At two o'clock in the afternoon of March 24, Xiaomi held a low-carbon and environment-friendly WeChat group conference, officially announcing a new 40 inch Xiaomi TV product, which sold for 1999 yuan. This small size TV adopts the consistent sales strategy of Xiaomi's new products. We will make an appointment today and rush to buy it on March 31.
Wang Chuan, who is in charge of Xiaomi TV, and Chen Tong, who is in charge of the content, seldom receive media interviews, but in the WeChat group, they rarely answer many questions that journalists care about. Lei Feng& Love to play computer games It is organized as follows:
Why 40 inches?
Wang Chuan: There are many young people in our rice noodles. Many of them rent a small house. They want a small room and a TV that is easy to carry when they move.
Why Sharp's screen, not Samsung or LG?
Wang Chuan: The Sharp Screen used this time is the only product of the 10th generation line in the world, with a contrast ratio of 5000:1 and a response speed of 6ms. It has excellent performance and meets the requirements of Xiaomi for perfection.
Why is it a two legged seat? Young people may rent a house too small to put on the table?
Wang Chuan: The design of using two feet is to allow students with higher requirements for sound quality to choose our high-quality soundbar system, so that they can enjoy watching blockbusters, listening to music and playing games better.
About content: in-depth cooperation with more than 2/3 of video websites
What are the competitive advantages of video content?
Chen Tong: Galaxy Broadcasting and Control Platform (GITV) is adopted. The video content is several times as large as before. It has in-depth cooperation with more than two-thirds of video websites.
Wang Chuan: The Xiaomi TV released this time uses the Galaxy platform like the Xiaomi Small Box, and its content has increased by 60% compared with the previous products. At the same time, the content of other licensees is also being accessed, and the content will be more than doubled in the future.
Replace the previous iCNTV?
Chen Tong: Both Galaxy and FutureTV are partners, enjoying long-term mutual prosperity. Within a month or two, the content of the two generations of products will basically converge.
There are too many paid programs
Chen Tong: Firmly try to charge. All new films of domestic cinemas this year will try to charge before the previous free schedule. There will also be some new Hollywood films for free. On average, there are several movies a week, which is no exaggeration. At the same time, we will be very cautious about the charging range. At present, we only try the movies that have just been offline in the cinema, and most of the content must be free.
What segments of content will work?
Chen Tong: Sports will make a breakthrough this year, and strive to broadcast several major events, and strive to have a live broadcast of major events this year for the whole season... is in preparation. The variety show will soon have a large number of programs online, which are exclusive. The cooperation with Hunan Mango TV will soon implement a large number of exclusive variety shows to be launched next month.
What about home-made programs?
Chen Tong: Self control without plan.
Will video games focus on development?
Wang Chuan: In fact, mobile games also have a development process. After several years of development, they broke out two years ago. We believe that video games are in the process of development. We are optimistic about the future development of TV games. We have developed high-quality Bluetooth TV game consoles together with the manufacturers that manufacture consoles for PS4. At the same time, Xiaomi Mutual Entertainment has grown into the largest game distribution platform in China and has established good cooperation with most game manufacturers.
Will 3D virtual touch technology be added? After all, this technology can increase operability and entertainment
Wang Chuan: Xiaomi is a company that is most willing to adopt new technologies. As long as users need it, we are willing to adopt new technologies first. Xiaomi TV will speed up the connection of various intelligent hardware. For example, we have perfectly connected the Xiaomi router. You can remotely download Blu ray movies from your home router in the company and watch them at home. And we will automatically match the title and poster; We have also connected the small ant camera. When you watch TV, you can open a small window on the screen to monitor whether the children in the baby room wake up. In the future, we will integrate more intelligent hardware. Welcome to cooperate with us.
Supplement to content
Wang Chuan: Let me add that we have a good cooperation with the licensors. Both iCNTV and GiTV are excellent teams. We have respected and helped each other in our past cooperation, and we will cooperate for a long time in the future. We are now promoting the content integration of the licensor. We believe that in the near future, we can see the content of iCNTV, Galaxy and Mango in our TV and box products. Xiaomi TV will be the TV with the richest content and the highest quality.
About technology: more fluent than 49 inch
What's the difference between Xiaomi's 40 inch Sharp screen and LeEco's 60 inch Sharp screen?
Wang Chuan: The Sharp SDP screen used by Xiaomi should be the same as LeEco, but the backlight is different. In fact, the screen itself cannot emit light, and the backlight largely determines the color, uniformity and other effects of the screen. Our televisions all use the backlight modules of the world's top backlight manufacturer Ruiyi, so that the world's top screens are equipped with top backlights. Apple is also very picky about backlights. 100% of their iMac products, 100% of their macbook products, and 80% of their iPad products are produced by Ruiyi.
What about capacity?
Wang Chuan: Xiaomi's TV products will become more and more mature this year, with more and more competitive advantages, and the output will also be greatly improved.
Investment in hardware companies
Wang Chuan: Xiaomi is a company that emphasizes focus. We only have five products: mobile phones Pad、 Box, TV, router and others all adopt the investment method. At present, we have invested in more than 30 companies, and we plan to invest in and support 100 companies in the future. Welcome to come to us for investment.
A friend nearby said that sometimes the Bluetooth speaker cannot be connected
Dai Qingsong (head of Xiaomi TV hardware): Bluetooth compatibility is a complex problem. Bluetooth has developed for more than ten years, and the technology has been evolving rapidly. However, the Bluetooth organization is a loose alliance, and there is no mandatory compatibility criteria. Basically, companies test compatibility independently, so there is no perfect compatibility scheme. However, the Xiaomi team adopts the iterative development mode, and will give priority to the improvement of products with high voice and continuously improve compatibility.
Why is there no Soundbar for 40 inches?
Dai Qingsong: Ha ha, we also want to provide Soundbar at the price of 1999, but I really can't do it! We use the top raw materials and OEM, and the quality requirements reach the highest standards in the world, so the actual cost is quite high.
What is the difference between the 6A908 chip used by Xiaomi TV this time and the 6A918 chip of other brands?
Dai Qingsong: The 6A908 is actually the 1080P version of the 6A918. The CPU and GPU are exactly the same. They are both 28nm HPM processes, but the resolution support has changed from 4K to 1080P.
Wang Chuan: In fact, 6A908 and 6A918 are the same chip. The kernel configuration is exactly the same, except that 6A918 has 4K output and 6A908 has 1080p display output. The 40 inch TV released this time is 1080p. We chose the 6A908, which is a big horse pulling a small car compared with the 6A918 on our 49 inch TV. Users will experience better and smoother performance. The 40 inch model is really smoother than the previous 49 inch model.
Why not do super thin?
Dai Qingsong: You may not have noticed that the light transmittance of the LCD panel is only about 5%, which means that 95% of the light is converted into heat wave, and heat emission requires volume, while ultrathin reduces the volume to the extreme, so this is contradictory. To quickly emit heat in a limited volume, new materials and new processes are required, These new technologies need us to spend a lot of time to design and verify.
Wang Chuan: Ultra thin is not only beautiful, but also occupies less land, especially the wall hanging is more convenient and beautiful. However, in order to do a good job of ultra-thin, we need to overcome many difficulties, such as cost control, heat dissipation, and strength. Like Xiaomi's small box, Xiaomi is willing to challenge the limits and overcome these difficulties so that everyone can enjoy the fun of technology. We are very concerned about new technologies, and we are willing to adopt new technologies first. However, Xiaomi is unwilling to make gimmicks. We need technology that can be used by users. For example, many years ago, notebook computers had fingerprint identification technology. When users bought them, they were very fresh, but they could not use them. Apple has not adopted it. When Apple used it on the iPhone, fingerprint recognition really worked.
Many places can't buy millet TV, what's the improvement in logistics?
Lai Yongsai (head of Xiaomi TV market): At present, Xiaomi TV has covered 266 cities and regions. This year, we will increase the coverage on this basis, and try our best to let more users who like Xiaomi TV buy it. We have been working hard in this regard.
What are the main regions and purchase channels of Xiaomi TV?
Lai Yongsai: Since logistics and after-sales service are involved, the main users are still concentrated in the first and second tier cities. At present, Xiaomi TV is mainly sold in Xiaomi and Tmall flagship stores. Other channels have been keeping close communication, looking for suitable opportunities, and will communicate with everyone in a timely manner once other channels are opened.
Previously, the media reported that the first generation Xiaomi TV had insufficient production capacity. How will the second generation prepare to deal with this problem?
Wang Chuan: It's very difficult to control the TV production capacity. We have to place an order three months in advance. In addition, the screen is often a scarce resource, and we can't get the order even after placing an order. So most of the time our TV exceeds our expectations, and the supply falls short of demand. We are also working hard and have more and more experience. There is a process of climbing the production line. Our supply chain colleagues are all on the production line, which takes time. The output is increasing every month. Everyone thinks we should prepare more.
Is 1999's price a price war?
Wang Chuan: Xiaomi has never launched a price war, but is committed to providing high-quality and low-cost products.
Is there any solution to the screen restriction? After all, the screens are in the hands of large manufacturers. How can the supply chain take the initiative?
Dai Qingsong: Your support is the driving force for our communication with the screen factory. More and more rice noodles like our products, and the screen factory will also pay attention to such a trend, tilt us more and trust us more. In essence, the supply chain is a relationship of trust. Limited resources must be given to trusted partners!
Wang Chuan: Today, the screen manufacturers are more and more accepting of Xiaomi's TV products, more and more optimistic about the future development of Xiaomi, and more and more support Xiaomi TV. This year, we feel much better than last year.
How does Xiaomi TV solve the problem of uneven life of intelligent hardware and screen?
Wang Chuan: This is a good question. We are also thinking about it. In fact, the millet box is used by everyone to upgrade their old TV sets.
Dai Qingsong: Good question, so our smart TV always chooses the most high-end chip at that time, which is to ensure that it can meet the needs of the App for a long time, so it is meaningful to use the top chip.
How much lower is the cost of Xiaomi TV 2 screen than that of the first generation... Can you tell?
Wang Chuan: The cost of screen and backlight is the main cost of TV, accounting for more than 70%. So good screens and backlights cost a lot.
Dai Qingsong: The role of backlight is often ignored. In fact, it accounts for 25% of the cost of the whole machine, second only to the screen. The influence of backlight on image quality is even more important than the screen! Because the screen is a passive device and does not emit light, what affects the image quality is the resolution, static contrast and visual angle; The backlight affects the brightness, dynamic contrast, color brightness, color uniformity and so on, so the first thing to do well in TV is to do well in backlight! The reason why people think Sony's picture quality is good is that it has made great efforts on the backlight (it uses a Samsung screen), and Xiaomi TV has also made great efforts on the backlight, far more than its peers!
