September 26, 2006Woburn, Massachusetts – Luminus Devices, Inc. today announced that it has joined the Micro Device DisPlay Consortium (MDDPC), a membership-based industry group made up of leading companies aimed at expanding the microdisplay television market by educating consumers, retailers, industry experts, and mass media on the benefits of microdisplay projection televisions. The MDDP Consortium’s four founding members include Arisawa Mfg. Co., Ltd., Seiko Epson Corporation, Texas Instruments Incorporated, and Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC).
“Microdisplay projection TVs produce the best television picture for the money, regardless of the type of microdisplay that they use, but the varying terminology for this TV category has created so much confusion in the market that it’s difficult for the consumer to recognize those benefits as belonging to the MDDP category,” said Shintaro Nakagaki, associate director and general manager of the display unit in the Technology Development Division of Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC). “To diffuse some of the confusion, we need to work together with companies like Luminus, whose PhlatLight™ technology enables many of the image and color quality, low power consumption and long product life benefits that we want to promote about all types of microdisplay TVs.”
Luminus develops and manufactures high performance solid state light emitting devices and systems using the most advanced manufacturing processes. Its PhlatLight (Photonic Lattice Light) technology has been optimized for microdisplay-based rear projection television (RPTV) light engines and is the only solid state light source powerful enough to illuminate them. PhlatLight chipsets can be used with Digital Micromirror Device (DMD), high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS), or Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) microdisplays in single, dual or three panel configurations.
“This is the first group that includes participation from companies representing all of the major microdisplay technologies, including DMD, HTPS and LCoS,” said Udi Meirav, CEO of Luminus Devices, Inc. “We see our PhlatLight technology as a primary catalyst to unleashing the true potential for this TV category, and the work of the MDDPC allows us to pool our collective resources and work toward a common goal of bringing more value to the consumer.”
Moving forward, the four founding members and four endorsing members, which in addition to Luminus Devices include 3M Company, Samsung Japan Corporation and SCRAM Technologies, Inc., will seek to bring other firms into the consortium from related industries. The consortium will also join forces to promote the common benefits of MDDP TVs through various public relations activities and marketing materials, product demonstrations and the launch of a new Web site.
About Micro Device Display Projection Televisions (MDDP)
Micro Device Display Projection Televisions (MDDP) use micro Display devices such as high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) LCD, digital light processing (DLP) and liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) devices to deliver a picture with superior brightness, fine resolution and wide viewing angle, outperforming conventional CRT projection televisions by a wide margin. The sets first began to appear in markets in significant numbers around 2004. MDDP are significantly lighter than CRT projection televisions and offer superior design. The sets offer high cost performance based on their high image quality and large screens. MDDP have gained a particularly strong following in North America. An estimated 4.1 million sets have been sold to date worldwide, while global demand for MDDP is forecasted at 3.5 million units in fiscal 2006. Data supplied by Techno Systems Research Co., Ltd.
About Luminus Devices
Luminus Devices, Inc., headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts, develops and manufactures high performance solid state light emitting devices and systems. Its PhlatLight (Photonic Lattice) technology, developed by Luminus Devices based on research done at MIT, is the only solid state light source powerful enough to illuminate large screen projection televisions. With PhlatLight chipsets in commercial production, Luminus is leading the industry in designing this new, powerful light source for a variety of applications, including microdisplay projection TVs and other advanced, high-definition displays. Several leading television and consumer electronics vendors are currently selling TVs with PhlatLight products. For more information, visit www.luminus.com.
For more information, contact:
Bree Clidence or Jill Colna
SVM Public Relations
760-940-9025 or 401-490-9700
bree.clidence@svmpr.com or jill.colna@svmpr.com
Note to editors: PhlatLight is a registered trademark of Luminus Devices, Inc.
