CGV - Compagnie Generale de Videotechnique
Encyclopedia
CGV - Compagnie Generale de Videotechnique is a french industrial company making video appliances which was founded in 1978 in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

, France. Ownership passed to the Alsatian industrial group "Info Reality" for 3 years from 1998, before the present CEO Tony Fasciglione bought up the company with the help of several banks. In 2005 smaller new premises were built several miles south of Strasbourg in Ostwald to better suit its needs, as production had been transferred to the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

 several years before. A new complementary section of consultants specialised in professional Video surveillance (CCTV) and Public address
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...

 systems (CGV Systeme) joined the company in 2002. At present the development of new products is a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 with various small firms in the Far East.

Products

The first products invented were video adapters/RF modulator
RF modulator
An RF modulator is a device that takes a baseband input signal and outputs a radio frequency-modulated signal....

s to let people connect a Game console to the aerial input of their TV set. This was before the advent of SCART
SCART
SCART is a French-originated standard and associated 21-pin connector for connecting audio-visual equipment together...

 sockets on TVs. Then came adapters (the REP range) for the Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...

 Decoder which arrived in 1983. After that there were colour transcoders PAL-SECAM and SECAM-PAL, a balanced line video transmission system for the home (the Visiline), and then the wireless video transmitters (Freeline) and remote control relays (Zapline). There were all sorts of RF video modulators (Moduline) too. For the last five years the main product has been the Premio range of Set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...

 or Digital TV adapters, since by the end of 2011 France will have finished changing entirely to Digital TV. In 2010 CGV added to its product line two HD Digital Sat receivers Set-top box
Set-top box
A set-top box or set-top unit is an information appliance device that generally contains a tuner and connects to a television set and an external source of signal, turning the signal into content which is then displayed on the television screen or other display device.-History:Before the...

, (Premio Sat HD-W TNTSAT) and (E-Sat HD-W FRANSAT) with recording of Satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

 channels on an external USB hard drive, and a Powerline communication system named (CPLine 2B).

Company Policies

Innovation is an essential part of the domestic video market, and CGV commercializes several new products every year. However the brand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...

 CGV has been associated with quality in the French market since early days in the 1980s when all Research and Development (R&D) was done in Strasbourg. Since production has moved to the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

, CGV has introduced corresponding levels of Quality control
Quality control
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...

. The design of a new product is developed, checked and improved by the R&D Lab at the HQ in Strasbourg. Once production has begun, there are three levels of inspection: in the Far East, first on the production lines, and then by a CGV inspector before shipment to Europe; on arrival at CGV in Strasbourg samples of the new products are then re-checked. The principal retail outlets in France are the hypermarket
Hypermarket
In commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full groceries lines and general merchandise...

s and superstores.

Increased Web presence

The first web site of CGV with its Online shop was launched ten years ago in 1999. A new more pro-active version was launched in June 2009, which is bi-lingual French and English. In June 2008 the CGV Forum was launched for users to provide feedback on products. Press articles on the latest CGV products in French can be found in this forum under the heading Actualites.

Acronym for CGV in French

A Google search for CGV with pages in French often comes up with Conditions Generales de Vente (General Sales Conditions) which hinders a search for the company CGV of this article. However associating CGV with "TNT" (Television Numerique Terrestre i.e. DVB-T
DVB-T
DVB-T is an abbreviation for Digital Video Broadcasting — Terrestrial; it is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in the UK in 1998...

), "video", or one of its product lines such as "Premio" brings up several useful links. There is also a Wiki CGV
CGV
CGV may refer to:CGV CashBox CGVCashBox Founded by Cleverson Goncalves Viana on 1988 in Brazil. After 12 years of success in Brazil, he moved to United States and create a new branch o CGV Computers Solutions in Florida....

disambiguation article.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK