MicroDisplay Corporation, announced today from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that industry stalwarts AKAI and Memorex have signed on as customers of MicroDisplay's HDTVs, powered by MicroDisplay's unique and proprietary 1080p LCOS digital projection imaging technology. Both AKAI and Memorex will start shipping their branded sets in the Summer of 2007.
MicroDisplay is partnering with these established brands to develop and distribute rear-projection HDTVs with screen sizes of 52" to 62". The sets will be customized with various options for each brand.
MicroDisplay also announced "Liquid Fidelity" as the name for its single-chip LCOS technology. This technology produces a smooth, natural picture with a fine texture, accurate colors and a fast response time for a film-like home theater experience. Liquid Fidelity is also less expensive to manufacture and align because it eliminates two of the three chips required by other LCOS technologies and the additional optical components that support them.
"MicroDisplay's development of Liquid Fidelity single-chip LCOS technology and high-quality HDTVs customized to our needs enables us to provide larger, higher-performance AKAI-branded HDTVs to our customers at more affordable price points," said Keith R. Pillow, director of corporate communications for APH USA, Inc., a subsidiary of ESI Enterprises, and the exclusive sales, marketing and distribution arm for AKAI-branded audio, video and portable consumer electronics products in the United States. "We are confident in the quality and performance of MicroDisplay's technologies, and we look forward to the launch of Liquid Fidelity-enabled sets at retail this summer."
"MicroDisplay Corporation is the first company to mass-produce LCOS devices with the fast response times necessary for use in a single-chip design, and its Liquid Fidelity technology sets a new cost/performance standard," says Barry Smith, Chairman and CEO for Memorex. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to deliver such cutting-edge and affordable technology to our customers."
Technology suppliers Gennum and Avtrex add enhancements to MicroDisplay's HDTV performance and feature offerings. Gennum is supplying MicroDisplay with their VPX processor, which provides advanced scaling, motion-adaptive de-interlacing, noise reduction and edge-enhancement capabilities for greater sharpness and picture detail.
Avtrex is supplying an advanced user interface system for menus, navigation and on-screen displays. The Avtrex system assures ease of operation as well as the flexibility to customize the look and feel for each individual brand. "Our mission is to offer high quality HDTVs at value price points," said Marty Zanfino, VP of Marketing for MicroDisplay Corporation. "The combination of our Liquid Fidelity display technology, the Gennum VXP processor and the Avtrex user interface system does just that."
MicroDisplay's Liquid Fidelity HDTVs will be available for viewing at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas from January 8-11, 2007. The AKAI and Memorex-branded HDTVs will start shipping in Summer 2007.
About MicroDisplay
MicroDisplay Corporation, a Silicon Valley start-up, designs, develops and manufactures state-of-the-art high-definition digital televisions (HDTVs) based on its proprietary "Liquid Fidelity" single-panel Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) projection technology. MicroDisplay Corporation's HDTVs provide true two-million-pixel resolution with the precise convergence only achievable from a single-panel imaging device.