APRIL 2001

NEWS & ANALYSIS

SCRAM Debuts High-Contrast Screen Technology
DisplaySearch’s FPD Conference held in Austin in March was the venue for the official unveiling of a new screen
technology. Called the SCRAMscreen, and developed by Scram Technologies, Inc.,  it uses a series of tightly packed 
waveguides to enable thin-profile, high-contrast rear-projection systems.  This is a novel and important technology that
looks well positioned to have a major impact on the industry. 

JVC & Partners Ready Projectors for Digital Cinema Era
Most projection systems designed for digital cinema applications have so far featured 3-chip engines based upon DLP 
technology from Texas Instruments.  Now, The Victor Company of Japan and other development partners, are readying
competitive products based upon a QXGA (2048 x 1536) reflective light valve - higher resolution than the SXGA 
(1280 x 1024) systems offered by TI and its partners.

Sharp Refocuses CG Silicon Technology
One of the competing microdisplay technologies for use in projection TVs is Continuous Grain Silicon (CG Silicon) developed
by Sharp Corporation and Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co. Ltd.   Apparently, Sharp re-evaluated its use in projection
products, at least in the short term, and decided to focus efforts on using the technology in small, direct-view LCDs and organic 
light-emitting diode (OLED) panels.  It reportedly sees sales of CG-silicon-based displays reaching 300B yen by 2005.
   
Olympus Smooths Images in New Headset
Getting better image quality in a video headset can be accomplished with higher-resolution microdisplays.  But as 
Olympus proved, you can also use some electro-optic elements and signal-processing algorithms to get a smoother
image from a lower-resolution microdisplay.  The technology, dubbed Optical Super Resolution (OSR), was announced
last May, and was just  commercialized in the new FMD-700 video headset.

Taiwan Desperate for Projection Panels
Taiwan probably has close to 20 companies interested in, or engaged in, the projection business.  Taiwan’s Photonics
Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA) reports that global projector and projector TV sales should
come in around 3.8M units this year, and Taiwanese producers want a piece of this action.  But their efforts have been
stymied by the inability to get adequate supplies of projection panels and other components, like UHP lamps.  As a result,
the association is encouraging makers to develop systems using LCOS panel technology.

Glass Shortage Impacts LCOS Production 
As manufacturers of liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) microdisplays attempt to ramp up production volumes, problems in the
component supply chain can materialize.  Such a situation existed recently with the supply of round-glass substrates.  
While the supply constraint at the key U.S vendor has been alleviated, it illustrates some of the ever-changing challenges
facing the nascent industry.

Electrodeless Backlight Power Projection Engine
CRL Opto Scipher’s LCD development and licensing business, will work with CRT display maker, Brimar, to supply Flight
Visions with a new flat-panel light engine for commercial and military head-up displays (HUDs).  The new light engines
will replace CRT-based HUDs with a poly-silicon LCD-based design, coupled with a high-brightness electrodeless lighting
technology.

APPLICATIONS

Digital Cinema - Digital Cinema was all the buzz at the ShoWest motion picture industry convention in Las Vegas in
early March. We report on Barco, Christie Digital Systems, Digital Projection (DPI), T-Joy, Imagica, Eclair Laboratories, Technicolor
Digital Cinema, Qualcomm, Boeing Digital Cinema, QuVIS, National Cinema Network, Grass Valley Group, NISCO Systems,
Constellation 3D (C3D), Lite-On IT and Plasmon.      

Large Area LCDs - Here are some of the companies making news this month; Sharp Electronics, LG Philips, LG Electronics,
Zenith Electronics, Apple Computer, Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, IBM/Toshiba and Intergraph Government Solutions.  

Front Projection - Well tell you what's happening at  Panasonic, Digital Projection (DPI), InFocus, Sharp Electronics, DWIN Electronics,
Fujitsu, Audio Plus Services, Canon, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics, Iiyama, ViewSonic and Electrograph Systems.    

Plasma Display Panels - Plasma display panels (PDPs) are thin, light and bright, with a wide viewing angle.  This makes
them a leading contender among next-generation display devices. We will report news in this segment from Sony, Sharp,
Philips, Toshiba, Canon, Pioneer, iFire, Hitachi, Tripath Technology, Fujitsu General (FG) which buys panels from Fujitsu Microelectronics,
RCA, Sampo America, ViewSonic, Panasonic, NEC, Zenith, LG Electronics, Samsung, Bridgestone, Fujitsu and Competitive Technologies.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE
2000 Numbers for LCDs
Prices Still On Way Down
DTV Keeps On Growing
Big Changes in Store for Movie Distribution

BOTTOM LINE
Photon Dynamics Reduces Earnings Predictions
Barco Projection Systems Reports Growth Across the Board
Year 2000 eMagin Highlights

MOVERS & SHAKERS
Who's in the news? Frank DeFina of Panasonic was named President, John Metcalf takes over as CFO at Colorado MicroDisplay,
Mike Yoshida is the new President of JVC Professional Products  and Marketing Mark Hand was promoted to President and COO 
of Lightware.