GE brand to grace Internet-ready TVs in 2009

The familiar GE logo will appear on LCD TVs next year.

(Credit: GE)

A joint venture between General Electric and Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer Tautung will market LCD TVs next year in the U.S. The new company, called General Displays & Technologies, plans to introduce its first GE-branded models next spring, joining the likes of Westinghouse and Polaroid that leverage well-known brands to appeal to buyers in a crowded, confusing HDTV marketplace.

The GE TVs won't mirror the bare-bones features of those other brands, however, and we presume pricing will be accordingly higher. The most-interesting feature from our perspective is Internet connectivity.

"We are developing advanced, Internet capabilities for content delivery to televisions, without the need for a PC. This includes IPTV through cable, satellite, and advanced fiber-optic television connectivity," said Mike McConnaughey, the new firm's CEO. "The long-term strategy is to allow consumers to customize their viewing experience by downloading widgets and a variety of services directly to their HDTVs."

The company will partner with NBC Universal, a subsidiary of GE, to develop an open platform for content delivery.

Internet connectivity isn't the only unusual feature found on the new TVs. Here's a rundown of the LCD lineup:

• Available in "good, better, best" lines arranged into GX, DX and TX series. Each will include seven to eight screen sizes from 19 to 65 inches.
• Slim cabinet design.
• Low power consumption, enabled by a dynamic backlight (reminiscent of Philips Eco TV).
• One model will feature LED backlighting.
• One model will have a built-in Blu-ray player with BD-Live capability.
• Select models will have 2.4 GHz audio capability, presumably to connect wireless speaker accessories.
• Internet connectivity will take the form of optional set-top boxes, available in thee tiers of functionality, that will enable access to IPTV content. The boxes will be available later in 2009.

These features all sound pretty compelling, and it will be interesting to see how they're integrated and, of course, how the GE LCDs actually perform in terms of picture quality. The features mentioned above may also provide a preview of what other TV manufacturers will announce at CES this January.

(Via: TWICE.)

What do you think of the new GE branded TVs? Does Intent connectivity and NBC U content appeal to you? Sound off in the comments section.

[deepstyle206]

this is the future of entertainment ... bringing highspeed internet and hd televions together offers a truely interactive experience for the consumer!

[randall3um]

Internet availability is much too limited as it is, so integrating the internet experience with any typical media experience will force the IPs to step up, provide a more seamless union between the cable/satellite offerings and their own offerings, and bring this world to where it should have been at least 10 years ago. This marriage of networking and media is only a natural progression of the expansion of technology in our ever-growing world. To deny this next step would limit our educational, governmental, and entertainment bodies from providing what we all want - Everything...and Now!!!

[DarkHawke]

Sounds cool, but what really excites me about this announcement is that GE/RCA/ProScan analog TVs were the ONLY ones to feature the miraculous invention known as Commercial Skip, whereby you press a button to start a 30 second on-screen timer (and subsequent presses add 30 seconds at a time up to 4 minutes), then you can surf to any other channel you like, and when the timer hits zero, you're automagically popped back to the channel at which you started! It's a wonderful feature that I've enjoyed for the better part of 20 years and I've only seen it with HDTVs on an RCA DLP set that maxes out at 720p. I'd love to see this in a new, quality HDTV, along with all that internet connectivity wonderfulness!

[toddlorensinclair]

I don't like the idea of being tied with to a provider. Also most important is the interface and ability to pause and skip commercials.