14 DAY TRIAL // Acer has just finished the development of its latest LCD TV. But this time it isn't only about a plain looking LCD panel, the AT3705-MGW 37-inch HD-ready LCD TV is the world's first Viiv-certified television set and it guarantees "compatibility of networked media devices with Intel Viiv technology-based PCs." That might be translated into the ability to playback digitally copyrighted/networked files (DTCP-IP), at least on theory since the ViiV certificate allows that. In practice however, we can't tell for sure if it works or not since no one has seen the TV at work yet. Moreover, who uses ViiV anyway?
For anyone interested in using a Viiv-certified media center, buying Acer's LCD might prove to be a logical move. But as I've said earlier, absolutely no one pays attention to ViiV. And what's really boring about the Viiv architecture is that attached software handles all the details and has to make sure I can only play back my copyrighted video content. The real question here is why does anyone need ViiV enabled TV's that can translate the ViiV routines coming from ViiV CPUs.
ViiV was first introduced in older NetBurst architecture but it quickly found its way into newer Core 2 Duo products. The fact that a ViiV TV exists is kind of hilarious since no one finds this technology useful. And there you have it: a superb LCD TV with useless technology that complies with a useless standard. Too bad that a staggering 37" HD ready TV has to come equipped with this nonsense. And I've got a feeling that the product would have come out a lot cheaper if it didn't include ViiV capabilities.