DNP is pleased to announce that it has successfully developed three types of screen for use in Micro-Display (MD) type rear-projection TVs.
DNP will commence marketing these products from April 2005, and expects sales of 20 billion yen from MD type rear-projection TV screens in the year ending March 31, 2006.
The market for large-screen TVs is sharply expanding, and large-screen rear-projection TVs (PTV) in excess of 50 inches are in the spotlight as they are cheaper than LCD and plasma TVs. There are two types of PTV, the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) type and the MD type, the latter of which had captured an 11% share of the market (some 550,000 units per annum) based on sales for the year ended March 31, 2004. Some of the features of the MD type PTV are that it is possible to display high-definition images and employ a flat-screen design, and DNP estimates that it will boost overall market share to 35% (2.1 million units per annum) in the year ending March 31, 2005, and 50% or 3.3 million units in the following year.
DNP has seized a world-leading share of approximately 55% of the global market for PTV screens (CRT and MD types,) but will commence marketing a new type screen for MD type PTVs, as increased demand is expected, and expect to be able to maintain our dominant market presence in the PTV screen market as a result.

The newly developed screens are in line with client needs for further price-reductions, better image-quality and improved quality from PTVs, and will work to give MD type PTVs an even more competitive edge.

Low-priced High-quality MD type PTV Screens
This is a new low-priced, high-quality screen compatible with "HD3," the newly developed Digital Light Processing^TM (DLP) ^*1 element from Dallas-based Texas Instruments Incorporated.
The structure of the screen for MD type PTV is made up of two lens-sheets comprised of a numerous micro-concentric Fresnel lens and a micro total reflection prism ^*2 which are joined together. In order to prevent the generation of moire stripes (stripe patterns that appear on the surface of the screen,) it was necessary to keep the pitch of the lens-sheet below the normal 0.1mm, and that fed into increased costs.
The newly developed screen maintains an optimum optical design for "HD3," and moire stripes are not generated even at a pitch of 0.5mm. By manufacturing the new screen via a high-productivity continuous process, it is possible to supply the screen at a lower cost compared to existing MD screens.
It has also been possible to boost the black-stripe ratio and lens-design based ideas, and as a result such performance based criteria as brightness has seen improvements of approximately 10%, while contrast has also been improved by approximately 30% when compared to existing MD type PTV screens, all of which works to facilitate the delivery of even higher-definition images.

*1 Digital Light Processing ^TM is a Texas Instruments trademark.

*2 Total Reflection Prism
Designed so that incoming light sets-off total-reflections in the interior of the prism.

Glass One-piece Screen
This screen is most suitably employed with flat-screen type PTVs. A one-piece screen that uses a glass-substrate, the structure combines a unified fresnel-lens and total-reflection prism sheet on the front and rear of the glass-substrate, and by using a total-reflection prism sheet it has been possible to restrain scintillation. It has also been possible to eliminate image-distortion, a result of humidity or even the smallest deformation, which has been a problem with flat-screen type PTVs to date, and achieve the kind of high-definition images - via the flatness of the glass - that were not possible with the existing plastic. In the past it was possible to restrain deformation by boosting the thickness of the fresnel-lens to around 5mm, but by using 2mm thick glass it is now possible to keep humidity-caused deformation to between 1/5 and 1/7 of previous levels, and achieve a lighter single sheet screen. The DNP developed MD type PTV is also ahead of the curve in that it is a high-definition, flat-screen, light, environmental resistant screen, that fulfils all anticipated trend-developments.

Screen with Improved Wider Vertical Viewing Angle
While existing projection screens have a wide left-right viewing angle, the vertical viewing angle have been restricted, and have the draw back of not being able to see the images when viewed from either the top or bottom. With the newly developed DNP screen the wider vertical viewing angle (the angle at which brightness is 50%) has been vastly improved to 20 degree from the existing 10 degree.
So far, diffusing agents have been used to broaden the wider vertical viewing angle, but even then it was not possible to achieve an adequate viewing angle.
By pasting two total-reflection prism sheets made up of numerous strung pedestal lenses in place of the conventional lenses rotating each other in 90 degree, light is diffused not only on a lateral basis but vertically too, so that the newly developed DNP screen manages to achieve an expansion of the wider vertical viewing angle that was not possible with existing technologies.