ATLANTA
— High-end TV supplier NuVision is using
CEDIA Expo to showcase its expanded lines of LCD TVs
and video projectors, including some of the company’s
first 3D-capable models.
The 2010/2011 models
were all designed to be “truly
customizable,” offering customers
the ability to have
handcrafted anodized-aluminum
bezels with the option for
custom colors accommodating
any color shade.
NuVision CEO David Hester
said the company is targeting
well-heeled customers
who demand top quality and
personalization.
The company’s strategy appears
to working. Hester said sales grew 100 percent year
on year in 2010, while the dealer network grew 412 percent
since March 2009 to 520 retail outlets, including eight Magnolia
Design Centers.
The Magnolia presence will grow further, he said, to 57
Magnolia Home Theater stores and Design Centers by
year’s end.
Magnolia, Hester said, targets the same top 10 percent
that NuVusion does.
Meanwhile, the company’s product is now available to
HES members through the group’s Expert Warehouse.
Among other retailers carrying the brand are Sixth Avenue
Electronics, Starpower, Gramophone and HiFi House.
For enhanced home integration, NuVision now places
ports — called NuControl ports — on every display it sells.
This NuControl is a bi-directional serial control port configured
on an RJ-45 jack for the ease of installers who wire
homes with CAT 5 cable. The system uses the RJ-45 pins
for its own purposes, including allowing IR passthrough
and repeat without carrier for connection to an array of
home-control systems, such
as Control4 and Savant.
The RS-232 protocols are
the same in all sets regardless
of screen size and allow
complete control of all system
functions.
Additionally, all of the company’s
LCD TVs now offer Full-
HD 1080p resolution and either
edge-lit LED backlighting
or full-array LED backlighting.
NuVision is expanding
upon its previous Film Times
Five (FX5) technology, which used 120Hz motion compensation
by repeating the first frame five times over, and has
advanced to an FX10 system in large-screen models.
The system provides 240Hz or 480Hz motion-compensation
technology using a process of 5:5 pull-down and
frame doubling.
NuVision sets also employ a proprietary Frame Forward
Motion (motion estimation and motion compensation) technology
using algorithms for level control to give users the
ability to keep or eliminate intended judder (used in some
content to keep the look of film).
The FX10 lineup is comprised of LCD models measuring
40 inches and larger, all of which are 3D capable using an
active-shutter glasses system.
The line starts with a 22-inch 60Hz
1080p model and transitions to the FX5
series, including 32 inches (120Hz) and
40-inches (120Hz). All three use edgemounted
LED backlighting, allowing a
panel depth of 1.5 inches or less.
The FX5 series also includes a 55-inch
(120Hz) mirrored-front TV model with
mirror front glass integrated into the LCD
module to eliminate internal reflection.
The 22- ($849), 32- ($1,999) and 40-
inch ($2,999) sets shipped in the second
quarter, and the 55-inch mirror TV
($8,499) will ship in November.
The mirror TV will be transitioned to
240Hz technology in November or December
of this year, said Chris Porter,
NuVision engineering and product management
VP.
The FX10 series includes the 40- 46-
and 55-inch screen sizes, all offering
240Hz and edge-mounted LED backlighting
with the company’s True Dimming
technology that controls brightness
levels for nine zones across the screen
while eliminating artifacts such as blotching.
The models also have 3D processing
and active-shutter glasses support.
The 55- ($6,999) and 46-inch
($5,499) models ship in the October,
and the 40-inch ($4,499) version will
ship in January 2011.
The company will also introduce starting
later this year a new Connoisseur series
(CS) in the 55- and 72-inch screen
sizes. Both will be 3D-capable and are
to include full-array LED backlighting
and native 480Hz panels that do not
require backlight scanning tricks to
achieve the high rate, NuVision said.
Both sets will use an 8mm LCD
module that allows for a thinner panel
depth for full-array LED systems than
are seen in edge-lit versions of comparable
screen size, the company
said.
The 72-inch CS model ($15,999) is
due to ship in December, and the 55-
inch CS unit ($8,999) will ship at the
end of the second quarter of 2011.
The 710 series, including new CS
SKUs, will be based on a new “905
platform” that incorporates a dualcore
processor (two 300MHz cores)
to handle all of the infrastructure
of the TV, such as IPTV functionality
running compressed A/V content
streams. The platform will support
true 2D local dimming in the CS models
with 240 zones of local dimming in
the 55-inch model and 480 zones in
the 72-inch version.
