Thomson has announced a new line of personal and home audio/video entertainment products. They have been designed to harness the latest video compression technologies and give consumers the benefit of more access to digital entertainment.

This expanded lineup of innovative consumer products illustrates Thomson's strategy offer of products and services throughout the "video chain" that connects the entertainment industry to consumers.

An official release informs that Thomson is leveraging its technology capabilities and its knowledge of and relations with studios, network operators and consumers to drive the development of digital and broadband technologies, products, and services for the video chain.

Thomson has stated that it is already helping the entertainment industry reach consumers with services that make and deliver both prints of movies to theatres and DVD discs to retail stores.

Consumers want more digital video entertainment, and therefore its new European consumer products and technologies highlights its strengths in compressed audio and video, big-screen displays, and management of that digital content in the home.

Thomson's complete lineup includes widescreen display technologies, hard-disc content management for home and portable devices, and new set-top devices. These will help content creators and network operators reach more consumers with digital content and new features.

As another example of Thomson's long-term interest in developing new video entertainment options, Thomson and Matsushita Electric announced a new agreement to work cooperatively on content protection and DVD playback technologies.

Thomson will add DVD-RAM playback capability to DVD players next year so that consumers wanting to playback recorded discs won't have to worry about the recording format. As a result, Thomson DVD players will play back any of the DVD recording formats. Thomson and Matsushita Electric will also jointly work on content protection technologies, including SmartRight, the Thomson-developed system that would utilise smart cards to offer a renewable solution for protection of digital content networks.

The Thomson Lyra Audio/Video Jukebox (PDP 2860), a 20GB handheld digital video and audio player that can hold up to 80 hours of video or 600 hours of digital music in the mp3PRO format. The portable Audio/Video device make it possible to easily carry along music, video, and photos and view selections on a 9cm LCD screen as well as store computer files on the unit's hard disc drive.

The release added that other digital recording innovations include Thomson's first DVD Recorder (+RW/+R, model DTH 8000), and an 80GB Thomson hard-disc digital video recorder and DVD player that will hold upto 120 hours of TV content (DTH 7500).

The new Thomson TV lineup includes DLP, widescreen Plasma, LCD, and direct-view televisions. Thomson will offer a wide range of Plasma and LCD screens to meet every consumer need and budget. These include a 50-inch Plasma panel and a 27-inch and 30-inch LCD screens.

The company has also come out with an array of new digital set-top boxes for cable, satellite, and terrestrial broadcast signals, including models that offer low-cost solutions for cable operators and digital video recording for broadcast signals in the UK -- the company's first free-to-air receiver for the German TV market -- and two new satellite decoders for retailers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

The Thomson VS750 2.4Ghz Video Sender allows the consumer to enjoy an Audio/Video source up to 80 metres away without interconnecting cables. The ROC850 Touch Screen Remote Control, Thomson's new 8-in-1 touch-screen remote control, the coffee table can be freed from clutter and give consumers all the control they need in a palm. The product and brand offering in consumer solutions accessories will also expand based on the recently completed acquisition of the assets of Recoton, a large player in the accessories market in the US, the release stated.