Seoul, South Korea –
will initiate the beta opening on May 1 of its LG Cloud service, designed to
provide seamless connectivity and streaming access to all digital content
across various electronic devices.
LG Cloud will be the first Cloud service to allow users to manage
and consume all types of content on “three screens,” including Android
smartphones, PCs and smart TVs (including but not limited to Cinema3D models)
without a separate set-top box, the company said in a statement Monday.
LG Cloud service will be offered under both free and paid tiers.
Free storage space and pricing will differ market to market and will be
announced separately as the service becomes available in that country, LG said.
To use the service, users will download an LG Cloud app from
Google Play or LG SmartWorld app store from their Android smartphones, LG
SmartWorld store from their LG Smart TVs, or the LG Cloud website
(
) from their PCs or laptops.
The service will automatically synchronize smartphone content
with the Cloud server and the user’s PC and TV.
Photos and videos taken with a smartphone can be viewed and
streamed to the PC or TV almost instantaneously.
Videos edited on a PC can be uploaded to LG Cloud for viewing on
a smartphone.
LG said its new service will have very little waiting or lag time
“since the content is streamed to the TV, PC or smartphone, not downloaded
first.”
LG is able to achieve this through the use of its proprietary real-time
streaming transcoding technology.
“The conversion happens on the server in real time, not on the
device,” the company said in a statement announcing the beta launch. “There is
no need to worry about installing codecs or converters — everything happens
seamlessly and in the background with no involvement from the user. No other Cloud
service can make this same claim.”
The service will support 3D content, and vacation videos taken
with an LG 3D smartphone can be uploaded via 3G or Wi-Fi to the LG Cloud
service.
Personal video footage can be viewed from home on a supporting TV
as a stream from the LG Cloud.
LG created a new division
called smart business center to focus specifically on content and services, in
an effort to “develop Cloud services that prioritize convergence.”
Havis Kwon, LG Home Entertainment Co. president and CEO, will add
responsibility for overseeing the new smart business center, LG said.
“Most companies today only see the Cloud as a storage device or,
in the case of YouTube or Flickr, only for one type of content,” stated Kwon.
“LG makes the devices that millions of people watch content on so we can set a
new yardstick for ease of use by setting up our own Cloud service. Tomorrow’s
consumers don’t want to go to one Cloud for music, another Cloud for video,
another location for photos and yet another Cloud for their office files. In
the end, our solution is about making life more convenient.”
