Thomson Innovations Bring Ultra-Thin HDTV to Market

21-Jan-04

Responding to retailer and consumer demand for advanced digital entertainment devices that pack more functionality in a smaller space, Thomson announced a series of new home entertainment products that will bring innovations from its global laboratories to retail store shelves in 2004. With penetration of HDTV products doubling in the U.S. market in 2003 and sales expected to exceed five million units this year, Thomson is introducing a new line of HDTV solutions aimed at all types of consumers who want the latest flat and thin technology, owners of HDTV Monitors ready for latest-generation digital satellite set-top receivers, and home theatre enthusiasts who are building their digital home theatre systems one step at a time. Thomson unveiled the 6.85-inch thin Profiles HDTV, the new RCA Scenium ultra-thin Digital Cable Ready integrated rear-projection DLP HDTV Sets featuring slim cabinets less than seven inches deep and so light in weight they can be mounted on a wall. The sleek new designs in HDTV Sets will be available in 50-inch and 61-inch models later in 2004 (and a 70-inch mural-sized screen in 2005). Both sets feature an integrated ATSC tuner/decoder and Digital Cable Ready circuitry designed to capture the realism of HDTV broadcasts aired by terrestrial broadcasters and carried by cable operators to consumers. Designed and integrated by Thomson, the RCA Scenium Profiles HDTV Sets are equipped with the leading-edge DLP microdisplay from Texas Instruments and utilize a newly developed InFocus Light Engine. The exclusive Thomson electromechanical design of Profiles HDTV will bring consumers an ultra-thin design and lifelike pictures on giant projection screens that make digital entertainment, and not the television, the centerpiece of a high-definition home theatre. ìThomson continues to raise the bar for excellence in home entertainment featuring cutting-edge performance for fully integrated RCA Scenium DLP HDTV sets that can be mounted on a wall, rivaling the quality and convenience of plasma and LCD models,î said Mike O'Hara, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Marketing for Thomson's consumer products division. The Profiles HDTV Sets are part of an expanded line of more than a dozen new RCA and RCA Scenium Digital Cable Ready HDTV Sets that will help Thomson meet the U.S. government mandate for integrated tuning/decoding of terrestrially-broadcast digital TV signals. The new integrated ATSC and Digital Cable Ready models will be offered later this year in a broad choice of screen sizes ranging from widescreen 40-inch sets up to 61-inch ultra-thin Profiles HDTV models. The entire range of Thomson's 2004 HDTV products includes rear projection DLP and CRT rear projection HDTV Sets and HDTV Monitors as well as direct-view HDTV Monitors. flat-panel LCD HDTV Monitors and Plasma HDTV displays. Also new for reception of HDTV broadcasts and satellite transmissions is the RCA DTC210, a high-definition DIRECTV set-top receiver that will be available in February at a suggested retail price of $599. The new RCA DTC210 offers consumers the combination of features and connectivity for high-definition enjoyment. The multi-format receiver delivers a high-definition picture from both DIRECTV and over-the-air broadcasts, includes both conventional and secure digital connections, and offers many of the features that DIRECTV customers are accustomed to such as advanced program guide and one button record. For more information, please visit www.thomson.net.

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