BARCO Signs Digital Cinema Agreement With Texas Instruments

BARCOís new Digital Cinema business unit announced that it has signed a cooperative development agreement with Texas Instruments (TI), giving BARCO access to TIís new DLP Cinemaô technology. ""This agreement will allow BARCO to develop a completely new range of projectors that will have the capability of replacing 35mm film projectors in cinema theatres around the world,"" said Sjoerd De Clerck, BARCOís Digital Cinema Managing Director. ""This agreement opens a multi-billion USD market for BARCO as more than 100,000 cinema screens around the world convert from traditional film to digitally based projection systems over the course of the next ten to twenty years. This is exciting stuff!""DLP Cinema technology is a further enhancement of TIís Digital Light Processingô (DLPô) technology that BARCO is already using in its large venue projectors for the rental & staging market. By comparison with these large venue DLP-based projectors, the DLP Cinema technology features even higher contrast, together with color processing designed to replicate the visual experience of film. At the heart of TI's Digital Light Processing technology is the Digital Micromirror Deviceô (DMDô), an optical semiconductor chip that has an array of 1,310,000 hinged, microscopic mirrors which operate as optical switches to create a high resolution, full color image. TI has developed DLP Cinema technology working in close co-operation with key players in the movie industry, and will work closely with BARCO to develop commercial products based on this technology which meet the requirement of studios, film distributors and exhibitors alike.TIís 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 screenings at two North American locations of ""Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace."" This was followed in July 1999 when ""Tarzan"" was shown at three locations. In November 1999, 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.""This agreement intensifies BARCOís cooperation with TI and opens exciting new opportunities and markets for us,"" said Bernard Dursin, Vice President of BARCO and General Manager of BARCO Projection Systems. ""We are delighted to have been selected by TI to work with them on helping create the cinema of the future.""""We are proud that we will be working with BARCO to develop DLP Cinema products,"" said Bob England, Senior Vice President and Manager of TIís Digital Imaging Division. ""We recognize BARCOís excellent R&D and worldwide manufacturing capabilities and we are convinced that combined with our technological expertise we will be able to develop truly world class DLP Cinema products.""About BARCOBARCO is an acknowledged global leader in projection systems, display systems, communication systems, graphic systems, machine vision and automation. These 6 pillars result in a turnover exceeding BEF 26 billion ($698 million). More than 90 percent of this turnover is gained from exports. The BARCO Group markets, sells and supports its high quality products through fully owned sales subsidiaries, distributors and agents in 97 countries worldwide. Since January 1997, BARCO has been listed on the BEL-20 index of the Brussels' Stock Exchange. More information on BARCOís high performance display technology can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.barco.com.About Texas InstrumentsTexas Instruments Incorporated is a global semiconductor company and the world's leading designer and supplier of digital signal processing solutions, 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 is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information on TI's DLP technology can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com/dlp.