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 In addition, it enables modules to be made slimmer and more compact, permitting the display to be used in a variety of applications--from mobile phones and digital still/video cameras, to car navigation systems, rear-seat entertainment consoles, and multimedia players--with zero or minimal modifications. Photo Fine Vistarich also features near-constant gray-to-gray response times, resulting in clear, uniform images, which are ideal for re-producing fast-moving images, such as in sports broadcasts.
"Most of the other companies that make wide-angle displays focus on medium- to large-sized LCDs," comments Masakatsu Higa, manager of the Element Development Department. "With such screens, there's no need to aim for the super- high definition that we've achieved with Vistarich; the pixels can be fairly large, and this won't detract significantly from the viewing experience. Moreover, you wouldn't be concerned about minute savings in physical dimensions and power consumption when manufacturing a wide-screen TV monitor, for instance. But when you're dealing with displays for mobile devices that run on batteries, every fraction of a millimeter or milliwatt saved has a very big effect."
"This is where our traditional strengths in small and medium-sized displays come into play," adds Kaneko. "We're willing to work hand-in-hand with our manufacturing customers to fine-tune our displays and accommodate their specifications. We have the experience, know-how, and readiness to develop displays that cater precisely to our customers' needs."
Epson Imaging Devices believes the wide-viewing-angle technology will make its lineup of amorphous silicon and low-temperature polysilicon TFT displays unbeatable in the active-matrix LCD market, especially when applied in combination with its
Photo Fine Chromarich technology, announced in October 2005, which features an extended color range.
Photo Fine Chromarich displays represented a quantum leap in color reproduction for mobile devices, boasting over 100% coverage of the NTSC* color gamut with a four-color filter system, rather than the standard red, green, and blue (RGB) filters. This means that the high-resolution Photo Fine Chromarich displays can accurately show images as they are viewed by the human eye or reproduced by a color printer.
*For further information about Photo Fine Chromarich, please click here.
Volume production of Photo Fine Vistarich displays is scheduled to commence in the last quarter of 2006. Epson Imaging Devices produced samples in five sizes (2.4-inch, 2.5-inch, 2.8-inch, 7.0-inch, and 10.1-inch) for the May press announcement, some of which were publicly exhibited for the first time at an automotive engineering trade fair in Yokohama, Japan, in May 2006. Epson Imaging Devices hopes its breakthrough technologies for wider viewing angles and color gamut will significantly broaden applications for its industry-leading small and medium-sized displays.
* NTSC stands for National Television System
Committee, the committee that draws up the
technical standards for terrestrial analog television
broadcasting in the United States. NTSC also
refers to the standard format set out by the committee
in 1953. Color reproduction is achieved
through an additive color process based on the
three primary colors (red, green, and blue, or
RGB). The NTSC format is the basis for TV color
reproduction in Japan, the United States, Canada,
and Latin America.
Nozomu Kawamoto is a freelance writer and translator based in Kyoto.
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