Acer who are among several Companies in discussions with Foxtel over set top boxes and screens with built in set top boxes has beaten LG by being the first company to produce a Viiv-certified TV.

Last year LG showed a TV with a media centre but so far they have failed to deliver it to market. The AT3705-MGW LCD TV apparently is the world’s first DTV to pass Intel’s Viiv technology verification.  In Australia Acer have failed to re capture the #1 LCD TV vendor slot which they got this time last year and the new Media Centre TV in a screen is not guaranteed to be a sales success.

Earlier this year Fujitsu launched an LCD TV with a Media Centre set top box. It was an utter flop. One North Sydney reseller told SHN “This has got to be one of the worst products of the year. It was poorly marketed and consumers did not want to know it. In the end we reduced it in price by 50% and it still would not sell”.

One of the reasons for the products failure was because the system was brought to market by Fujitsu Computers and not Fujitsu General who have not only flat screen TV expertise but distribution across both the CE mass market and the specialist CE solution providers.

Whether a Viiv Media Centre in a TV will sell has yet to be tested as Viiv has not been a roaring success and many people are questioning Microsoft’s Media Centre offering.

Formally launched at CES 2006, Viiv is Intel’s integrated solution for bringing added value to Media Centre PCs. But many people are now asking does it indeed bring added value? According to Altech executive Kevin Hartin the introduction of Viiv technology has done nothing for Media Centre sales other than slow down sales of the product.

At CES 2006 a slew of PC vendors showed Viiv-enabled PCs and Intel promised that eventually we’d see the Viiv logo on attachment devices such as TVs, DirecTV boxes and digital media adapters. For TVs, that day has come.

Acer’s AT3705-MGW is a 37-inch HD-ready LCD TV, Viiv-verified to ensure “compatibility of networked media devices with Intel Viiv technology-based PCs,” according to the company.

“Acer’s AT3705 is the first LCD TV that integrates digital TV with media gateway functionality,” said Jim Wong, president, IT Products Business Group, Acer Inc. “It provides customers with an integrated digital experience via the range of practical and convenient applications. We envisage a true Digital Home experience to converge information with entertainment, then, we may claim the arrival of the Digital Home era.” Acer who are among several Companies in discussions with Foxtel over  set top boxes and screens with built in set top boxes has beaten LG by being  the first company to produce a Viiv-certified TV. Last year LG showed a TV with a media centre but so far they have failed to deliver it to market.

The AT3705-MGW LCD TV apparently is the world’s first DTV to pass Intel’s Viiv technology verification. Formally launched at CES 2006, Viiv is Intel’s integrated solution for bringing added value to Media Centre PCs. But many people are now asking does it indeed bring added value? According to Altech executive Kevin Hartin the introduction of Viiv technology has done nothing for Media Centre sales other than slow down sales of the product.

At CES 2006 a slew of PC vendors showed Viiv-enabled PCs and Intel promised that eventually we’d see the Viiv logo on attachment devices such as TVs, DirecTV boxes and digital media adapters. For TVs, that day has come.

Acer’s AT3705-MGW is a 37-inch HD-ready LCD TV, Viiv-verified to ensure “compatibility of networked media devices with Intel Viiv technology-based PCs,” according to the company.

“Acer’s AT3705 is the first LCD TV that integrates digital TV with media gateway functionality,” said Jim Wong, president, IT Products Business Group, Acer Inc. “It provides customers with an integrated digital experience via the range of practical and convenient applications. We envisage a true Digital Home experience to converge information with entertainment, then, we may claim the arrival of the Digital Home era.”