LG has become Google’s fourth major TV manufacturing partner, and plans to demonstrate products at the conference, The company will showcase a new line of TVs powered by Google TV running on their L9 chipset, its “LG Smart TV with Google TV” will be an all-in-one unit, although it did not reveal the screen size yet.
In addition, the 3D HDTV will utilize LG’s Cinema 3D technology that employs lightweight glasses that do not require batteries. Along with that, LG touts its “magic remote QWERTY,” incorporating a small keyboard and controls to operate Google TV’s updated Android-based user interface.
Along with LG announcing its version of Google TV, Samsung will also be unveiling its TVs later this year, it joins Sony and Visio with hardware supporting the format, Google said today in a blog posting. After Logitech announced that it is backing out of the Google TV fold, it appears that a few more manufacturers are stepping up to take its place in short order.
“Google TV is about bringing new entertainment and innovation from the Web to TV,” Mountain View, California-based Google said on its blog. “”Our team along with our partners are pleased to bring more Google TV powered products to more people, across more devices in more countries in 2012.”
Google TV, launched in 2010, also has the support of Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and Sony Corp. Vizio Inc., another existing partner, will hold private demonstrations of new products at the electronics show as well.
Marvell also disclosed Thursday that it would provide an ARM-based applications processor for the Google TV platform, and Google said that MediaTek has joined in as well. MediaTek said Thursday afternoon that the company developed a ‘120Hz Smart TV’ chip, providing support for 3D viewing and Wi-Fi network syncing, without specifically identifying Google TV.
Google is shoring up support for the effort following slow initial sales for Google TV products. The service recently received an update to Android 3.1, allowing users to access dedicated Google TV apps. More than 150 apps now run on the Google TV platform, Google said.
Chipset makers Marvell and MediaTek will begin supplying chipsets for the next generation of Google TVs, which Google says will help “usher in new products at new price points”.
The increasing popularity of Android devices can’t hurt Google TV either. Below is a new video from Google showing off its new Google TV interface, along with another pic of LG’s Google TV:
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