Texas Instruments Receives BKSTS Honor for DLP Cinema Technology; 'DLP Cinema Technology Stands Poised to Revolutionize the Cinema Industry'.

Business/Technology Editors

NORTHAMPTON, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 25, 2000

At the annual luncheon of the British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society (BKSTS: The Moving Image Society) at London's The Player's Theatre, Texas Instruments (TI) today received the Society's Technical and Scientific Achievement Award recognizing the contribution made to digital cinema by DLP Cinema(TM) technology. The award is given by the Society to an individual or organization who has produced an outstanding invention, development or innovation that has contributed to the advancement of the industries served by the Society.

"It's an honour and a privilege for us to receive this Technical and Scientific Achievement Award from BKSTS for DLP Cinema technology," said Ian McMurray, European Marketing Manager for TI's Digital Imaging division, accepting the award on behalf of Texas Instruments. "The award is given in recognition of a development or innovation that has contributed to the advancement of the industries served by the Society. With all humility, I think we have to say that DLP Cinema technology stands poised not just to develop the cinema industry, but to revolutionize it. For its entire hundred year history, the movie industry has relied on film to show images: we believe that DLP Cinema technology has the potential to change that forever. The advent of sound, of color, of course, were enormously significant - but they didn't impact the whole infrastructure of the movie industry in the way that the digital distribution and projection of movies will do."

Originally called The British Kinematograph Society, the Society was founded in 1931 to serve the growing film industry. The title was later changed to The British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society to reflect the members' wide range of interests. The Society's aims are to encourage, sustain, educate, train and represent all those who, creatively or technologically, are involved in the business of providing moving images and associated sound in any form and through any media, and to encourage and promote excellence in all aspects of moving image and associated sound technology.

"There can be little doubt that the world of moving pictures stands poised on the edge of an enormous change which, potentially, can benefit everyone in the industry from movie makers to cinema-goers," said Lawrie Read, President of BKSTS. "The technology to deliver movies digitally has existed for some time, but was of little value until we had a viable digital projection technology. This award recognizes the contribution TI's DLP Cinema technology has made to turning the dream of digital cinema into a reality."

In his acceptance speech, McMurray talked about the increasing competition the movie industry faces: competition from an ever-widening range of alternative leisure pursuits, and competition from the increasingly high quality of the digital home entertainment experience. "The answer, of course, is that people will continue to go to the cinema if what they can see there is, despite the blandishments of digital television, a moving image unlike any they can see anywhere else. Today, our achievement with DLP Cinema technology - and it's some achievement, as film is an incredibly hard act to follow - is that, for most people, we can deliver an image that's as good as film. Our goal is to make it even better."

TI's DLP Cinema(TM) projection technology has already been exposed to over a million movie-goers throughout the world. These extensive field demonstrations began on June 18th 1999 with all-digital showings at two North American locations of "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace". Since that time, a number of movies have been released in all-digital form - including `Tarzan', `Toy Story 2', `The Perfect Storm', `Dinosaur', `Fantasia 2000' and `Mission to Mars' - for showing on DLP Cinema(TM) prototype projectors. The total number of installed DLP Cinema(TM) prototype projectors now exceeds thirty, with installations in cities around the world from Los Angeles to London, from San Diego to Seoul and from Boston to Brussels. Further installations are expected in the coming months.

Texas Instruments has announced agreements with BARCO, Christie Inc. and Digital Projection (an Imax company) under the terms of which those companies will develop and market digital cinema projectors based on DLP Cinema(TM) technology.

DLP Cinema(TM) technology is Digital Light Processing(TM) technology specifically adapted for the needs of the movie industry. By comparison with the industry-leading large venue DLP(TM) technology-based projectors on which it is based, it features even higher contrast, together with color processing designed to replicate the visual experience of film: commercial projectors featuring DLP(TM) technology are designed primarily for video and graphics applications. At the heart of TI's DLP Cinema(TM) technology are three Digital Micromirror Device(TM) optical semiconductor chips. The DMD(TM) switch has an array of to 1,310,000 hinged, microscopic mirrors, which operate as optical switches to create a high resolution, full color image.

Today, TI supplies DLP(TM) subsystems to more than thirty of the world's top projector manufacturers, who then design, manufacture and market DLP(TM) technology-based projectors. There are now over fifty products featuring DLP(TM) technology in the market. Since early 1996, over 500,000 DLP(TM) subsystems have been shipped. Over the past four years, DLP(TM) technology-based projectors have consistently won some of the audio-visual industry's most prestigious awards.

Texas Instruments Incorporated is the world leader in digital signal processing and analog technologies, the semiconductor engines of the Internet age. The company's businesses also include materials and controls, and educational and productivity solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and has manufacturing or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information on TI's DLP(TM) technology can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.dlpcinema.com.

Digital Light Processing, DLP, Digital Micromirror Device, DMD and DLP Cinema are all trademarks of Texas Instruments. All other products and names may or may not be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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