Optoma Breaks $5,000 Price Barrier for High Resolution Home Theater Projectors

Las Vegas, NV (January 8, 2003) - Optoma Technology, Inc., a leading developer of projection and digital display products, today announced the world's first Double Data Rate (DDR) Digital Light Processing home theater projector for under $5,000 - the Optoma H56. Using the advanced DLP technology from Texas Instruments, the H56 brings every detail to life, displaying clear, vivid images - even on screens as large as 200 inches diagonal. The projector delivers a high contrast ratio of 2000:1, two times greater than that of most professional movie theaters. Available January 30th and priced at $4,995 (MSRP), the H56 is expected to be the lowest cost high-resolution home theater projector on the market.

The power of the H56 projector can also be seen in Optoma's attention to every detail and feature desired by home theater professionals and end users. For example, the Optoma H56 is extremely quiet, only 32 dB, so you can hear the movie, not the projector. In addition, the H56 accepts HDTV connections in the form of component video cables as well as next-generation DVI-I digital video. It also supports present-generation signals, such as S-Video and composite video, and "up-converts" these signals so well that users will swear they are viewing content from a high-definition, digital source.

In 4:3 ratio, H56 delivers a resolution of 1024 x 768 and in 16:9, the resolution is 1024 x 576, a 61% increase over standard TVs in this same mode. In addition, the H56 also offers a unique Native Mode feature that allows the incoming video signal to be displayed at its native resolution - without scaling to alter the image. This means viewers see the best possible image.

H56 Improves on the Award-winning H55
The Optoma H56 builds on the features of the multi-award-winning Optoma H55 home theater projector. The two products have similar specifications, but the feature sets and capabilities, not to mention the price points, vary significantly. While the H56 and H55 share the same Silicon Image Sil504 de-interlacer and other powerful technologies, the H56 brings home theater to an entirely new level. For starters, the new projector is built on more advanced, next-generation DLP technology. In addition, Optoma has boosted the contrast ratio on the H56 by a whopping 100% from 1000:1 to 2000:1.

Both of Optoma's home theater projectors are optimized for vivid, true color projection, but H56 takes it a step further. The new projector features a new 6-segment color wheel coated with an advanced material that achieves superb color saturation - especially in the area of projecting rich reds.

Like the H55, the brightness, contrast, color and aspect ratio settings of the H56 are optimized for each video source at the factory. Because of this, end users will notice video quality that is higher than from other projectors right out of the box. Users can also make adjustments to these image settings for each video source and save the settings for future use.

The H-series projectors' flawless reverse 3:2 pulldown and other processing technologies allow movies and other video to be displayed as the director intended them to be viewed - without the artifacts and annoying jerkiness created by competing projectors. As a testament to H56's proficiency in de-interlacing, for instance, Optoma recommends that users defeat line doubling on many DVD players to allow the process to be accomplished inside the H56.

About Optoma Technology
Optoma Technology, Inc. is a leading developer of projection and digital display products for business and home. The company manufacturers multimedia projectors for mobile users, fixed installations and home theater, HDTVs, LCD flat panel monitors, and thin-client terminals. Optoma products combine superior image processing technologies with exceptional engineering and innovation to deliver images that are bright, crystal clear, and finely tuned for tone and color. Optoma's award-winning products are sold through the company's global network of pro AV dealers, major consumer electronics retailers, and internet resellers. The Optoma worldwide headquarters is located in Milpitas, CA. For more information, contact Optoma at 408-383-3700 or 888-942-2929 or visit www.optoma.com.

Optoma names and logos are registered trademarks of Optoma Technology, Inc. Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby recognized.