DLP Cinemaô Technology By Texas Instruments Featured By Disney In All-Digital Showings Of ""Mission To Mars""
Total Of Twelve North American Locations Taking Part In Ongoing Field Demonstrations Of DLP Cinemaô
Texas Instruments (TI) today announced that its innovative DLP Cinemaô technology will be featured by the Walt Disney Corporation in all-digital showings of Disney's ""Mission to Mars"" at twelve locations throughout North America. The showings will commence on Friday, March 10, 2000. ""This represents the latest phase in our worldwide field demonstrations of DLP Cinema technology,"" said Doug Darrow, Business Manager for Digital Imaging Cinema. ""Our purpose in conducting them is to allow us to show the industry and the movie-going public the benefits of DLP Cinema technology. The audience gets a better picture, free of dirt, scratches, and degradation; the theatre operator can learn about and influence the eventual digital presentation system; the studio can develop the production expertise to distribute a digital feature - and the creative has more tools to control the final look of the movie, ensuring a consistent presentation every time it is shown."" The locations announced for the all-digital showings of ""Mission to Mars"" are: - Chicago, Illinois: AMC South Barrington 30 - Cleveland, Ohio: Cinemark at Valley View - Dallas, Texas: Cinemark at Legacy (Plano) - Hollywood, California: The El Capitan Theatre - Kansas City, Kansas: AMC Studio 30 (Olathe) - Los Angeles, California: Edwards, Irvine Spectrum 21 Megaplex (Irvine) - Los Angeles, California: AMC Media Center 6 (Burbank) - Orlando, Florida: AMC Pleasure Island 24 (Lake Buena Vista) - Phoenix, Arizona: Harkins, Arizona Mills 24 (Tempe) - San Francisco, California: AMC 1000 Van Ness - Toronto, Canada: Famous Players Paramount Toronto - Vancouver, Canada: Famous Players, Silver City Riverport (Richmond) See http://www.dlpcinema.com for more information on theatre locations and showtimes. TI's DLP Cinema projection technology has already been exposed to close to half a million movie-goers throughout the world. These extensive field demonstrations began on June 18, 1999 with all-digital showings at two North American locations of ""Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace."" This was followed in July when ""Tarzan"" was shown at three locations. In November, the number of all-digital locations was increased to six when ""Toy Story 2"" became the first-ever major motion picture to be released day-and- date in both film and digital formats. Following the opening of ""Toy Story 2,"" ""Bicentennial Man"" opened in all-digital form at an additional six locations. In February 2000, DLP Cinema achieved a global milestone with the installation of five prototype projectors in Europe, bringing the total to seventeen. A further installation is planned for Japan very soon. ""The success of these demonstrations has been tremendous."" said Paul Breedlove, Business Development Manager for Digital Imaging Cinema. ""Audiences have confirmed that they would rather see movies shown with DLP Cinema technology. The twelve exhibition companies we are working with have embraced this project and are key to its success, and the reaction from the creative community has been extremely positive and supportive. We look forward to expanding our involvement to include titles from all of the major studios, and expanding the participation to exhibitors around the world."" DLP Cinema technology is Digital Light Processingô (DLPô) technology specifically adapted for the needs of the movie industry. By comparison with the industry-leading large venue DLP-based projectors on which it is based, it features even higher contrast, together with color processing designed to replicate the visual experience of film: commercial DLP-based projectors are designed primarily for video and graphics applications. At the heart of TI's DLP Cinema technology is the Digital Micromirror Deviceô (DMDô), an optical semiconductor chip: three of these provide an array of close to 4 million hinged, microscopic mirrors mounted on standard logic devices. These tiny mirrors operate as optical switches to create a high resolution, full color image. Today, TI supplies DLP subsystems to more than thirty of the world's top projector manufacturers, who then design, manufacture and market DLP-based projectors. Since shipments began in early 1996, TI has delivered over 250,000 DLP subsystems to its customers. There are now over fifty DLP-based products in the market. DLP Cinema projection technology is the version of DLP technology developed to satisfy the specific needs of the movie industry. About Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated is a global semiconductor company and the world's leading designer and supplier of digital signal processing and analog technologies, the engines driving the digitization of electronics. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company's businesses also include materials and controls, educational and productivity solutions, and digital imaging. The company has manufacturing or sales operations in more than 25 countries. Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information on TI's DLP Cinema technology can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.dlpcinema.com. Source: Texas Instruments