New York – Looking to expand its powerful IT brand name into the consumer electronics market, Hewlett-Packard formally announced Friday its first consumer television product line, including two plasma and two LCD flat panel TV monitors and a pair of aggressively priced DLP home theater projectors.
HP is positioning the products as display components in its “connected home/digital living room strategy.”
All four models will be available in September through the company’s direct-sales e-commerce site — hpshopping.com – as well as though HP’s nationwide network of retail partners.
The LCD TVs will be offered in the 26W-inch and 30W-inch screen sizes.
Both are billed as “HD-ready” with native resolution of 1280-by-768 pixels and 16:9 widescreen aspect ratios. Both LCD TVs also incorporate HP’s Visual Fidelity System (VFS) picture processing technology and Faroudja’s DCDi de-interlacing chip to scale images to meet the display requirements with a minimum of picture artifacts.
HP said its VFS will analyze every pixel of every image for noise reduction, color enhancement, motion compensation, and detail enhancement to deliver a sharp picture.
Both LCD TVs also include integrated dual NTSC tuners and side-by-side picture-in-picture functions. Inputs on the panels include DVI-D with HDCP and HD component video.
Audio is enhanced with BBE Viva and SRS WOW sound processing technologies. The panels will be offered in a piano black finish and will include a matching table stand. Wall-mounting brackets and subwoofer are offered as options.
The 26W-inch LC2640N will carry a $2,699 suggested retail, and the 30W-inch will carry a $2,999 suggested retail.
In plasma, the company will offer a pair of 42W-inch models, one with EDTV resolution and the other with full high-definition resolution. Both panels are offered in a piano black finish and measure less than 4-inches deep.
Both panels also include the aforementioned VFS picture processing system and Faroudja DCDi de-interlacing chip with 3:2 and 2:2 pulldown image conversion for film-based sources.
The plasma monitors include dual integrated NTSC tuners, PIP with split screen function, DVI-D with HDCP and HD component video inputs, as well as BBE Viva high definition audio and SRS WOW audio processing circuitry.
The HP PE4240N, which features EDTV-level 852-by-480 pixel resolution, will carry a $2,999 suggested retail price. External attachable speakers, subwoofer and wall mount brackets are available as optional accessories.
The PL4245N is billed as HP’s 42W-inch HD-ready plasma display with 1,024-by-768 pixel resolution and a 3,000:1 contrast ratio. It features a direct digital connection to HP Media Center PCs and HP Digital Entertainment Centers, and a 3,000:1 contrast ratio. It will carry a $4,999 suggested retail price. A subwoofer and wall mounts are available as accessories.
The company also announced the addition of a pair of aggressively priced single-chip DLP-based home theater front projectors.
Models include the ep7120 and the ep9010. The latter is dubbed an “instant cinema digital projector” because it features a built-in DVD player and stereo audio system with subwoofer.
The ep7120 ($3,000 estimated street price), features a compact design, a screen size capability of 37- to 110- inches, 850 ANSI lumens of brightness and a 4,000-hour lamp life. Resolution is listed as HDTV level XGA (1024-by-768 pixels). Inputs include HD component video, S-video and composite video, DVI with HDCP and VGA adapter for a PC input.
The HP ep9010 instant cinema projector, will carry a $2,499 estimated street price, and will offer EDTV-level SVGA (800-by-600 pixel) resolution. It features an integrated DVD player and a 2.1 stereo/subwoofer sound system.
Features include a compact design, 20-watt sound system with two speakers per channel facing front and rear, and a 30-watt subwoofer.
The DVD player is compatible with DVD video, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, and CD-R/RW disc formats. It will also playback MP3 audio and JPEG image files.
Inputs include DVI with HDCP and a VGA adapter for PC connectivity.
