LYNDHURST, N.J. — Daewoo recently started a test rollout of its long-awaited 30W-inch fully integrated 16:9 direct-view HDTV set, the company affirmed.
Daewoo model DSP-3060N features a 30W-inch widescreen “Pure Flat” picture tube sourced from Toshiba and carries a $2,999.95 suggested retail price, which is an industry low for a fully integrated HDTV product.
Daewoo marketing manager Kevin Saracinello said the product is being sold at more than 40 storefronts on a “test market” basis. The rollout began on the West Coast in a number of Fry’s stores and is progressing to the Southeastern territories and inward.
The test-market trial has included a number of warehouse club stores around the country, Saracinello said, including select Costco stores in Brooklyn, N.Y., Naples, Fla., and various locations in Georgia.
The sets are assembled at a Daewoo factory in Korea, and allocations are currently running at about 500 units a month, with plans to accelerate to between 1,000-2,000 units a month by the end of the year.
Company executives will meet next month for internal planning sessions. Saracinello said he expects to have 30W- and 34W-inch direct-view HDTV monitors and a plasma display panel in second-generation DTV offerings. Those products would be assembled at Daewoo factories in Mexico, he added.
To help dealers sell the current 30W-inch integrated set, Daewoo is providing key accounts with specially designed hard-drive-based HDTV bit stream players that are manufactured for Daewoo in Korea.
Additionally, Saracinello said the company is offering a value-added rear-channel and subwoofer package to complement the built-in right, left and center channel speakers. The set internally decodes 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround sound.
Dealers can call (201) 460-2541.
