News

29/8/2003

Thomson Strengthens Leadership in Consumer Products with New Home and Portable Technologies for Digital Entertainment

Comprehensive Offering at Berlin's 2003 Internationale Funkausstellung: Showcases LYRA Handheld Portable Digital Audio and Video Players, Video Over DSL Set-Top Receivers, Future "Thomson Oz" 5GHz Digital Home Networking, and Wide Range of High-End Television Displays

Thomson today announced a new line of personal and home audio/video entertainment products designed to harness the latest video compression technologies and give consumers the benefit of more access to digital entertainment. This expanded lineup of innovative consumer products illustrates Thomson's strategy offer products and services throughout the "video chain" that connects the entertainment industry to consumers. Thomson is leveraging its technology capabilities and its knowledge of and relations with studios, network operators and consumers to drive the development of digital and broadband technologies, products, and services for the video chain.

"Thomson is already helping the entertainment industry reach consumers with services that make and deliver both prints of movies to theatres and DVD discs to retail stores. We know that consumers want more digital video entertainment, and our new European consumer products and technologies showcased this week at IFA highlight our strengths in compressed audio and video, big-screen displays, and management of that digital content in the home," said Charles Dehelly, Chief Executive Officer of Thomson. "Our complete lineup includes stunning new widescreen display technologies, hard-disc content management for home and portable devices, and new set-top devices that will help content creators and network operators reach more consumers with digital content and new features," Dehelly said.

As another example of Thomson's long-term interest in developing new video entertainment options, Thomson and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd this week announced a new agreement to work cooperatively on content protection and DVD playback technologies. Thomson will add DVD-RAM playback capability to DVD players in 2004, so that consumers wanting to play back recorded discs won't have to worry about the recording format. As a result, Thomson DVD players will play back any of the DVD recording formats. Additionally, Thomson and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd will jointly work on content protection technologies, including SmartRight(TM), the Thomson-developed system that would utilize smart cards to offer a renewable solution for protection of digital content networks.

Thomson Unveils a Wide Range of Innovative Products

In Hall 21B at IFA Berlin, Thomson is showcasing European consumer products, including:

The THOMSON Lyra Audio/Video Jukebox (PDP 2860), a 20GB handheld digital video and audio player that can hold up to 80 hours of video or 600 hours of digital music in the mp3PRO format. The portable Audio/Video device make it possible to easily carry along music, video, and photos and view selections on a 9cm LCD screen as well as store computer files on the unit's hard disc drive.

Other digital recording innovations include Thomson first DVD Recorder (+RW/+R, model DTH 8000), and an 80GB Thomson hard-disc digital video recorder and DVD player that will hold up to 120 hours of TV content (DTH 7500.)

New Digital Light Processing (DLP) microdisplay technology in its line of Thomson Scenium television products. The new Thomson TV line-up includes DLP, widescreen Plasma, LCD, and direct-view televisions. Thomson will offer a wide range of Plasma and LCD screens to meet every consumer need and budget. These include a 50-inch Plasma panel and a 27-inch and 30-inch LCD screens. Selected displays also include Thomson's exclusive Hi-Pix video processing technology to render breathtaking pictures.

Thomson's "Consumer Solutions" accessories business is delivering a new range of products designed to receive signals, transmit to other rooms in the home, and easily connect equipment. The THOMSON VS750 2.4Ghz Video Sender allows the consumer to enjoy an Audio/Video source up to 80 metres away without interconnecting cables. The ROC850 Touch Screen Remote Control, Thomson's new 8-in-1 touch-screen remote control, the coffee table can be freed from clutter and give consumers all the control they need in the palm of just one hand.

The product and brand offering in Consumer Solutions accessories will also expand based on the recently completed acquisition of the assets of Recoton, a large player in the accessories market in the U.S. Thomson is also showing an array of new digital set-top boxes for cable, satellite, and terrestrial broadcast signals, including models that offer: low-cost solutions for cable operators, digital video recording for broadcast signals in the U.K., the company's first free-to-air receiver for the German TV market, and two new satellite decoders for retailers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Thomson Leads with Broadband Entertainment Over ADSL

Thomson already enjoys the world's leading market share in consumer DSL modem equipment. Now, with the expanded availability of ADSL high-speed data telephone networks, Thomson is offering unique solutions for delivering broadband entertainment over DSL lines. Thomson is already deeply involved in helping telecom operators to utilize their data lines for video services, with two major projects underway at network TF1 in France and Monaco Telecom of Spain.

At IFA, Thomson will demonstrate a new range of innovative broadband entertainment services and capabilities over DSL designed for its telecom customers that include video entertainment over a DSL network (with a Thomson IP Set-Top Box), wireless broadband Internet access (with the SpeedTouch 510 multi-user ADSL gateway), online gaming (with the SpeedTouch 170 Wireless Access Point) and video telephony over IP (with the SpeedTouch 289 Ethernet SIP Phone.)

Networking Tomorrow's Home: Thomson Oz

Thomson will demonstrate a new Digital Home Network concept called "Thomson Oz" at IFA, designed to include new components that seamlessly work together and provide the consumer with a single source for digital entertainment in the home. The Thomson Oz Media Server is a concept of a new type of device with a main role in the home network. The prototype shown at IFA features a user-friendly device that fits with any network architecture to allow ubiquitous access to applications inside and outside of the home including connection and control of home devices, deploying services and access to content throughout the home, and wireless connectivity. The device can serve as a gateway, bringing all information and entertainment services at home (including ADSL-delivered broadcast TV, Video-On-Demand, Internet access, music, personal recordings and even home automation commands.)

Thomson Oz simplifies home network installation by offering an alternative path to let devices throughout the house talk to one-another. There is no need to move devices or rewire the house as Thomson 5GHz technology distributes content via radiofrequency signals anywhere in the home. Thanks to a multipurpose 5Ghz chipset, several high-definition, standard definition, voice, and data streams can be transmitted simultaneously. This allows for several rooms to receive different TV channels from a single source, or several PCs to share Internet access. The Thomson 5GHz technology is based on worldwide-accepted standards (HiperLAN2 and IEEE802.11a) to deliver a best-in-class transmission: it is ready to transmit high-definition TV programs on large screens for an emotional ride without frustrations.

www.thomson-europe.com