Type | Manufacturer |
---|---|
Industry | Electronics |
Founded | City of Industry, California, U.S. (1984) |
Headquarters | United States |
Products | LCD TV |
Website | www.sceptre.com |
Sceptre (pronounced 'septer') is a privately owned American consumer-electronics producer headquartered in the City of Industry, California. Sceptre is best known for its affordable LED, LCD, and 4K displays. Its other products include audio, car cams, and car batteries. Sceptre Inc. has also produced CRT televisions, notebook PCs, touch screens, CRT computer monitors, WiFi networking products, USB flash drives and cameras.
From its earliest beginnings in 1984 until the mid-90s, Sceptre exclusively specialized in manufacturing and selling computer monitors. One of Sceptre’s most important partnerships during this period was with Hartco, a leading distributor in the Canadian electronics market.
As a play on words that represents its focus on computer monitors (monitor lizard), Sceptre adopted the Komodo dragon as its mascot, and named it Brutus.[1] The company regularly donated a substantial amount of its proceeds to the Zoological Society of San Diego.[2]
With a background in developing LCD displays since 1993, Sceptre then made the decision to transition to manufacturing and wholesaling LCD TVs. Although the TVs are often equipped with a QAM tuner, the LCD monitors can function as both a TV and monitor[3]
Sceptre laid its roots early in mass-produced monitors with the monochrome display and then easily transitioned to producing color displays.
In line with designing computer monitors, Sceptre also ventured into producing electronic notebooks, with successful results. PC Magazine concluded that The Sceptre Soundx Series 3000 Pentium 90 and 75 performed “at or near the top” of their competitive market after testing 80 different notebooks.[4]
In 2013, Sceptre added Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) to many of its LCD TVs.[5] This technology allows users to connect smartphones and tablets to the TV via a cable that has an HDMI connector on end and an MHL connector on the other. Sceptre designed its first 4K UHD TV in late 2014 with a 49-inch model, the U500CV-UMK. Currently, its 4K models come equipped with HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2 and MEMC 120. At 60 frames per second, HDMI 2.0 transports 4K content at double the speed of 1.4.[6] Motion Estimation/Motion Compensation (MEMC) smooths out blurring as objects are in motion on the screen, at approximately 120 frames per second. This feature is highly effective during action sequences, such as the kind found in sports, but has less relevance during fictional programming, such as sitcoms, when people and objects are frequently stationary or not moving at high speeds.[7]
As of 2016, Sceptre has designed 9 different 4K models, ranging between 43 and 65 inches.
Since its founding, Sceptre has played an active role in the Los Angeles community. It has participated in numerous Cherry Festivals, Arcadia Lunar New Year Festival, and Walnut’s 2015 Relay for Life.[8]
Timeline of Sceptre's consumer electronics:
The 19" Sceptre LED TV was named one of the most energy efficient TVs in 2015.[9]
Sceptre computers were prominently displayed throughout the television series Earth: Final Conflict.
Started a "Hi-End" Brand in 2012 called oCosmo which share similar design features to their current Sceptre brand TVs. Even down to the metallic brush bezel on their 2014 models. It is unclear what differences, if any, the actual hardware has compared to their Sceptre counterparts.[10][11][12]