today's home entertainmentsystems. We are proud to have sold millions of converter boxes lastyear for consumers with analog TV sets.

"Nowwe'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 thekids, viewers want mobile broadcast TV wherever they go, and LG willmeet that demand with products like our new mobile DTV-DVD player," hesaid.

Co-developer of thetechnology at the heart of the Mobile DTV standard, LG began massproduction of the critical component for Mobile DTV reception - theLG2160A integrated circuit (IC) chip - in June 2009. The latestversion, the LG2160R single chip design that includes both the tunerand demodulator, is being released at CES. And, by March 2010, LG plansto release its next-generation mobile DTV chip, the LG2161R receiverIC, which is even smaller, consumes less power, supports variousinterfaces and provides improved performance.

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

Standardizedby the Advanced Television Systems Committee and formally adopted asthe Mobile DTV standard just 12 weeks ago, the new Mobile DTV standardallows broadcasters to use a portion of the existing 19.4Megabit-per-second DTV channel capacity to transmit data with extremelyrobust characteristics suitable for mobile, pedestrian and handheldapplications. The Mobile DTV signal is also compatible with 8-VSB DTV,which was also developed by Zenith, LG's U.S. research and developmentlab.