tru2way Gains Momentum
LG Electronics, Funai Electric formalize support for 'plug-and-play' digital sets.
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/28/2008 2:11:00 PM
Cable Television Laboratories said TV-set-makers LG Electronics and Funai Electric formally adopted its “tru2way” technology, which provides for full two-way digital-cable service in a digital-TV set without a set-top box, by signing the tru2way memorandum of understanding.
Other companies to sign the multi-industry MOU so far include TV-set manufacturers Sony, Samsung and Panasonic; set-top makers Digeo and ADB; computer-chip giant Intel; and the nation's top six cable operators: Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications and Bright House Networks.
tru2way products are supposed to make their way onto retail shelves as early as this fall with full functionality for two-way applications like video-on-demand and interactive program guides.
LG has long supported CableLabs’ OCAP (OpenCable Application Platform) software and CableCARD removable conditional-access technologies, and it previously showed tru2way products.
Funai -- which trades products in the United States under the brand names Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania and Emerson -- is a new supporter of tru2way.
“This pro-consumer pact means that LG tru2way HDTVs planned for 2009 and beyond will receive the newest interactive cable services, from video-on-demand to interactive programming guides, in virtually every media market and without a set-top box,” said Woo Paik, LG Electronics’ president and chief technology officer, in a statement. “Equally significant, it will facilitate the development of a viable two-way retail market.”
