LG touts reception gains from 6th-generation chip
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007Digital TV viewers can expect improved over-the-air (OTA) reception from products that use LG’s new sixth-generation digital TV chipset, according to Choon Lee, who heads the DTV research lab at LG Electronics.
The enhanced technology has eliminated the multipath interference common in urban areas, Lee said. (That’s a big claim, and I sure hope we can believe him.) Improvements in synchronization and equalization should also make antenna positioning easier, according to the television manufacturer.
The ability of OTA viewers to easily obtain digital TV reception is one of the keys to a successful transition in 2009, when analog broadcasts will stop.
Will the $60 set-top converter boxes from LG or its Zenith subsidiary, scheduled to arrive next year, include the sixth-generation chip? The most recent answer to that question had been no—the box would instead use the fifth-gen LG chipset. But now I’m not so sure.
Here’s what their sixth-gen press release says:
Digital-to-analog converter boxes planned for introduction next year (for analog TVs to continue to receive free, over-the-air broadcasts after Feb. 17, 2009, when all U.S. broadcasting is digital) also will benefit from the low-cost, high-performance chipset.
Now, LG also notes that it will supply its chipset to other manufacturers. But nowhere do they explicitly say they will include the sixth-generation technology in their converter box. The company’s wording, I suspect, may be intentionally vague.
• Link: press release