Viewsonic Shifts to Digital Sign Market, Continues LCD TVs

Viewsonic -- which sourced the 42W and 55W HD-ready panels from the former Fujitsu-Hitachi joint venture -- suffered from the “bloody” battle in plasma, where entry- level models with 852x480 resolution are priced around $1,499-$1,699, company officials said. Viewsonic nearly has sold through its 55W inventory and will continue to market LCD TVs at retail, Ornstead said. The firm introduced the 55W last year after discontinuing a 56W DLP-based rear-projection TV, a category it has no immediate plans to reenter, he said. Viewsonic also among the first companies to field an LCoS-based TV, showing a 36” model in 2001 based on JVC’s D-ILA panels.

In LCD TVs, Viewsonic is readying a 37W for introduction in the fall as its first integrated HD model, and is considering adding 46W-47W screen sizes with 1080i resolution, Ornstead said. Meantime, Viewsonic will ship a 32W LCD TV ($1,299 street price) in July using an AU Optronics panel with 1,366x768 resolution and will likely cut the price of its 27W $100 to $899. At the same time, Viewsonic has seen a shortage of 27W panels from supplier Chi Mei Optoelectronics and is considering adding a 26W to supplement it, Ornstead said. Viewsonic also is dropping a 13W LCD TV ($399) due to price competition, he said. It may add a 20W LCD TV in Sept. to join an existing 4:3 model ($499) and perhaps replace a 17W sourced from Chunghwa Picture Tubes, he said.

Entering the digital sign market, Viewsonic met with about 100 AV resellers here Tues. as it unveiled a $799 package pairing a 17W LCD monitor with integrated IP network technology with its WMG80-B1 media gateway containing 802.11g and 80 GB storage. It also will make the WMA100 router available in the digital sign market. The gateway and router had been sold at retail but proved cumbersome in the consumer market, company officials said. The package also includes Tivella’s administrative server, eliminating the need for a local PC or video converter box, company officials said. The digital sign product initially will be sold through resellers, but distributors may be added to the mix, Ornstead said. Viewsonic met recently with distributor Stampede, although no agreements have been signed, he said.

Viewsonic also is moving to broaden its front projector line to include a wider assortment of DLP-based models, Product Mgr. Jeffrey Muto said. While Viewsonic’s line previously tilted toward LCD -- 9 of 10 models contained the technology -- it now will include 2 projectors with a 3rd based on Texas Instruments’ 0.55” panel waiting in the wings, Muto said. At Infocomm, Viewsonic unveiled the 2.2-lb. PJ256D ($1,499) front projector containing 0.7” panels with 1,024x768 resolution, 2,000:1 and 1,500 lumens, up from 1,100 lumens in the PJ255D that it replaces. “We were largely responding to customer demand, but also felt we needed to diversify our line,” Muto said.

The expanded presence also will let Viewsonic better “segment” its line, Muto said. For example, a front projector with a 0.55” DLP panel and 800x600 resolution may contain an optical zoom and be packaged with a carrying case, while a model with an 0.6” LCD will be stripped of those features to hit a lower price, Muto said. Viewsonic’s current line also models with 0.7” and 0.8” LCDs sourced from Epson, he said.

Infocomm Show Notebook

Taiwan’s Premier Image Technology is said to be making Mitsubishi’s DLP-based 14 oz. pocket projector, expected to ship late Sept. at $699. Mitsubishi officials have declined to comment. Premier, a major supplier of digital cameras -- it forecast shipments of 6 million units this year -- recently began to build front projectors. Premier has forecast shipping 200,000 LCD- based front projectors this year, up from 40,000 a year ago.

----

Scram Technologies, whose novel screen technology landed it in the N.Y. Times in 2003 but stirred little in the way of CE sales, is trying a comeback. The Dunkirk, Md., firm has hired additional optical engineers during the past year and has worked to improve its screen technology’s optical elements, Engineer Ron Liu said. “We've quantified all of our optical elements and we're taking a whole system approach rather than a lens by lens approach,” Liu said. “We found what the most critical issues were in these elements and have gone back and corrected them.” Scram’s technology combines a lens that compresses a projected image with a screen that decompresses it. The screen is made of polymer light guides. To produce it, 4 alternating layers of polymer sheets are laminated together. On both sides of the clear polymer core layer, a cladding layer is added. Matching black polymer layers complete the light guide. The black polymer sheets create a light-wave guide within the clear polymer, helping absorb ambient light and increasing the apparent contrast of the screen. The wave-guide’s thickness varies and Scram has produced 5, 15 and 20 mil versions -- mils representing a measurement of total coating thickness, company officials said. At Infocomm, Scram showed a 52” prototype in a DLP-based rear projection TV, the same size demonstrated in 2003 when Scram announced a development agreement with Samsung that has yet to produce products. Sources close to Samsung in the U.S. said they know of no immediate plans for a finished product using the Scram technology. Scram had planned to start limited production of the screens in Sept. 2003 and increase beyond its 10,000 units per month limit the following year. Scram, however, is continuing to work with Samsung, at that company’s suggestion reducing the depth of the prototype 52” to 11"-12”, Liu said. Scram has used its technology in commercial applications and tiled together 82” screens to create a 260” display for Sega using front projectors at the recent E3 Expo, Liu said. It also is expected to deliver a 5"x5” prototype in July to the U.S. Air Force for use in an LED- based display in the cockpit of an F-18, company officials said. The display will undergo testing in Aug., company officials said. “We're trying to get the military to bear the brunt of our R&D and get the commercial market to take care of the higher margin stuff,” Pres. Raymond Kwong said.