Texas Instruments Demonstrates World's First 2lb Projectors

Business Wire, June 13, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 13, 2001

DLP(TM) technology enables PLUS V-Series, acerCM ES100X to be 30%

lighter than previous lightest microportable

Illustrative images for this story may be found at

http://www.dlp.com/dlp/resources/resources.asp

At Infocomm today, Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE: TXN) (Booth 20081) demonstrated a breakthrough advance in projector technology. On public show for the first time were projectors weighing just 2lbs (0.9kgs) - 30% lighter than the world's previous lightest projectors (also enabled by DLP(TM) technology). Designed and manufactured by PLUS Vision Corporation, the V-1080SF projector delivers 800 lumens of brightness at XGA resolution while the V-807SF features 700 lumens at SVGA resolution. Dimensions of the V-Series projectors are just 5.6" wide x 7" long x 1.8" high. The ES100X from acerCM is similarly lightweight at just 2lbs, and delivers 1,000 ANSI lumens at XGA resolution.

"By far the fastest-growing part of the market is the market for extremely small, extremely light weight projectors," said Dennis Fritsche, Manager for Business Products in TI's DLP(TM) Products division, "because of the high level of portability, flexibility and convenience these projectors offer. DLP technology is unique in its ability to enable the development of projectors which offer the optimum combination of small size, low weight, high brightness and outstanding image quality. This, together with the engineering expertise of PLUS and acerCM, is what has enabled these landmark products."

According to Stanford Resources Inc., an iSuppli Company, the overall projection market will double in size by 2006. The market for microportable projectors - those weighing 5lbs or less - is expected to grow even more rapidly, while Stanford Resources believes that the market for projectors weighing 3lbs or less will grow from shipments of 30,000 units in 2000 to 1.2 million units in 2006. Today, almost all projectors weighing less than 5lbs - and all projectors weighing less than 3lbs - are enabled by DLP(TM) technology.

The reduction in weight and size of these projectors is made possible by TI's leadership in developing highly integrated electronics. In May, TI announced a new family of devices, including new DMDs and the DDP1000 and DAD1000 ASICs. A new DMD Controller, the DDP1000 - which is used in both projectors - is designed to bring out all of the attributes of the new DMDs. Furthermore, the DDP1000 integrates the function of several separate devices to reduce size, increase performance, and decrease time to market. The DDP1000 comprises 1.4 million gates compared with the 0.4 million gates of the DPF2A ASIC which it replaces. Combined within the DDP1000 ASIC are the functions previously provided by the DPF2A ASIC, an external microcontroller and an FPGA. In addition, the DDP1000 allows the number of external memory devices to be reduced from four to one. The DDP1000 is specifically designed to support the latest-generation DMD design, providing support for a higher speed interface which reduces DMD load time by over 40%. This, together with other proprietary TI algorithms improvements, results in significant improvements in image quality.

In recent weeks, TI has made other announcements concerning advances in DLP(TM) technology - all of which are expected to contribute to still further advances in reduced size and weight, higher brightness and contrast and improved image quality. The announcements included:

-- New versions of the DMD delivering higher brightness

-- A new DMD manufacturing process which delivers improved

contrast

-- SCR technology for improved brightness and color saturation

-- The DLP(TM) Widescreen Component Set for improved home theater performance

-- The DLP Composer(TM) software suite for reduced time to market

Today, TI supplies DLP(TM) subsystems to more than thirty of the world's top projector manufacturers, who then design, manufacture and market projectors based on DLP(TM) technology. There are now over fifty products based on DLP(TM) technology in the market. Since early 1996, over 750,000 DLP(TM) subsystems have been shipped. Over the past four years, DLP(TM) technology-based projectors have consistently won some of the audio-visual industry's most prestigious awards, including, in June 1998, an Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

At the heart of TI's Digital Light Processing(TM) technology is the Digital Micromirror Device optical semiconductor chip. The DMD switch has an array of up to 1,310,000 hinged, microscopic mirrors which operate as optical switches to create a high resolution, full color image.

Texas Instruments Incorporated is the world leader in digital signal processing and analog technologies, the semiconductor engines of the Internet age. The company's businesses also include sensors and controls, and educational and productivity solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and has manufacturing or sales operations in more than 25 countries.