The CEDIA EXPO drew record crowds at the Indianapolis Convention Center and RCA Dome from September 3rd-7th. More than 22,000 home entertainment enthusiasts and professionals attended the annual convention.

Manufacturers introduced many new products to try and impress the CEDIA attendees. The following projectors are ones that we were impressed with and would like to point out to our readers:

Projector News

Samsung unveiled their first DLP Home Theater Projector, which is based on TI's second generation HD2 DLP technology. They claim their new SP-H700A features the world's first broadcasting format changer for accepting NTSC, EBU and ATSC signals and that it is the quietest projector available on the market. The SP-H700A features a Correct Color Reproduction system (addresses color accuracy and offers simple calibration). It also offers enhanced detail, color and noise reduction. The new SP-H700A will be available late 2003 at a MSRP of $10,000.



Tickets to see Sony's new high definition home theater projector werentt easy to get; attendees had to wait in line for quite a while but it was well worth it. Sony introduced the new QUALIA-004, which they claim is the industry's first full high-definition compatible home theater front projector capable of 1080p - yes, that's 1080 progressive! The Qualia-004 incorporates Sony's proprietary SXRD" (Silicon Crystal [X-tal] Reflective Display) technology with 1080P native panel resolution. Features of the QUALIA-004 include: a pure Xenon lamp, for more accurate/natural color reproduction; Optical Engine, designed to maximize picture quality; Cinema Black Pro, improves image quality and contrast level; a 12-bit Panel Driver/3D Gamma Correction, which analyzes and monitors levels of brightness images at over 6,000 points; and Signal Terminal, used to hide connection cables.

The Qualia-004 incorporates Sony's proprietary SXRD" (Silicon Crystal [X-tal] Reflective Display - Sony's name for their LCOS chip) technology with 1080P native panel resolution.The nice picture quality generated by the QUALIA-004 projector during their CEDIA demo is primarily due to the imager's sheer picture density, with more than 2 million pixels contained in three 0.78-inch SXRD panels for over 6 million total pixels (technology announced in February 2003).

By reducing both the size of each individual pixel, as well as the space between the pixels, SXRD technology more than doubles the pixel density and achieves a 10-fold inter-pixel spacing in comparison to high temperature Poly-Silicon liquid crystal display (H-LCD) devices. It also has a pitch of nine micrometers arranged just 0.35 micrometers apart. In addition, each SXRD liquid crystal cell gap measures less than two micrometers, which is far thinner than conventional H-LCD or Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) devices. The QUALIA-004 will be available this winter for about $25,000.



Sharp unveiled their new portable high definition DLP front projector, the XV-Z12000U. Sharp claims that this new projector has contrast ratios between 3000:1 and 5000:1. Along with the high contrast level, the XV-Z12000U has a new 7-segment color wheel and 10-bit color processing. It also has a built in permanent optical system, which gives the user more control over the contrast and brightness options. The XV-Z12000U will be available next month (October) for a MSRP of $11,999.95.

Plasma News

On the plasma side, I was very impressed with the new Pioneer Elite models that are due to come out next month. The picture quality is amazing, they are using a 10-bit color processing system, and they have gotten rid of all the connection wires by using HTMi inputs. This way you get your high-resolution video as well as audio, with only one small cable. Due to Pioneer's unique deep cell structure in the plasmas which increases the amount of phosphor and hence the brightness in each cell (pixel), they claim that even at half life (half brightness) their plasmas are still at the same brightness levels as some of the competition's new models out of the box.

The Hitachi booth as well as Fujitsu had a prototype of the new 55" plasma that is being produced by FHP (Fujitsu-Hitachi Plasma Co). They claim that the Advanced Video Movement (AVM) processor essentially gets rid of motion artifacts and flicker, as well as improves vertical resolution.Until now FHP, who supplies Fujitsu, Hitachi and other brand manufacturers, has produced only 42-inch, 37-inch and 32-inch plasmas. Because of the sharp growth of 50+-inch plasma demand, FHP felt it was time to respond. FHP expects to produce 4,000 units per month by Jan 2004 but fears that may not be enough to supply their strong domestic TV market.


FHP's Representative Director President, Yoichi Morimoto introducing the new 55-inch plasma.

Previous FHP plasma models touted the "ALIS (Alternate Lighting of Surfaces Method)" system, which allows a reduction of the number of ignition electrodes and scan driver ICs to about half of a conventional PDP. This time, the company developed e-ALIS technology, the enhanced version of ALIS. E-ALIS'' adopts common electrode on front glass panel, as does ALIS, while it adopts grid cell structure on back glass panel. Only half of electrodes are required compared with other XGA panels. By adopting the original driving method to this panel structure, FHP realizes a progressive display, and also achieves high brightness of 1,000cd/m2.

The 55-inch PDP features 1,366 x 768 pixels resolution and is capable of displaying 1.07-billion colors with a, brightness of 1,000cd/m2, darkroom contrast ratio of 1,000:1, color temperature of 9,000K, and power consumption of 350W.

Plasma Trends

1Q'03 US Plasma Trend by Size (excerpt from TFCinfo 1Q03 US Plasma Market Analysis Report)



Lower price points for WVGA models drove market-share gains for 42-inch models in the first quarter.

50-inch models again gained market-share in the fourth quarter despite constrained supply from NEC.

Projector Trends



After a long decline from its peak in the second quarter of 2001, the unit market-share of SVGA 1000-1500 lumen ultra-portables (6.6-9.9 lbs.) rebounded sharply in the second quarter of 2003 with the ramp up of value priced models such as InFocus' X1, Epson's S1, NEC's VT460, and Philips' bSure SV2. The launch of new low priced SVGA models is part of manufacturer's strategy for opening new price sensitive markets such as small business and consumer home entertainment. These sectors have been particularly important in driving the growth of projectors in brick and mortar retail chains. These developments are tracked in TFCinfo's Monthly US Projector Market Analysis Report.

Contact Tanya Lippke (tmlippke@tfcinfo.com) for more information.

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