LG's Smart TV Upgrader: competitor for Apple TV?

written by: Gianluigi Cuccureddu

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Published on Thursday, 30 December 2010 07:54

LG announced its Apple TV competitor, named "Smart TV Upgrader". It will be officially be shown at the CES next week. In essence it will bring a TV Web browser and premium content like shows and movies to the television set including LG apps.

Havis Kwon, President and CEO of LG Home Entertainment Company, said:

"The market for Smart TVs is set to take off this year, and the ST600 offers a perfect entry point. With the LG Smart TV Upgrader, we’re taking the excitement and convenience of Smart TV and adding in LG’s trademark ease-of-use because we see a significant audience who are interested but not interested enough to buy a whole new TV."

Specifications of the device:

- Main CPU: BCM7615
- DDR 384MB, 1GB Flash
- LG Add-on Architecture + Web Browser
- AC 100-240V, 50/60 Hz
- Wi-Fi, Ethernet, DLNA (DMP)
- USB: 1EA (USB mouse, external storage)
- Input Devices: Finger Touch RCU
- Premium Content
- LG Apps
- Size: 11cm x 11cm 

On 9to5mac.com a comparison is made with the Apple TV box:

To compare LG’s offering to the Apple TV it has only 1GB of flash storage in comparison to the Apple TV’s 8GB. This means that LG’s unit is heavily cloud based as 1GB is not enough for a rental system similar to Apple’s. Maybe for TV shows only but LG’s unit will do full on movies too. Just like Apple’s offering, LG’s will be touch based with a peripheral called the “Finger Touch RCU.” Apple has their iOS Remote application for their set-top-box.