SONY RAISES CURTAIN ON UNIQUE FRONT PROJECTOR SCREEN
FOR HOME THEATER ENTHUSIASTS

LAS VEGAS (CES, BOOTH #N109), Jan. 5, 2005 - Balancing the growing popularity of home theaters with the reality of many home lighting situations, Sony has developed an ideal partner for its VPL-HS51 projector, the ChromaVue™ screen (also known as "Black Screen" technology).

The ChromaVue HCS-W80 projector screen was developed to provide high-contrast images even in rooms with ambient light. The screen, with a peak gain of 1.7, creates a bright image, resulting from a special multi-layer technology that provides image contrast more than five times better than conventional white screens in the presence of surrounding light. This technology reflects the light from the projector while rejecting ambient lighting. Excess outside brightness washing out the image will be limited, helping to maintain the original rich, bright projected scenes with outstanding black levels.

With an 80-inch screen size and weighing only 17 pounds, the ChromaVue wall panel has a larger screen capability than most fixed-pixel or rear projection micro-display technologies and can easily be attached to the wall.

Consumers can view sports or movies from a front projector with the large screen in the horizontal 16:9 aspect ratio, providing the ultimate home theater experience.

"Traditional dark room home theaters are no longer necessary with the ChromaVue screen. It's enabling consumers to enjoy TV and movies from a front projector," said Mike Fidler, senior vice president of Sony Electronics Home Products Division. "This screen is optimized to provide outstanding picture performance from Sony's VPL-HS51 projector, enabling images and video to be delivered at their best."

The VPL-HS51 is the next-generation Cineza® front projector equipped with the latest 3LCD panel. This model features an advanced iris function, enabling the projector to dynamically adjust the video image according to the level of the input signal. This results in high contrast ratio of up to 6000:1, along with reproduction of the most subtle details. The HS51 also incorporates three proprietary 720p LCD panels that provide 2,764,800 pixel resolution (1280x720) optimized for HD video input.

The new screen will be available this spring for about $2,000, and the VPL-HS51 projector is now available for about $3,500.