CES bargains: Upgrade your TV’s picture quality for $200

Eric Pfeiffer
·Reporter

Many products on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show come with a hefty price tag. From the 85-inch Ultra-HD TV to the 32-cubic-feet T9000 Four-Door Refrigerator, these big-ticket items will set customers back a pretty penny.

But there’s one company offering an upgrade on the (relatively) cheap: For $200, TV viewers on a budget can get an app that essentially doubles the resolution of a standard LED screen.

“For most people who have already bought a TV, they’re not able to spend thousands of dollars for one of our higher-end models,” Global Outdoor Concepts rep Michael Yslas told Yahoo News.
 
Yslas said GOC has been offering the technology for the app for about eight years but only recently realized its potential as an alternative to purchasing a whole new product in order to get an upgrade.

For the better part of a decade, GOC has been one of the two leading companies that outfits outdoor-friendly TVs that are resistant to rain, dust and even invading insects. But the smallest upgrade (a 32-inch LCD) costs about $1,200.

Part of GOC’s upgrading process involves manually adjusting a TV’s contrast capability so that the picture is visible outdoors. “When TVs are viewed in the sunlight, it washes out the color,” Yslas explained.

What the company found in offering this service was that a similar adjustment could be made using an app that would give the appearance of a vastly improved screen resolution for regular customers viewing their TVs indoors.

GOC plans to offer the app for commercial use sometime in the first quarter of 2013.

In the meantime, they are sticking with their main business model of offering high-end outdoor TV systems to businesses and individual customers with larger budgets. “We just made a deal with Universal Studios to produce outdoor TVs for their theme parks,” Yslas noted.

But don’t be surprised if this affordable app upgrade becomes the real breadwinner for GOC down the road; it just might end up being a popular purchase for consumers who want the best picture for their TV on a limited budget.