V Inc. Intros PDPs, Direct DVD Player
By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 2/10/2003
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIF.— V Inc., a new consumer electronics company founded by computer display leader William Wang of Princeton, announced its first home theater plasma display line and plans for a Direct Digital MPEG-4-ready home DVD player.
The company plans to offer EDTV and HDTV-level plasma displays in screen sizes ranging from 32W-inches to 50W-inches.
Shipping now is the Vizio-32SDP ($2,999.95 suggested retail), which features a 32W-inch 16:9 screen with 1,024 by 852 pixel EDTV-level resolution. It includes an internal NTSC tuner, RGB via 15-pin D-sub and HD component video inputs, and onboard line doubling.
Shipping in March is the Vizio-42SDP ($2,999.95 suggested retail), which features a 42W-inch 16:9 screen with EDTV-level 852 by 480 pixel resolution. It includes an internal NTSC tuner, onboard line doubling, DVI with High-Definition Content Protection (HDCP) digital input, RGB via 15-pin D-sub and HD component video broadband analog inputs.
Also shipping in March is the Vizio-46SDP ($3,999.95 suggested retail), which features a 46W-inch 16:9 screen with EDTV-level 852 by 480 pixel resolution. It includes an internal NTSC tuner, onboard line doubling, DVI with HDCP digital input, RGB via 15-pin D-sub and HD component video broadband analog inputs.
The Bravo D1 home DVD player will ship in February at a $199.99 suggested retail price. It will decode MPEG-4 video via Sigma Design's DVD8500 chipset and will include a DVI/HDCP digital output, enabling a direct digital connection to a similarly equipped DTV display.
"Our DVD player signifies our product philosophy," said V Inc. CEO Wang. "We've married many of the integrated efficiencies from PCs into a simple to operate, inexpensive home DVD player that offers breakthrough performance capabilities."
V Inc. said the direct digital connection would produce a picture free from video noise and artifacts that result from D/A conversion. It also allows for the image to be digitally scaled to the native resolution of the display device.
The Bravo D1 will playback the following formats: DVD, DVD-R/RW, CD, CD-R, CD-RW MPEG-4, JPEG, MP3 and WMA.
Also supported is Kodak's (JPEG) Picture CD format for viewing digital photo content, which provides a substantially enhanced image when utilizing the high-definition output.
The player supports Dolby Digital and DTS pass-through on optical and S/PDIF outputs. The player features NTSC composite, S-Video and Component Video output for interlaced or progressive video signals.
The standard-definition video outputs implement Macrovision copy protection with the DVI output implementing HDCP encryption.
Among the benefits of the MPEG-4 format is the ability to record up to a two-hour movie on low cost CD-Rs. The DVD Forum is also reviewing certification of MPEG-4 for high-definition DVD playback and recording.
The company is also planning to offer EDTV and HDTV video displays based on LCD, DLP and LCoS.
