Philips Shows Networked TV, Home Theater

LAS VEGAS -- Koninklijke Philips Electronics on Wednesday unveiled a flat-screen television and a home theater system that connect to the Internet and can be part of a home network.

Philips also announced two Multimedia Links that add the ability to access Internet and PC-based content on current home theater systems. The new products are part of a product barrage by the Dutch company at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which kicks off Thursday.

The Streamium TV is a 23-inch wide-screen LCD and is due out in the third quarter. It allows users to use the TV to access video and audio as well as images from a PC or Internet service through a wired or wireless broadband connection, Philips executives said in a news conference a day ahead of CES. The user can handle the process using a remote control.

Philips has partnered with Yahoo to offer services such as access to movie trailers and online photo albums, the company said. Pricing for the Streamium TV was not announced. The product is due out later this year in the United States.

Get Connected

The new MX-6000i DVD home theater system can be connected to any TV and offers the same online capability as the Streamium TV, as well as connection to online music services that have partnered with Philips, including MusicMatch and Live365.com. The home theater system is due out in April and will cost $799, Philips officials said.

The SL400i and SL300i Wireless Multimedia Links add online and PC link capability to existing home theater systems. The boxes should be available in the first half of the year and are priced at $499 and $349, respectively, Philips executives said.

Both the SL400i and SL300i support fixed LAN or 802.11g-based wireless LAN connections, but the more expensive SL400i is preconfigured to enable plug-and-play wireless installation, according to a Philips statement.

The new Internet- and PC-connected products fall in Philips' Streamium product range, the center of the vendor's "Connected Planet" vision, which is key to its efforts to stay ahead of competition from traditional PC makers that are moving into the consumer electronics market. Philips, based in Amsterdam, is Europe's largest consumer electronics company.

Competing Products

The new Streamium products directly rival computers running Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition, which are sold by vendors including Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. The Media Center PCs also allow users to access PC-based content on a TV using a remote control.

"The consumer electronics environment today is more complex and faster moving than ever before," Rudy Provoost, chief executive officer of global sales and services for Philips' consumer electronics division, said in a presentation. "Competition is growing more fierce, powerful new players have entered our space. Some of them are from overseas ... some from other industries."

Other new Philips products on display at CES include DVD recorders, gadgets such as a key-chain digital video camera, credit card-size digital music player, and ambient lighting and display enhancements for flat-panel TVs.

See PC World's ongoing CES coverage.