TOKYO – One of the most common western misconceptions about China (and its CE market) is that the role of local vendors is to build cut-rate TV sets with fewer bells and whistles, then pass along lower prices that Chinese consumers can afford.

That “understanding” is turning out to be wrong on many levels.

First, according to an announcement from Hillcrest Labs (Rockville, Md.) Wednesday (May 23), leading Chinese consumer brand TCL will start shipping Android-based smart TVs this month in China. The TVs will feature Hillcrest’s patented motion software, Freespace. The surprise here is that China gets first dibs on TCL’s gesture-controlled smart TVs. They will become available in other markets later this year.

Second, at a time whenGoogle TVs by Sony or others have yet to catch on either in the U.S., Europe or Japan, TCL is eagerly positioning itself to mine the Chinese smart TV market. TCL is demonstrating its second-to-none speed in becoming a leading vendor of smart TVs with advanced features. The keys to that speed are licensable software and readily available smart TV SoCs. TCL pulled it off first by partnering with Hillcrest, and second, leveraging an Android TV SoC developed by one of the biggest Taiwanese consumer chip companies -- either MediaTek or MStar.

MediaTek showed off its motion-controlled Android TV SoC at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year in an invitation-only hotel ball room in Las Vegas. Asked about a design with TCL, MediaTek, however, declined to comment. By using Hillcrest’s motion software, TCL is bringing motion, gesture and cursor control to Android-powered Smart TVs.

Third, never underestimate the growing affluence of the middle class in China. According to a 2011 Accenture survey focused on usage and spending on consumer electronics technologies in eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Russia, France, Germany, Japan and the United States), Chinese consumers were among the most enthusiastic purchasers of the latest consumer technologies including 3-D TV and smart phones.

Fourth, it’s important to recognize that as of the first quarter in 2012, TCL has become the first Chinese TV company to be ranked in the top five in global LCD TV market share, according to the latest market research report by DisplaySearch. The Chinese company didn’t make this rapid ascent simply by making no-frills TV sets.

TCL has made its great leap forward by continuing to improve its product mix and proportion of high-end products, according to the company. In April 2012, TCL’s sales volume of LED-backlight LCD TVs as a percentage of total LCD TV sales volume was 72%. The sales volume of smart & internet TV and 3D TV in the Chinese market reached 339,279 sets and 145,064 sets, representing 45.9% and 19.6% of total LCD TV shipments in China.


Hillcrest’s software

Differentiation among smart TVs comes more from software rather than hardware. In this light, Hillcrest has offered just the right kind of help TCL needed to make its motion-controlled smart TVs easy, quick and at high quality performance.


Adding Hillcrest’s software to TCL’s flagship smart TV and android smart TV product line helps TCL set “a new standard for innovation in the Chinese market,” said Warren Wang, General Manager of TCL’s LCD Business Unit at TCL.  After all, Hillcrest’s Freespace motion control software technology is already used in LG’s TVs and LG’s remote for its upcoming smart TV with Google TV, according to Hillcrest.

At the core of Hillcrest’s Freespace natural-motion product line sits the Freespace Motion Engine embedded software. It is designed to be licensed for integration into a customer’s hardware, or it can be purchased as part of a pre-programmed Freespace Sensor Module, or a Hillcrest reference design product, said Hillcrest.

Freespace MotionEngine software is implemented with accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetic sensors from a variety of the MEMS suppliers including InvenSense, ST Microelectronics and Freescale. Hillcrest’s modular software solution can run on an embedded microcontroller or host processor. For remote controls and game controllers, this enables the MotionEngine to run on the controller, on a USB dongle, or directly on a TV or STB SoC.

Motion data processed by the MotionEngine is delivered using a standards-based API and is compatible with USB, Bluetooth, ZigBee RF4CE, and a number of other configurable peripherals, operating modes and protocols. Hillcrest has pre-integrated the MotionEngine with many of the leading RF suppliers, such as Broadcom and Texas Instruments, according to Hillcrest.

Movea is the most direct competitor to Hillcrest, according to Hillcrest. What sets Hillcrest’s Freespace Motion Engine apart is time-to-market, said the company, due to Hillcrest’s more than eight years of expertise in working with MEMS sensors, and its software’s modularity.

Hillcrest’s software also offers high-precision motion performance by using the company’s sensor fusion, and calibration algorithm and software; and high quality motion device. Hillcrest’s “intense sensor qualification program and dynamic algorithms compensate for sensor aging and the impacts of environmental factors,” the company said.

Further, Hillcrest’s Freespace MotionEngine is based on inertial sensors that do not require “line-of-sight” to operate. This allows for a more relaxed usage model when compared to conventional infrared devices and motion-sensing devices that use cameras or optical sensors that require "line-of-sight" to operate, according to Hillcrest.