Acer unveils its largest LCD TV

The leading PC vendor company, already producers of digital cameras, projectors and networking products that tie them together, says that LCD televisions are a natural extension of a broadening product range to make its computers the centre of a home entertainment system.

"The television is the window of the increasingly digital, modern home and it remains the place you want to sit with your family to access multi-media content, rather than sit around a PC," said Philip Ashkar, Director - Sales & Marketing, Acer.

"While many consumers see ACER as a PC company, it is our intention to produce an increasing number of building blocks for the digital home. Our push into these product lines has proven successful in world markets and the Middle East is no exception to this growing 'home networking' phenomenon,"

says Ashkar.

ACER has also included a built-in media gateway device in the television to access and play all the music, videos, DVD or picture files stored on a computer, by transferring them across a wireless network in the home operating at 10MB a second.

Acer's 37-inch LCD television will retail for around AED7,999 and, with ACER's many partners and distributors across the UAE and Middle East, the AT-3700 LCD TV will be available from a combination of consumer electronics as well as more IT focused retailers.

"Given the way that the market is expected to expand, and given the importance of LCD televisions to the digital home, we are clearly making a strategic move that should see us become a very significant player in these product lines over the next 18 months," added Ashkar.

The concept of a home entertainment centre based on a PC may still be a new one as many people are still playing DVDs or CDs through function-specific machines or viewing digital photos on the PC, yet not having computer access to broadband services such as movies-on-demand.

With their LCD TV product range ACER is clearly not just seeking to put a new slant on a old product but to broaden horizons as to the possibilities available for a home entertainment system that is PC guided and accessed through the television.