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Taiwan Digital Signage Special Interest Group, Microsoft and NEC Support Spec Addressing Fragmented Market

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

* Intel’s Open Pluggable Specification allows for easier installation, use and maintenance of digital signs.
* Microsoft, NEC and others support Intel’s digital signage Open Pluggable Specification.
* The specification will address the fragmented market to make digital signs more intelligent and connected.

Sony announced that its 3D capable BRAVIA® HDTVs are now available for pre-sale at Sony Style stores and that its new integrated Blu-ray 3D™ devices will hit retail shelves beginning this July. Additionally, the company released a free firmware update that activates Blu-ray 3D capability for previously announced Blu-ray Disc models including the BDP-S470 and BDP-S570 players and the BDV-E570 and BDV-E770W home theater systems.

World’s Thinnest System Frame Width of 6.5 mm Creates New Possibilities in Presentation Spaces
Sharp Corporation has developed a new multi-screen display system that achieves the world’s thinnest System Frame Width of 6.5 mm. This new display system will be introduced into the Japanese market in August of this year.

SECAUCUS, NJ (April 23, 2010) – Panasonic, a worldwide leader in Full HD 3D technology, announced today pricing and nationwide retail availability dates for its critically-acclaimed VIERATM VT25 Series of Full HD 3D Plasma TVs. The debut of the VT25 series will expand Panasonic’s 3D offerings to four screens sizes with availability at a wide range of consumer electronics retailers.

Panasonic Corporation of North America , the industry leader in high definition Plasma and LCD televisions, introduced its expanded line of VIERA HDTVs at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. Building upon its award winning portfolio of high definition televisions, Panasonic will broaden its offering in 2009 by introducing new screen sizes in Plasma with a new 54-inch class plasma. In addition, VIERA will extend its unique technology features, such as the acclaimed VIERA CAST®™ web menu, to additional model lines.

NEC LCD Technologies, together with its sales and marketing channels in the Americas and Europe, NEC Electronics America, Inc., and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH, introduced a new 9.0-inch (23 centimeters diagonal) amorphous-silicon thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) module, part number NL8048BC24-04, with wide video graphics array (WVGA) resolution for industrial equipment, including factory automation and measurement equipment.
The new module incorporates NEC LCD Technologies’ proprietary ultra-advanced, super-fine TFT (UA-SFT) technology that enables superior viewing angles without compromising brightness or color gamut. In addition, the module has been designed with wide-format resolution to meet the rising demand for such in various industrial applications.

Royal Philips Electronics is offering lighting designers, architects and artists from all disciplines a unique OLED technology ‘starter kit’, so that they can discover for themselves why OLEDs are going to be the lighting sensation of the coming years. This kit includes an information pack and DVD explaining the technology behind OLEDs and outlining possible future applications. It contains several OLEDs of various shapes, structures and colors, enabling people to experiment with and experience the amazing effects of OLEDs for themselves. More details about how to use the OLED samples are included in the information pack.

LG Electronics (LG) and Samsung Electronics (Samsung), which together lead the global digital TV market, announced today that they will propose their jointly developed technology as the North American technology standard for mobile DTV.

Samsung and LG held a signing ceremony at Seoul Plaza Hotel in Seoul, Korea, on May 14, 2008. Executives from the two companies attended the event, including Woo Paik, LG’s President and CTO, and JongWoo Park, President of Samsung Digital Media Business.

At the ceremony, the two companies agreed to cooperate in order to assure rapid adoption by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) of a single common in-band mobile DTV standard.

Technology for the jointly proposed system will reflect the findings of the IDOV (Independent Demonstration of Viability) conducted by the Association of Maximum Service Television (MSTV) on behalf of the Open Mobile

Sony Corporation (“Sony”) announced plans to double the annual production capacity of BRAVIA™ LCD TVs in Slovakia, up from two million sets in fiscal year 2007 to four million sets by the end of December 2008. The Slovak factory is set to become Sony’s largest producer of LCD TVs worldwide. In accordance with this expansion plan, the number of employees is also planned to increase about 50% from 2,300 to 3,500 by the end of December 2008.

Sony first began production of BRAVIA™ LCD TVs in Trnava, Slovakia in April 2006. Upon rapidly reaching full production capacity at the facility with no possibility for further expansion, Sony built ‘Nitra Technology Centre’ in Nitra, 40km east of Trnava and relocated its production function, in order to meet rapidly increasing demand for LCD TVs in Europe.

Media Friendly System Boasts Blu-ray, SD Memory Card Slot, iPod Dock

Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company has announced that its first home theater in a box (HTiB) system with an integrated Blu-ray Disc player will be available for purchase in late Spring, with a suggested retail price of $999.95. The new model, SC-BT100, is the perfect complement to a high definition, flat panel large screen TV.

The new model epitomizes Panasonic’s emphasis on media friendly capabilities. It is made for iPod* and features an advanced integrated dock which not only recharges an iPod but plays music or video through the home theater system, displays audio tracks and menus on the TV screen and operates with the supplied remote control. Its SD Memory Card slot offers simple playback of digital images or original video footage in either standard or High Definition AVCHD format. The optical input offers simple digital 5.1channel audio connection for a set-top box, digital video recorder and game system.

“The Panasonic SC-BT100 home theater system is the best of both worlds,” says Paul Sabo, national marketing manager for Panasonic Home Audio. “It combines the installation ease and user-friendly operation of an HTiB