Freescale and Vestel Electronics Collaborate to Jointly Develop RF Remote Controlled LCD TV
Vestel LCD TV Uses Freescale’s ZigBee RF4CE Platform to Replace Infrared; Vestel to Demo TV at IFA 2010 in Berlin
IFA 2010
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Freescale Semiconductor and Vestel Electronics announced today that they have been working together to develop an LCD-TV with radio frequency (RF) remote control that uses Freescale’s BeeStack Consumer ZigBee-RF4CE platform. Vestel, one of the largest TV manufacturers in Europe, worked with Freescale to design the RF target board to replace infrared (IR) in the TV and implement the RF4CE network.
“Working together, Freescale’s leadership in RF home entertainment control and Vestel’s consumer electronics expertise will continue to improve the consumer viewing experience.”
Freescale provided technical expertise for the RF design and a fully operational software solution using Freescale’s BeeStack Consumer protocol stack. The design is compatible with ZigBee RF4CE, a standard which is replacing IR in many new remote controls. RF4CE offers several advantages over aging IR, notably removal of line-of-sight and field-of-vision restrictions, elimination of interference caused by large screen TVs, improved power consumption and new features only feasible with a modern bi-directional technology.
“We are delighted to have Vestel become the latest major consumer electronics manufacturer to use Freescale’s ZigBee RF4CE solution for their new remote controlled LCD-TV,” said Brett Black, manager of Freescale’s Wireless Connectivity Organization. “Working together, Freescale’s leadership in RF home entertainment control and Vestel’s consumer electronics expertise will continue to improve the consumer viewing experience.”
“As a leader in the consumer electronics space, Vestel is committed to delivering the highest quality entertainment experiences to our consumers across devices,” said Hakan Kutlu, deputy general manager of sales and marketing at The Vestel Group.
“Freescale has a proven track record of enabling a powerful developer community and delivering the best quality of entertainment control and connectivity for millions of users around the world.”
The Vestel Group of companies is a leading player in European and global markets for consumer electronics, white goods and digital products, accounting for 16 percent of the LCD-TV market and 25 percent of the digital set-top-box market in Europe. With its proven technology and design and development competencies, Vestel is one of the world’s leading OEM and ODM producers. Vestel and their partner OEM brands will demonstrate the new LCD-TV with the ZigBee RF4CE remote control in Hall 8.2/101 at the Internationale Funkaustellung (IFA), also known as the Berlin Consumer Fair, held Sept. 3-8, 2010.
Vestel is supported and supplied locally via franchised distributor Future Electronics, headquartered for the EMEA region in Egham, UK. Future Electronics has recently introduced a new state-of-the-art EMEA distribution centre in Leipzig Germany.
Availability
The new ZigBee-RF4CE controlled LCD-TVs are expected to be shipping in production starting Q1 2011. For more information about Freescale’s ZigBee technology, please visit www.freescale.com/ZigBee.
ZigBee RF4CE: More flexibility and control
Freescale was the first ZigBee Alliance member to achieve the Golden Unit status on its ZigBee RF4CE stack and has been an influential contributor in the development of the ZigBee RF4CE protocol. The ZigBee RF4CE specification operates in the 2.4GHz unlicensed frequency band and enables worldwide operation, low power consumption and rapid response time. It provides reliable omni-directional two-way wireless communication, channel agility for enhanced co-existence with other 2.4GHz wireless technologies, as well as simple and secure set-up and configuration. RF4CE founding members – Panasonic, Philips, Samsung Electronics, Sony Corporation – announced the consortium in June 2008 and have been working together with Freescale to address increased demand for advanced functionality and robust performance not currently available through infrared or other proprietary wireless technologies. For more details, visit www.zigbee.org/rf4ce.
About Vestel Electronics
Vestel Group are comprised of 25 companies operating in manufacturing, technology development, marketing, and distribution fields in the consumer electronics, digital technologies, and household appliances, with € 3.7 billion turnover. Vestel is the largest TV manufacturer in Europe accounting for 14% of the LCD TV, as well as 25% of the digital set-top boxes markets in Europe.
About Freescale
Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations around the world. www.freescale.com.
Freescale and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. BeeStack is a trademark of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
