News

1080p DLP TV Technology in Volume Production and Shipment; Quantity 1080p Shipment Is Milestone for Large-Screen HDTV Industry (15/4/2005)

Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) (TI) today announced that its 1920 x 1080 high-definition (HD) resolution DLP TV technology has been fully qualified and is in production shipment to customers. DLP TVs are expected to be the first volume 1080p TVs available on the U.S. market, with affordable 1080p DLP TVs scheduled to be at retail as early as July.

Manufacturers who have announced 1080p DLP TVs include LG, Mitsubishi, Samsung, and Toshiba. Mitsubishi will publicly introduce for the first time today 5 new models featuring 1080p DLP technology, ranging in screen size from 52" to 73", at their line show in Orlando, Florida. 1080p DLP TVs will complement the 720p high-definition DLP TV offerings available on the market, which total more than 75 models from more than 20 customers worldwide.

The 1080p DLP chip offers a variety of features to customers that allow them to differentiate their TVs:

* SharpPicture(TM): Processing enhancement that works in conjunction with SmoothPicture(TM) technology to simultaneously provide sharp, yet smooth and seamless images.
* DynamicColor(TM): Enhances colors and contrast without impacting skin tones, allowing for more vibrant and lifelike color reproduction.
* DynamicBlack(TM): System level solution which provides dramatic increases in system contrast ratio and grayscale fidelity by as much as 4x, bringing greater detail to dark scenes and images and allowing customers to achieve contrast ratios well above 5000:1.
* DarkChip3(TM): Feature that includes architectural changes to the DLP chip resulting in a 20 - 40% improvement in contrast over DarkChip2(TM).

With the highly anticipated industry move to 1920 x 1080 resolution digital capture, broadcast and playback, 1080p DLP TVs are designed to display incredible high-definition pictures that match the full content resolution. According to In-Stat, there are currently 4 million HDTV households in the US, up from 1.6 million in March 2004. Many HD cable and network programming offerings have already moved to 1080 resolution, and the highly anticipated HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc technologies for high-definition video playback are expected to make their debut later this year.

"This is an exciting time for HDTV, as we are seeing large quantities of HD content and consumer products to support the content," said Dale Zimmerman, Business Manager, DLP(TM) TV Products at Texas Instruments. "We are pleased to provide our customers with a 1080p resolution chip so they can continue to lead the TV market with innovative DLP TVs."

The inherent advantages of DLP technology include no burn-in or fade, deep rich colors, and incredible, industry-leading contrast ratios. The speed advantage of DLP technology allows for a 1-chip architecture that provides razor-sharp images that will not misconverge over time, and excellent reproduction of fast video such as sports and live action with no motion lag.

www.dlp.com