Digital 3C show to highlight new AV technologies

Emerging audio and visual technologies, such as the forward versatile disc (FVD) standard and light-emitting-diode (LED) backlighting, look set to steal the limelight at the Taipei Digital 3C Exhibition, which opens in Taipei tomorrow.

Despite its reduced size this year -- only 50 vendors and 600 booths -- manufacturers are gearing up to push their new technology products.

With its FVD players, video player maker Idar Electronics Co (宜達電子) intends to take a leading position in the race to become the standard for high-definition DVDs.

Since its FVD players debuted domestically in the fourth quarter last year, Idar has been churning out as many as 2,000 units per month, including contract-production volumes for clients such as Taiwan Kolin Co (歌林), said Kenny Huang (黃金榮), an Idar sales executive.

The FVD format was developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) and local firms, in bid to rival Toshiba Corp's HD-DVD and Sony Corp's Blu-ray.

The local format has the potential to substantially lower domestic companies' royalty burdens if their standard is adopted internationally.

According to Huang, Idar has been trying to bring its products to overseas markets. It started to produce a small volume for a German client this month and is talking to clients in the US and India for possible shipments by the end of the year.

To beef up sales, the company will bundle its DVD player with 15 FVD DVDs -- mainly concerts and documentaries -- and sell it for NT$9,900 at the exposition.

Meanwhile, another homegrown company will highlight flat-panel TVs using LED backlighting technology.

Consumer electronics maker NuVision Technology Co (景新科技) will showcase a series of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) televisions with sizes running up to 42 inches.

However, the new TVs will only become commercially available in the second quarter of next year.

LED backlighting is a technology that has become more popular in larger-sized LCD TV market -- as opposed to the alternative cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs).

But LED TVs' shortcomings include higher electricity consumption, overheating and higher costs.

However, NuVision claimed it has overcome these technical issues and its own-brand TVs will fall into a "comfortable" price range for consumers.

The Taipei Digital 3C Exhibition will run through Monday at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1, from 10am to 6pm. Admission is NT$150 per person.