NEC Sets New Price Performance Standard for Widescreen Home Entertainment With HT1100 Projector Featuring 3500:1 Contrast Ratio

CHICAGO, March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- NEC Solutions (America), Inc. today set a new industry standard for price performance and advanced the award-winning image quality of its ShowCase Series home entertainment projectors with the introduction of the HT1100. The new product significantly enhances the design of NEC's previous generation HT1000, which won the coveted Home Theater Magazine 2003 RAVE Award as well as Stereophile Guide to Home Theater's 2004 Editor's Choice Gold Award for its superior home theater performance.

The ShowCase Series HT1100 features a jaw-dropping 3500:1 contrast ratio, the highest in its class, for richer, more detailed blacks and a genuine film look. A bright 1100 ANSI lumens produces images that pop off the screen in a home theater environment. An enhanced 5X color wheel creates pure, natural colors.

By using a higher resolution chip than competitively priced 1024 x 576 products, NEC's HT1100 gives users additional horsepower. Using the projector's full panel display and an optional anamorphic lens, users can achieve a higher resolution 1024 x 768 image for greater detail and enhanced image quality while maintaining a 16 x 9 widescreen image.

"NEC's new HT1100 offers users the ability to produce a stunning, film- like, 200" widescreen image in the comfort of their home," said Don Fasick, portable projector product manager for NEC Solutions America, Visual Systems division. "It is the ultimate product for large-screen home entertainment, enabling larger-than-life display of everything from DVDs to cable TV, HDTV, video games, computers, and digital pictures."

The HT1100 also progresses NEC's home theater capabilities with the debut of SweetVision II(TM), a chip-based technology that increases the projector's contrast for more vibrant images, more realistic colors and richer, more detailed blacks. The HT1100 additionally offers users the most extensive picture management capabilities in its class with both interlaced and progressive signals, giving users the ability to customize the image using SweetVision II for an even better picture.

The HT1100's variable IRIS feature, an adjustable lever that lets the user stop down the lens aperture to fine-tune the contrast/brightness relationship, helps the projector reach its incredible contrast levels. The projector's image quality is further enhanced by NEC's enhanced 3D 10-bit video decoder, which improves image luminance and color and reduces noise for an enhanced overall viewing experience.

NEC's exclusive 3D Reform(TM) technology uses horizontal, vertical and diagonal keystone correction to let users set up the projector virtually anywhere in the room and still get an aligned image. With comprehensive aspect ratio control, the HT1100 enables viewing of movies, DVDs and HDTV all on the big screen in their native 16:9, 1.85:1, and 2.35:1 formats. With NEC's unique vertical image shift feature, the projected image can also be positioned to the top of the screen, eliminating the black bars seen with selected sources and aspect ratios.

With security features like password protection, a control panel lock function and a lock slot, the HT1100 gives users peace of mind. It also gives users an EcoMode(TM) lower light output option that extends the projector's lamp life up to 3000 hours and lowers fan noise to a barely audible 29dB. The HT1100 additionally comes equipped with a digital photo viewer for big-screen enjoyment of digital photos from a PC card or CompactFlash(TM). And with one- touch setup and operation, built-in 2Wx2 speakers, and a full-function backlit remote, the HT1100 can be easily integrated for almost instant enjoyment.

Complete Service and Support Program
The HT1100 is backed by two years of NEC's industry-leading warranty coverage. According to Pacific Media Associates' 2002 Large-Screen Displays Reseller Survey, NEC ranked highest among all display manufacturers for product quality/reliability and warranty repair/return programs. In the survey, resellers rated product quality/reliability as the most important single attribute of a large-screen display manufacturer.

Availability
NEC's new HT1100 projector will ship in April 2004. The manufacturer's suggested retail pricing on the new projectors is $4,795, or $4,995 for the projector bundled with the optional anamorphic lens. More information about NEC's new ShowCase Series projector can be obtained at www.necvisualsystems.com or by calling (800) NEC-INFO.

NEC Solutions America
NEC Solutions (America), Inc. is a premier provider of integrated solutions for the Connected Enterprise in North America. As an affiliate of NEC Corporation (NASDAQ:NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.1), NEC Solutions America taps into a global resource network to help clients leverage technology to achieve a competitive edge. From mobile enterprise computing systems, biometric security solutions, business intelligence, projector and plasma display solutions, business service management and IT professional services, the expertise is delivered with the personal attention needed to address individual situations. With headquarters in Rancho Cordova, California, NEC Solutions America maintains research, marketing, sales and support facilities throughout the United States. Information regarding NEC Solutions America can be found at www.necsam.com.