Christie Takes High Brightness Mainstream

Christie added two new LCD projectors to its product lineup – the Christie LWU420 and the Christie LW555. The LWU420 targets professional users in need of WUXGA high resolution, while the LW555 fills the need for an affordable WXGA high brightness widescreen projector, according to the company.

The Christie LWU420 is a 4,200-lumen projector that supports WUXGA (1920×1200) resolution, making it suitable for small to medium-sized venues, including video conference rooms, meeting rooms, and training rooms, company officials said. The LWU420 delivers full HD capability, auto horizontal/vertical digital keystone correction, vertical and horizontal lens shift, 10-bit image processing for better gray scaling, a 1,000:1 contrast ratio, and a 2x zoom lens.

“With the Christie LWU420 we have an extremely high resolution product that is both compact and has the highest brightness in its category of LCD business projectors,”

“The market demanded a high brightness, high resolution product for corporate fixed installs and education that provides full HD capacity,” said Christie product manager Frank Anzures, in a statement. “The ability to display resolutions greater than 1080p provides more detail for intricate maps, CAD drawings in a classroom, or larger, clearer spreadsheets for a business meeting…This is our premium professional projector in the 4000 lumens category.”

The 5,500-lumen Christie LW555 projector features native WXGA resolution (1280×800), a center lens design with a fully motorized lens shift, inorganic LCD panels, a top-loading lamp for easy access, 10-bit image processing, and 3D Keystone technology.

“With our new 3D Keystone technology, users can place the projector almost anywhere in the room and still create a perfect picture,” said Anzures. “The user can independently adjust any of the four corners to adjust for any keystone distortion caused by the projector’s placement.”

The Christie LWU420 and the Christie LW555 ship in July.

Source: PRO AV News Service
Publication date: June 23, 2010

By PRO AV Editors

Cisco Makes Recommended Offer to Acquire TANDBERG

SAN JOSE, Calif., NEW YORK, and, OSLO, Norway, October 1, 2009 – Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to launch a recommended voluntary cash offer to acquire TANDBERG (OSLO: TAA.OL).  TANDBERG, based in Oslo, Norway, and New York, is a global leader in video communications, including a broad range of world-class video endpoint and network infrastructure solutions with intercompany and multi-vendor interoperability. With this proposed acquisition, Cisco will expand its collaboration portfolio to offer more solutions to a greater number of customers, further accelerating market adoption globally.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all the outstanding shares of TANDBERG for 153.5 Norwegian Kroner per share for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.0 billion.  This represents an 11.0% premium to the previous day closing price of TANDBERG’s stock, and a 25.2% premium to the 3-month volume weighted average closing price for TANDBERG’s stock.  The proposal was recommended unanimously by TANDBERG’s board of directors.

The acquisition is expected to close during the first half of calendar year 2010; however, the close date is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory review in the United States and elsewhere.  Cisco expects the acquisition to be accretive to Cisco’s non-GAAP earnings in fiscal year 2011.

Highlights / Key Facts:

• Cisco’s collaboration vision is to enable a sustainable, new level of enterprise productivity, agility and innovation by transforming the way people interact, share knowledge and deliver productive outcomes within and across organizations.
• TelePresence and high-quality video have redefined how users communicate through easy-to-use, immersive, high-quality video experiences and are becoming a larger segment of the broader collaboration market.
• TANDBERG’s leading video endpoints and network infrastructure solution will be integrated into Cisco’s world-class collaboration architecture.
• This will enable intercompany and multi-vendor interoperability and ease of use across the full product portfolio – from desktop to immersive, multi-screen TelePresence.  This interoperability will benefit Cisco’s customers, but also competitors and partners by accelerating customer interest in video collaboration globally.
• Cisco continues to invest in the European market as a center of innovation across all market segments, and will continue to drive global growth by positioning TANDBERG’s Norway operations as a European center of video excellence alongside our Service Provider video team in Kortrijk, Belgium.
• TANDBERG’s 1,500 employees globally, with innovation centers in Norway and the United Kingdom, will be extremely important as Cisco’s team continues to drive video innovation and growth.
• Upon completion of the transaction, TANDBERG’s CEO Fredrik Halvorsen will lead the new TelePresence Technology Group, reporting to Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of Cisco’s Emerging Technologies Group.

Quotes:

• John Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Cisco

“Cisco and TANDBERG have remarkably similar cultures and a shared vision to change the way the world works through collaboration and video communications technologies,” said Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers. “Collaboration is a $34 billion market and is growing rapidly—enabled by networked Web 2.0 technologies.  This acquisition showcases Cisco’s financial strength and ability to quickly capture key market transitions for growth.”

• Fredrik Halvorsen, Chief Executive Officer, TANDBERG

“Cisco and TANDBERG share a vision of changing the way people communicate and collaborate,” said TANDBERG Chief Executive Officer Fredrik Halvorsen. “This transaction is a vote of confidence, not just in TANDBERG but in our technology and our people.  The combination of world-class technologies, Cisco’s global scale, and exceptional people from both organizations will enable us to accelerate innovation and market adoption.”

Media Opportunities:

• Cisco CEO John Chambers and TANDBERG CEO Fredrik Halvorsen will host a joint investor call on Oct. 1 at 12 p.m. CET (3 a.m. PT) to discuss the proposed transaction. The dial-in number is +1 212.287.1646 (international) and (888) 788 8648 (United States).  Replay of the event is available until October 16 at +1 203.369.0122 (international) and (866) 357 4205 (United States).
• Cisco CEO John Chambers and TANDBERG CEO Fredrik Halvorsen will host a joint press conference on Oct. 1 at 12:45 p.m. CET (3:45 a.m. PT) at the Hotel Continental; Stortingsgaten 24/26, Oslo, Norway. Members of the media are invited to attend in person, dial in to the event or listen to an audiocast. The dial-in number are +44 (0)20 7806 1950 (international) and (888) 935 4575 (United States). Replay of the event is available until October 7 at +47 2100 0498 (international) and (866) 932 5017 (United States). The audiocast will be available at http://nongrata.seria.net/embed.php?id=23717.
• Cisco CEO John Chambers and TANDBERG CEO Fredrik Halvorsen will host a joint multi-point TelePresence roundtable session for investors, analysts and the media on Oct. 1 at 4 p.m. CET (7 a.m. PT) in Oslo, San Jose, Boston and Bedfont Lakes. To watch a live webcast of this session, please click here. Please note that online registration is required.  A broadcast replay will be available within 24 hours.  For more information on this announcement, please visit newsroom.cisco.com.

Useful Links:

• Video featuring John Chambers, Cisco Chairman and CEO, and Fredrik Halvorsen, TANDBERG CEO, discussing the proposed transaction. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/videos/ciscotandberg_093009.html

RSS Feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html

Tags / Keywords:

Cisco, TANDBERG, collaboration, TelePresence, video

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

About TANDBERG

TANDBERG is the leading provider of telepresence, high-definition videoconferencing and mobile video products and services. The Company has dual headquarters in New York and Oslo. TANDBERG designs, develops and markets systems and software for video, voice and data communication. The Company provides sales, support and value-added services in more than 90 countries worldwide. TANDBERG is publicly traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker TAA.OL. Please visit www.tandberg.com for more information.

# # #

Cisco, the Cisco logo and Cisco Systems are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

TANDBERG is a registered trademark or trademark in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the expected completion of the acquisition and the time frame in which this will occur, the expected benefits to Cisco from completing the acquisition, the impact of the combined company on relevant markets and plans regarding TANDBERG personnel.  Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results due to a variety of factors, including, among other things, obtaining a sufficient number of tendered shares of common stock and regulatory approval of the acquisition, the potential impact on the business of TANDBERG due to the uncertainty about the acquisition, the retention of employees of TANDBERG and the ability of Cisco to successfully integrate TANDBERG and to achieve expected benefits, business and economic conditions and growth trends in the networking industry, customer markets and various geographic regions, global economic conditions and uncertainties in the geopolitical environment and other risk factors set forth in Cisco’s most recent report on Form 10-K.  Any forward-looking statements in this release are based on limited information currently available to Cisco, which is subject to change, and Cisco will not necessarily update the information.

3D, Coming to a Conference Room

If there is one trend in display technology that has captivated the public’s attention, it’s 3D imaging. More and more animated movies are being released in 3D, and there’s plenty of convincing proof that 3D versions generate more box office receipts than conventional, “flat” 2D prints and digital releases. 3D is coming to television, too, albeit not as quickly.

During the 2009 Super Bowl, viewers who wore anaglyph glasses could watch a 3D trailer for the animated feature Monsters vs. Aliens and a 3D commercial for Pepsi’s SoBe energy water. The 3D effect was erratic and primitive, but it worked at times. (NBC followed up the next night with an episode of Chuck in 3D, also using anaglyph coding.)It gets better. YouTube is currently testing anaglyph 3D videos on its website and apparently hopes to make them a regular feature. And there are already consumer HDTVs and projectors that can work with more sophisticated active-shutter stereoscopic glasses, using Texas Instrument’s digital light processing chips.

Demos have also been done using plasma displays, which by nature are fast enough to sequence left eye/right eye information for active-shutter viewing. And in the LCD camp, we’ve seen glassless 3D demos using specialized front-surface polarizing glass (more of a novelty than a practical 3D solution, from my perspective), as well as conventional 3D sequencing using a 240-Hz picture refresh rate.

In short, 3D has captured a disproportionate share of the spotlight lately. And it was no surprise to see 3D featured prominently in several booths at InfoComm 09, most notably in DLP projector demonstrations using TI’s DLP Link synchronization technology.The abundance of 3D imaging products and demos at InfoComm 09 caught many analysts and reporters by surprise. So did prices for the technology. One industry veteran actually told me that the prices for 3D-equipped DLP classroom projectors were too low, and he suspected TI and its partner manufacturers were trying to jump-start 3D business instead of supporting the higher profit margins that 3D products should expect and realize.

So is 3D for real, or is it a fad? Does it really have any place in our industry? A growing number of industry groups seem to think 3D will become pervasive in a short time. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) formed a working group to research delivery of 3D and issued a report of its findings in April. 3D was also a big topic at the National Association of Broadcasters’ Digital Cinema Summit. And the TI DLP Link demos at InfoComm showed that affordable classroom projectors could be adapted for 3D projection with minimal added cost.

In fact, though there are obstacles to 3D viewing at home, such as inconsistency in viewing distances, viewing angles, and screen sizes, those obstacles aren’t as problematic in a classroom or lecture hall that’s already been designed for optimal 2D viewing. And the possibilities in the pro space are endless, from 3D views of the human body for anatomy classes to exploded views of machinery and engines, the solar system, geophysical features, chemical compounds, you name it. If it can be rendered in 3D, rotated, turned, and enlarged, it’s a candidate for 3D imaging.

Selling 3D

Can dealers and integrators sell 3D to their customers? Aside from the usual “I saw it in a theater, so I want it at home” requests, there’s a good case to be made for 3D-ready enterprise installations, particularly in any kind of education environment. That means your current customers should look into their crystal balls and see if 3D would make sense for them down the road before you start specifying equipment. Why? Because not all display technologies handle 3D imaging with equal aplomb.

It’s a certain bet that most 3D projector installations will rely on active-shutter technology. A single projector switches at high enough speeds to sequence the left-eye and right-eye information, making stacking unnecessary and providing the best spatial separation with minimal crosstalk. At present, the only regular demos I’ve seen of 3D projection have used DLP projectors, using both single-chip and three-chip light engines. DMDs can switch at extremely high speeds with no image retention problems; so active shutter 3D is a walk in the park for them.

How about LCoS and 3LCD? I have seen 3D demos on D-ILA projection systems, but nothing featuring 3LCD technology just yet. In theory, both systems should be able to handle 120-Hz refresh rates, making them compatible with active shutter glasses. In practice, the question is how much blur and image persistence would actually occur.In the flat-panel arena, the best 3D demos have relied on plasma technology. Panasonic showed live 3D imaging on a 103-inch PDP in its NAB Show booth. Samsung has also demonstrated a variety of 3D clips from video games, animation, and live HD footage. LCD monitors, however, have it tougher.

Faster refresh rates aren’t a real problem for LCD, particularly with LED backlights now coming to market. LEDs can switch hundreds of times per second without breathing hard, but that extra speed is currently put to use eliminating the motion blur artifacts seen on conventional LCD displays. Whatever refresh rate is optimal for minimal blurring must then be doubled to sequence the left-eye/right-eye information. 120-Hz isn’t quite fast enough to sharpen motion blur. The best hope currently for 3D on LCD displays would be a 240-Hz system doubled to 480 Hz-a system that would have to rely on LEDs at such speeds.

Despite all the qualifiers, 3D has arrived. The question is, how fast will our industry adopt it, and for which vertical markets? I’m betting education will be first out of the gate, using primarily front- and rear-projection installations. But ultimately AV pros are on the front lines of adoption. So what are you seeing?

Source: Pro AV MAGAZINE
Publication date: September 16, 2009

By Pete Putman, CTS

Pete Putman is a PRO AV contributing editor and president of ROAM Consulting in Doylestown, Pa.

The World’s Brightest, Best HD Digital Projector

There’s only one projector with the brightest, highest resolution HD image – the Christie Roadie HD+35K. Rounding out Christie’s expansive 3-chip DLP® product line up, there’s no comparison for resolution, brightness or performance.

Producing 32,500 ANSI lumens (35,000 center lumens), this newest Roadie features Christie’s unique, flexible split-body design with separate switching lamp ballast. The Christie Roadie HD+35K includes a rear air exhaust hood for improved stack-ability and a new motorized lens mount enables you to focus and adjust lens position using a remote control.

With native 2048 x 1080 HD resolution and 10-bit image processing, images are simply stunning in their size, brilliance and quality. The user-replaceable lamps can be automatically aligned at the push of a button and user-friendly controls ensure easy maintenance and servicing. Along with built-in body handles for handling and rigging or an optional stacking/rigging frame this tough, manageable projector is built for true road worthiness – frequent transport and quick set-up.

Samsung Intros New LED HDTV Series

SMART unveils new widescreen interactive whiteboard system

24p now available for your XDCAM PDW-700 camcorder

The 24p option for the PDW-700 camcorder, CBKZ-FC02 is now available! Be ready for all your creative jobs that require the “cine-look” of 24p. The suggested list price of the CBKZ-FC02 is $4,550.

Rebate Promotion:
If you purchased a PDW-700 XDCAM HD422 camcorder between April 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009, you will be eligible to receive a $1,500 mail in end user rebate on the purchase of CBKZ-FC02. You must place an order for the CBKZ-FC02 by September 30, 2009 to be eligible for this rebate. For details and to claim: www.sony.com/XDCAM24pRebate

Please note if you have already purchased a PDW-700 camcorder, and your serial number is 12453 or lower, your camcorder will need a hardware modification in order to install the CBKZ-FC02. This modification can be handled by the Sony Authorized Service Centers listed below.

There is no charge to the customer for this hardware modification and installation of the CBKZ-FC02. However, the customer is responsible for purchasing the CBKZ-FC02 and for all shipping costs of the unit to the Sony Service center.

Contact:
For more information on this upgrade, please contact me at 630-477-2358.