RCA's New Hot Line
PARIS & NEW YORK-- Thomson multimedia (Paris Sicovam: 18453) (NYSE:TMS), the manufacturer and marketer of America's most popular home entertainment products, today introduced the new RCA Scenium line of digital television products that are designed to offer consumers the most advanced technologies and the most expressive designs.
The introduction of RCA Scenium indicates the company's plans to leverage its technology and product development expertise on a worldwide basis to market one premium line of high-technology consumer products. The first high-end models of the new RCA Scenium range include five digital HDTV products, and the range will grow to include a wide variety of other high-end home entertainment devices.
"RCA Scenium combines world-class innovation and expressive design to provide an exceptional entertainment experience," said Mike O'Hara, newly-named as Worldwide Marketing & Sales Executive Vice President for Thomson multimedia. "We've saved our best technology for the new line of RCA Scenium products -- including the spectacular Liquid Crystal On Silicon (LCOS) high-definition TV, our 65-inch projection HDTV, the lifelike 50-inch widescreen Digital Plasma HDTV and two flat-tube HDTV Monitors," O'Hara said.
Offered as the best of Thomson multimedia's range, Scenium products are also marketed today under the Thomson Scenium brand name throughout Europe. Thomson recently globalized its marketing and sales functions, as well as product management functions for television, video, and accessories products.
"The L50000 Liquid Crystal on Silicon HDTV is the star of the RCA Scenium range, with a 50-inch, brilliant super-bright widescreen, and a family-room friendly footprint that's 18-inches thin and weighs only about one hundred pounds. Videophiles have been waiting for a chance to gaze at the incredible new LCOS high-definition television. And the wait is just about over, with delivery of the RCA Scenium LCOS HDTV right on schedule for later this summer," O'Hara said.
Additional RCA Scenium products include the 50-inch widescreen PHD50300 Digital Plasma HDTV Monitor, the fully-integrated 65-inch widescreen HD65W20 projection HDTV set, and two standard (4:3) aspect ratio HDTV monitors with TruFlat tube technology -- the 32-inch D32TF20 and the 36-inch D36TF20.
"Our primary objective with RCA Scenium is to enhance -- and to strengthen even more -- the valuable RCA brand. We know that the RCA name is already one of the most popular and trusted names in electronics, recently ranked by a Harris Poll as one of the ten best consumer products brands. We intend to polish that image with the introduction of advanced RCA Scenium range of products," O'Hara said.
The name "Scenium" is derived from the Latin word proscenium -- the arch or frame of a theatre stage that separates the entertainers from the audience. To the ancient Greeks, this was their portal to an evening of entertainment.
By definition, RCA Scenium products will be the most advanced offerings from Thomson that will be sold in the U.S. Thomson will develop more products for global platforms, and offer higher-featured RCA Scenium entertainment gear to reach a wealthier, more design-conscious consumer.
Consumer research conducted by Thomson supports the conclusion that upscale consumers are interested in a better, more comprehensive entertainment experience. RCA Scenium products will be introduced to appeal to those interests, with a combination of technological innovation, expressive design, and exceptional ease-of-use.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding prospects for the future that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual income to differ materially from those expected are the following: business conditions and general economic conditions; competitive factors such as pricing and marketing efforts of rival companies; timing of product introductions; ability of contract manufacturers to meet product price objectives and delivery schedules; legislative, regulatory, and industry initiatives that may affect planned or actual product features and marketing methods; and the pace and success of product research and development. For more information on the potential factors that could affect the company's financial income, please review the relevant SEC filings.
About Thomson multimedia
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With sales of 9.1 billion Euros (U.S. $ 8.3 billion) in 2000 and 73,000 employees in more than 30 countries, Thomson multimedia (Paris Sicovam: 18453) (NYSE: TMS), provides a wide range of technologies, systems, finished products and services to consumers and professionals of the entertainment and media industries. To advance and enable the digital media transition, Thomson multimedia has five principal activities: Digital Media Solutions, Displays and Components, Consumer Products, New Media Services, and Patents and Licensing. The company distributes its products under the popular THOMSON, RCA and TECHNICOLOR brand names. For more information: www.thomson-multimedia.com.
<<Business Wire, 07-11-01, 10:00 Eastern>>
CONTACT: Thomson multimedia | Press Relations: | Marc Meyer, 331.41.86.5003 (France) | [email protected] | or | Dave Arland, 317/587-4450 (United States) | [email protected] | or | Investor Relations: | Stephane Rougeot, 331.41.86.5297 | [email protected]
<< Copyright =A92001 Business Wire >>
RCA SCENIUM HDTV PRODUCTS EMPHASIZE EXPRESSIVE DESIGN AND IMPRESSIVE TECHNOL= OGY HDTV Liquid Crystal On Silicon, High-Definition Plasma and Projection Sets, TruFlat HDTV Monitors Take Center Stage
NEW YORK, July 11, 2001 - As the curtain goes up on the new RCA Scenium line of advanced entertainment products, Thomson multimedia (Paris Sicovam: 18453) (NYSE: TMS) recognizes that consumers are looking for more than just a pretty picture. Thomson today unveiled its first RCA Scenium digital television products that deliver both high performance and upscale design. The star of the RCA Scenium line is the new 50-inch RCA Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCOS) HDTV set, an amazing combination of new display technology and lightweight design that merge to produce an outstanding entertainment experience. The RCA Scenium line for 2001 also includes a 50-inch HDTV Plasma Monitor, a 65-inch projection HDTV set (both in widescreen format) and two tabletop TruFlat HDTV monitors.
"From the moment you see the new RCA Scenium televisions, their aesthetic presence signals that you're in for an extraordinary experience. Our new RCA Scenium digital television series combines stylish design and innovative technology to create the total entertainment experience," explained Vic Theobalds, Vice President, Television Product Management. "Thomson multimedia's design and engineering teams collaborated closely on these products, especially the new Liquid Crystal On Silicon HDTV, to create a high performance television that makes a dramatic design statement. LCOS is the centerpiece of our RCA Scenium line," he added.
RCA Scenium LCOS: Super-Bright, Unusually Thin
The secret behind the superlative picture of the widescreen RCA Scenium L50000 is Liquid Crystal On Silicon technology that manages ultra-bright light to deliver high-contrast, sharply focused color images. Utilizing three reflective light imagers and a sophisticated prism and lensing system, light is transformed into a laser-like beam and imprinted with a high-definition image that is then magnified and displayed in a perfectly aligned widescreen format. The result: a very light, very bright, high-definition television.
At about 100 pounds, the LCOS Model L50000 weighs 60 percent less than a comparable projection TV and it can be placed in a variety of room settings since the front-to-back cabinet depth is only 18 inches thin.
Thomson's flat matrix reflective light LCOS ensures sharp, uniform focus across the entire viewing area. Because of this revolutionary technology, no consumer adjustments to improve focus or convergence is necessary. Brightness is also uniform across the entire 50-inch widescreen, with the center of the screen and the far corners illuminated with precisely the same amount of light.
The L50000 will display up to 2.76 million individually addressable pixels through its 3-imager matrix display. High-definition LCOS images are presented without any scanning lines, and the product can deliver HDTV at full, progressive, 1280 x 720 resolution with a horizontal viewing angle of virtually 180 degrees.
Like each of Thomson's widescreen high-definition television sets, the new LCOS-powered HDTV includes integrated tuning and decoding capability for over-the-air ATSC 8VSB digital TV broadcasts, analog NTSC tuning, standard DIRECTV satellite service, and high-definition service from DIRECTV.
The L50000 features a 3D Y/C Digital Frame Comb Filter to eliminate dot and edge crawl while providing smoother transitions between scene changes. The unit's SYNCROSCAN Component Video Input automatically adjusts the scan rate of component video inputs and allows for connection of regular or progressive-scan DVD players. Digital audio optical output, V-Chip Parental Control, advanced NTSC Twin-Tuner Picture-In-Picture, and an easily-replaceable lamp assembly are included.
The L50000 comes with a convenient "learning" remote control unit that features a two-line liquid crystal display for confirmation of programming and selectable, all-button backlighting. Available at a suggested retail price of $7,499 the L50000 will be available later this summer. A matching base (model RRS50) will also be available.
Digital Plasma HDTV Monitor: An Entertainment Masterpiece
The RCA Scenium Plasma HDTV Monitor PHD50300 combines elegance and technology in a flat-panel package that is only four inches deep. Offering 580:1 contrast ratio and a 3D Y/C Digital Frame Comb Filter for the ultimate in color separation, the RCA Scenium PHD50300 Monitor is equally at home in a board room or home theater system, with display capability for both 720P and 1080i signals and a digital video resolution of 1365 x768.
The PHD50300 includes Capsulated Color Filter technology to improve color response, providing the most realistic color rendering available in plasma monitors. CCF technology is a series of red, green, and blue filters bonded within the panel's front glass substrate that optimizes the color spectrum of visible light emitted from the panel. Professional Color Management Control complements CCF technology by allowing simple and accurate adjustment of on-screen color temperature settings through the monitor's on-screen user menus.
The SYNCROSCAN system automatically delivers high-resolution pixel mapping from sources up to SXGA resolution. This high performance system displays computer graphics with superior accuracy and stability.
The RCA Scenium Digital Plasma Monitor includes a built-in stereo amplifier that can power optional left, right, or surround speakers, and it also includes an RCA Universal Remote Control unit. Connections include Composite/S-Video, YPrPb component video input, RGB via 15-pin VGA input, and VGA, SVGA, XGA, and SXGA PC compatibility. At a suggested retail price of $14,999, it will be available later this summer.
The Built-In Advantage: 65-inch HDTV
The RCA Scenium HD65W20 is a 65-inch widescreen rear projection HDTV set that offers a built-in all-format ATSC decoder as well as a built-in all-format DIRECTV receiver. With more than 1.5 million pixels of digital video resolution, this HDTV features a high-definition optical system, hi-gain dark-tint screen for 25 percent improved picture brightness, high-resolution projection tubes, INTELLIFOCUS=81 auto convergence, and a built-in screen protector.
Interactive format control allows viewers to control the format of the picture image including 4:3 centered (positions analog picture in center of screen), 4:3 expanded (horizontally stretches 4:3 image to fill 16:9 screen) and 16x9 expanded (helps letterboxed material fill 16:9 screen).
The HD65W20 features NTSC Twin-Tuner Picture-In-Picture, V-Chip Parental Control, and a 3D Y/C Digital Frame Comb Filter to eliminate dot and edge crawl while providing smoother transitions between scene changes. The unit also ships with SYNCROSCAN Component Video Input to automatically adjust the scan rate of component video inputs and allow for connection of regular or progressive-scan DVD players. The suggested retail price of the RCA Scenium HD65W20 is $4,499.
RCA Scenium TruFlat HDTV Monitors
The RCA Scenium range also includes two standard (4:3) aspect ratio HDTV monitors with TruFlat picture tubes. With resolution of up to 864,000 pixels, 1080i display of high-definition signals, models D36TF20 (36-inch) and D32TF20 (32-inch) feature progressive scan up conversion that uses spatial and temporal filtering to de-interlace NTSC video. The sets also have anamorphic mode which allows the viewer to scale a video from an anamorphically encoded source such as DVD to provide improved resolution on a 4:3 screen, eliminating the vertically stretched picture.
Both models feature Invar Shadow Masks, digital 3-line comb filters, an on-screen interactive TV Guide, and SYNCROSCAN HD component inputs that automatically adjust the scan rate of component video inputs for connection of regular or progressive-scan DVD players or component-output HDTV set-top boxes.
Other features include advanced NTSC Twin-Tuner Picture-In-Picture, SRS Focus audio, V-Chip Parental Control, three sets of S-Video/Composite rear input jacks, and a backlit universal remote. Model D36TF20 has a suggested retail price of $2,299 and will be available late this fall and Model D32TF20 has a suggested retail price of $1,699 and will be available later this summer. ###
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding prospects for the future that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual income to differ materially from those expected are the following: business conditions and general economic conditions; competitive factors such as pricing and marketing efforts of rival companies; timing of product introductions; ability of contract manufacturers to meet product price objectives and delivery schedules; legislative, regulatory, and industry initiatives that may affect planned or actual product features and marketing methods; and the pace and success of product research and development. For more information on the potential factors that could affect the company's financial income, please review the relevant SEC filings.
About Thomson multimedia With sales of 9.1 billion Euros (U.S. $ 8.3 billion) in 2000 and 73,000 employees in more than 30 countries, Thomson multimedia (Paris Sicovam: 18453) (NYSE: TMS), provides a wide range of technologies, systems, finished products and services to consumers and professionals of the entertainment and media industries. To advance and enable the digital media transition, Thomson multimedia has five principal activities: Digital Media Solutions, Displays and Components, Consumer Products, New Media Services, and Patents and Licensing. The company distributes its products under the popular THOMSON, RCA and TECHNICOLOR brand names. For more information: www.thomson-multimedia.com.
Press Relations: Marc Meyer Tel: 331.41.86.5003 (France) [email protected] Dave Arland Tel: (317) 587-4450 (United States) [email protected]
Investor Relations: Stephane Rougeot Tel: 331.41.86.5297 [email protected]
