It sells TVs in such stores as Costco, where its 107cm plasma HDTV is priced at US$2,500. Models of the same size from Panasonic and Sony typically cost US$4,000 to US$4,500.
About the same time that Wang created V, Doug Woo, his former colleague at Princeton Graphics, started his own company and licensed the Westinghouse name from its owner, Viacom.
"Younger people know the Westinghouse brand," Woo said. "They have a vague recollection of it; they don't know what the brand does. But under-35-year-olds are now beginning to recognize it as a TV brand."
Westinghouse has positioned itself as one of the least expensive suppliers of LCD televisions. During the holiday season, it cut the price of its 76.2cm model to US$1,700, 23 percent less than in the summer. Today the model is available for US$1,500 at such retailers as Best Buy and Amazon.com. The same-size set from Philips is priced US$400 higher.
"Today our major benefit is pricing," Woo said. "That's how we'll become a major player. We're not ashamed of that."
Westinghouse Digital has formed a partnership with Chi Mei Optoelectronics (奇美電子) in Taiwan, its sole supplier of displays.
"This relationship is the bedrock of our company's future," Wang said. "We source only from them. We can release products in sync with their supply, and we can take advantage of whatever cost efficiencies there are, and bring lower costs to the street really quickly."
And because these new start-up manufacturers are selling in small volumes, they are able to ship merchandise soon after they buy it.
"They offer an attractive time to market," said Ross Young, president of DisplaySearch.
By ordering 50,000 units, a company can receive a shipment soon after payment, keeping prices in line with costs.
"Sony's December product could have been paid for in June," Young said, when parts prices were higher.
Sony recently cited rapidly falling flat-panel TV prices as one reason that its consumer electronics division's operating income fell in the third quarter.
Yet there is the danger that if low-cost brands do gain significant market share, the larger players, with deeper pockets, will reduce prices to compete.
"As soon as Samsung, Sony and Sharp see a viable threat from these guys, they'll do something about it," said Chris Chinnock, of Insight Media, a research firm. "I can't see all these competitors surviving even five years from now."
Li said his company was in for the long term. To dispel customer concerns about buying the Olevia brand, the company offers in-home service for its LCD televisions during the first year of ownership at no extra charge.
Once available only through the Internet, the company's sets are now sold at regional retailers like ABC Warehouse and Fry's, as well as some Staples stores.
In its first full year of operation, the company sold 95,000 TVs. It expects to double its revenue this year. In April it will introduce a 42-inch LCD television, with a 47-inch model following by the fall.
But Young said he believed the success of the second-tier brands would be confined to the smaller screens.
"If you are buying a large TV, you want that to be a recognizable, prestige name,"he said. "If you buy a knockoff TV, your friends will ask you why."
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