OLYMPUS TECHNOZONE Vol.49 2001-03

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New possibilities from movie theaters to homes with development of curved variant

Sumio Kawai Eye-Trek for PlayStation2
Sumio Kawai
The Infocom system, due to be shownat an industry trade show in LasVegas in June 2001, comprises ahigh-definition large-screen displayand the Eye-Trek personal large-screen system.
The model pictured is designed to be used with the Sony PlayStation 2.
Sumio Kawai

----Will the arch-shaped variant be developed into a product?

Y. Komiya: 
It needs a little bit more time before we will have it ready as a product. One idea that we have had is to combine a curved screen with a dome structure so that it could extend around the walls and cover the ceiling of a room. We have a plan together for realizing this product in the spring of 2001.

Y. Suzuki: 
The arch-shape variant makes it ideal for theaters or amusement parks where the audience can see an image from a number of different directions. According to people inside the entertainment industry, viewers can quickly get bored with new technology, so you have to use something that will really thrill and excite them. Many people from the industry saw the arch-shaped variant at the DreamTech exhibition, and were suitably impressed with its potential in this regard. We have thought up a number of ways in which the system could be used in the industry. And our dreams are expanding, too.

----Even theaters in regional areas have very good facilities. There seems to be a wide range of prospective uses...


T. Nishio: 
Since movies are now also starting to go digital, we think that this kind of product has global potential.

Y. Komiya: 
Home video is now well-established in many homes. People are used to screening what they have just shot straight away in a home setting. So movie theaters need to keep providing that sense of awe and wonder, or else we could all just stay at home instead. And this product brings to life that world of images you would normally associate with going to the movies.

T. Nishio: 
Seeing Godzilla on a small screen is just boring.

Y. Komiya: 
Of course, someday we can develop a giant-screen high-definition display system that would also be thin enough to fit into people's homes. That's our dream, in a sense.

Y. Suzuki: 
It's hard to imagine getting anything that is 100 inches across into the average Japanese home. But in the United States, the size is not a problem, so the cheaper we can make the product the better. For the Japanese home appliance market, we will not get anywhere until we can make it something you could fix onto a wall.

----Isn't one of these being installed at the Olympus head office?


Y. Suzuki: 
Yes--after all, there's nothing like seeing it with your own eyes! To let everyone see how amazing high definition this new product is, we put the first equipment into the reception area of the Olympus head office for the whole of March 2001. A lot of people came to see it.

----What is the Infocom, which is scheduled to be displayed for the first time in June 2001?


Y. Suzuki: 
Once a year, the world's largest trade show for giant-screen displays is held in the United States. Many people from the industry gather at that event, so it's a great place to show off new products. It promises to be an excellent opportunity to show the world that Olympus has put a lot of effort into developing such systems.

We have also developed a large-screen system for personal use, called Eye-Trek, which is incorporated into the Infocom system (see photo). This means that we have large-screen products for displaying images both to audiences and to single viewers. Our thinking at the moment is to display the HDPS100 and the Eye-Trek together at the show in the United States. That should convince people that Olympus is a really innovative manufacturer.
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