Summary

June 2002 Issue Summary

As we come off of the SID conference and head toward PISC and Infocomm, there is now a lot of activity in the industry - especially in engines, optics and illumination systems. This month's edition provides news on some of the activity, with more to come over the next couple of months. As the opportunities in the projection industry start to recover from a less than stellar 2001, we are starting to see a new pattern of activity. Projection system component or subassembly providers are starting to move into the engine development and manufacturing business.

In This Issue
Microdisplay Device News
New Scanning Technique To Lower Power Consumption	1
SpatiaLight to Sell LCOS Panels to SVA	2
Three-Five Acquires Inviso IP	2
Rohm Teams Up with eMagin	2
Microdisplay Manufacturing
eMagin Adds Second Shift for OLED Manufacture	3
Microjoin Introduces Low-Cost Heat Seal Bonding System	3
e-MDT to Set Up Chinese Offices	3
New Alignment Layer Inspection Equipment Announced	3
Optics and Engines
Moxtek Adds Protective Coating to Polarizers	4
Three-Five Eyes Engine Manufacture	4
In-Vision and Liesegang Team on Rear-Projection Engine Manufacture	4
OCLI Unveils New Polarization Recovery Scheme	4
ADO, Moxtek & OCLI Partner to Make Engines	5
Screens & Films
Acrylic AR Sheet Supplier Targets High-End Display Systems	5
Vutec Introduces New High-Gain Screens	6
Pronova to Release Holographic Screen	6
Chinese Company Sets up Screen Factory	6
Draper Develops Easy Way to Adjust Rear-Projection Mirrors	7
Projection Systems
Mitsubishi Announces All Digital TV Lineup	7
Toshiba, JVC & Hitachi Refocus Asian Operations	7
Toshiba Offers Two New Projectors	8
Hitachi Goes After Digital Signage	8
Zenith Changes Course and Bets on Direct-View TV	8
ViewSonic Improves Warranties on Two Upgrade Products	9
PC Giants Set to Energize Projector Sales	9
Mitsubishi Delays 60-inch Videowall	9
Headsets
eMagin Shows OLED Virtual Imaging Capabilities at SID	9
Three Display Eyewear Demos at MicroOptical’s SID Booth	10
Air Force Puts Boeing’s HMD on Hold	11
Microvision Pens New Agreements for Nomad	11
General Aviation Market Gets Low-Cost Headset Option	12
New LCOS HMD from Korea’s Accupix	12
New Motion Tracker from Ascension Technology	13
3D Systems
Actuality Shows Improved VolumetricDisplay	13
C-3D Pursues Several Channels to Launch Another Eye 2000	13
A Wide Variety of Topics Can Be Found on TDV Site	13
Market Intelligence
TFT-LCD Prospects Look Strong for Remainder of Year	14
Display Opportunities Abound for Semiconductor Makers	14
Japan CE Still Hurting	14
Digital Cinema Still Stuck Despite Star Wars	14
Bottom Line
ColorLink Seeks to Raise $6M	15
JVC Reports Fiscal 2001 Results	15
Mitsubishi Sales Decrease 12% in Fiscal 2001	15
Movers & Shakers	16

For example, LCOS panel supplier, Three-Five, is now quietly beginning to assemble the pieces to be able to manufacture engines for customers. The same can be said for optical component suppliers OCLI and Moxtek, who are forming alliances with companies like Advanced Digital Optics, among others. Electronics suppliers like Liesegang Electronics, are teaming with engine developer In-Vision for DLP engine manufacture. Even companies engaged in the illumination stage of the engine, like Wavien are looking to become engine suppliers.

We turned our attention back to the near-to-eye microdisplay segment this month to catch up on a number of developments. Microvision for example, has developed a new scanning technique that uses a Lissajous scanning pattern instead of raster scanning to sweep LED light and create a virtual image. This could save a lot of power for portable scanning applications.

eMagin was back in the news too as it is expanding production by adding a second shift to meet increasing demand. While not out of the financial woods yet, it is starting to make the transition from a development company to a manufacturing company. It showed several new prototypes at SID and recently received a $1M investment from Rohm.

Meanwhile, Three-Five continues to expand its IP in the near-to-eye segment by acquiring the assets of Inviso. We think Inviso had some of the best optics for near-to-eye applications and a digital, low-power LCOS microdisplay too, which will now become part of the Three-Five IP portfolio.

MicroOptical was also at SID showing off three upgraded headsets. Most important was the reduction in size of the electronics interface box needed to transform spatial color signals into field sequential color signals. Also in headsets, Korea's Accupix will come to market this summer with a new SVGA-class binocular system.

This month's issue has a number of news stories from manufacturers of screen technology. Holographic screens are improving, as a new batch will soon be shown at Infocomm.

And there is a lot more.

Until next time…

Chris Chinnock
Sr. Editor, Microdisplay Report

Chris@insightmedia.info