Texas Instruments DLP Cinema® Enhances Movie Going Experience with More Than 7,000 3D Enabled Installations

DLP Cinema 3D Technology Used in Making of the highly anticipated 3D Movie “Avatar”

Bangalore (October 27, 2009) – Texas Instruments (TI) DLP Cinema®, recognized as the leader of 3D projection technology, today announced reaching the milestone of over 14,000 global theatre installations with over half powered by DLP Cinema 3D projection technology. The growing availability of digital 3D movies continues to serve as a catalyst for the adoption of digital cinema installations. With multiple 3D releases coming to theatres at the same time, demand among exhibitors for 3D installations will likely continue to increase, hailing 3D as one of the most important technical innovations since the advent of color.

Today, there are more than 175 DLP Cinema® screens in major multiplexes across major cities in India. And many of them play digital 3D movies.

DLP Cinema projection technology is installed on every continent except Antarctica. Today there are more than 7,000 worldwide screens that offer digital 3D with the use of every pixel array in the frame for the brightest picture unlike other technologies. Since last year’s introduction, IMAX® digital projection systems powered by DLP Cinema projectors have reached a total of 88 locations worldwide. 

DLP Cinema is now all set to honor its heritage of providing the ultimate viewing experience with DLP Cinema projection solutions enabling theatres to showcase the highly anticipated motion picture epic “Avatar,” from Twentieth Century Fox and “Titanic” director James Cameron.

“DLP’s cutting edge technology will play an important role in bringing ‘Avatar’ to life for moviegoers around the world,” said Bruce Snyder, Fox’s president of domestic distribution.  “The much-anticipated release of ‘Avatar’ will continue to bring attention to the contributions DLP Cinema has provided to the industry.” 

During the filming of “Avatar” DLP projectors were used for real time viewing of the footage being shot. Additionally, Cameron and his production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, used DLP Cinema projectors during the post production to provide superior contrast ratios, color calibration and sharp 3D imagery. DLP technology will be counted on again when the movie “Avatar” premieres in December 2009; it will be shown on DLP Cinema projectors in movie theaters worldwide.

“Eight years ago Lightstorm and DLP Cinema started working together to bring 3D imagery to life,” said, Geoffrey Burdick, vice president for production service and technology for Lightstorm Entertainment. “Thanks to this collaboration, audiences can now experience in the theaters 3D like they never have before.”

Exhibition houses utilizing projectors from DLP Cinema’s three OEM licensees (Barco, Christie Digital and NEC) provide the capability to light up theatre screens as big as 100 feet and 3D screens as big as 75 feet, which has typically been a challenge for competing technologies. Furthermore, DLP Cinema recently announced plans to incorporate enhanced 4K technology as an extension of the next generation electronics platform for DLP Cinema projectors which integrates multiple 3D platforms for live 3D broadcasting.

“This year, DLP Cinema celebrated its fifth anniversary of enabling 3D through the use of the DLP Chip,” said Nancy Fares, business manager for DLP Cinema®, Texas Instruments. “DLP Cinema continues to be the industry standard for digital image quality and we remain committed to supporting the motion picture industry to bring onscreen stories to life through immersive experiences.”

About Texas Instruments DLP Products:

DLP display technology from Texas Instruments offers clarity down to the most minute detail, delivering pictures rich with color, contrast and brightness projectors for business, home, professional venue, digital cinema (DLP Cinema®) and large screen HDTVs. Many of the world's top projection and display manufacturers design, manufacture and market products based on DLP technology. DLP is the only imaging technology with a legacy in digital cinema where it set the industry standard demonstrated by the deployment of DLP Cinema technology in over 14,000 screens worldwide. At the heart of every DLP chip is an array of up to 2.2 million microscopic mirrors which switch incredibly fast to create a high resolution, highly reliable, full color image. DLP technology’s chip architecture and inherent speed advantage provides razor-sharp images and excellent reproduction of fast motion video. Since early 1996, more than 20 million DLP subsystems have been shipped. For more information, please visit www.dlp.com.

About Texas Instruments:

Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI innovates through design, sales and manufacturing operations in more than 30 countries. For more information, go to www.ti.com.

 DLP and DLP Cinema are registered trademarks of Texas Instruments.