TV Will Never Be The Same

Bright lights. Big city. Little TV? At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Longmont, Colorado-based Displaytech has debuted the world's smallest high-definition television (HDTV). Measuringonly 0.78-inch diagonally, or about the size of a postage stamp, Displaytech's LightCasterÆ promises to revolutionize the video display industry.Who's going to sit back to enjoy ""Star Wars"" on a screen so small a hawk would need bifocals to see it? No one needs to. LightCaster is not a stand-alone product, but an amazing new display ""engine"" that can be seen for the first time in the new line of HD-ready FLCD (ferroelectric liquid crystal display)TVs from Samsung Electronics. Based on Displaytech's proprietary liquid crystals, LightCaster is so powerful, bright and clear that the microdisplay can be projected onto a 50"" HDTV screen. The result is a picture that is so crystal clear and perfect, it's like watching everything happen through an open window.And it's a skinny window at that. LightCaster's miniature size means TVs with huge screens can have very slim profiles, since most of the parts that make up conventional TVs are no longer necessary. Samsung's 50-inch FLCD TV can fit on an 18-inch shelf, making it a strong contender in the thinner-than-thou TV market. Plus, because little LightCaster is the primary component, these FLCD TVs are more lightweight and can be manufactured more cost effectively than conventional tubes or plasma displays.""HDTV is only the first application of our new microdisplay,"" said Haviland Wright, CEO of Displaytech. ""These things are so small, so lightweight, and use so little power, you're going to be seeing them everywhere in the near future. We can dramatically increase the battery life of video recorders and digital cameras. Computer monitors and TVs will be thin and inexpensive, and high-definition, head-mounted displays are right around the corner. FLC displays will open a whole new vista of mobile video applications, and most importantly, provide photo quality images.""LightCaster's power comes from ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) technology. Displaytech has been an innovator in FLCs for 15 years, transitioning to display manufacturing in 1995. The company has broken so many barriers, it's been awarded 77 patents for its work. With an active area of only 16.9 x 10.14 mm, LightCaster delivers a high-definition resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels.Displaytech is featuring Samsung's FLCD TVs, and Samsung has its LightCaster-powered FLCD TVs prominently displayed in its booth (N117). These sets are fully loaded with Dolby ProLogic sound, two-tuner PIP, computer monitor input, and a number of other direct component inputs.""This exciting new technology offers an ideal solution to the inevitable compromises of more traditional solutions,"" noted Samsung Electronics America's senior manager for the Digital Group, Mark Knox. ""Lighter than a direct view, far slimmer than a CRT projection, and far more reasonably priced than a plasma display, Samsung's new FLCD HD-ready projection sets offer a bright, clear picture, high-definition resolution, light weight and a compact design in a stylish yet reasonably priced package.""About DisplaytechDisplaytech Inc., based in Longmont, Colorado, develops and manufactures FLCDs for a range of applications, including televisions, computer monitors, digital cameras, projectors and head-mounted displays. LightCaster is a revolutionary new miniature display solution that is inexpensive to manufacture and enables products to get to market quickly. Privately held, Displaytech provides LightCaster microdisplays to a number of industry leading consumer-electronics companies.

For more information about Displaytech, visit the company's Web site at www.displaytech.com.