DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY NEWS

New Epson P-3000 and P-5000 Handheld Multimedia Storage Viewers Feature World's First Four-Color LCD, Delivering More Than 16.7 Million Colors For Industry-Leading Clarity and Detail

Portable Multimedia Storage Viewers Feature 40-80 GB Hard Drives and Faster Image Processing for Storing and Viewing Digital Photos, Videos and Music Files

LONG BEACH, Calif., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing to meet and exceed the needs of digital photographers, photo enthusiasts and business professionals, Epson this week introduced its latest multimedia storage viewers, the Epson P-3000 and Epson P-5000. With Epson's exclusive Photo Fine® Ultra technology, the P-3000 and P-5000 feature the world's first four-color filter system displaying 16.7 million colors to deliver Adobe® RGB color support(1). The new P-3000 and P-5000 provide a fast, convenient way to download, store and view photos in superior resolution and detail on-the-spot.

Building upon many of the features and strengths of previous Epson multimedia storage viewers, the P-3000 and P-5000 offer 40GB(2) and 80GB(3) hard drive capacities (respectively) for storing and sharing thousands of digital photos, videos and music files. The P-3000 and P-5000 are designed to be the ultimate companions to any digital camera, featuring a high-quality, four-inch LCD for industry-leading precision, clarity and color, wider file support (including RAW), faster download and processing speeds, built-in memory card slots, and longer battery life than previous Epson models.

"Without a doubt, these two products set a new standard of excellence in image quality in the area of handheld multimedia storage devices," said Jennifer Burl, product manager, Epson. "The clarity, crisp details and amazing range of colors achieved by the P-3000 and P-5000 put them miles ahead of the competition, and you'll certainly understand why once you see them. And, with faster download speeds and a larger range of file support, including the popular DivX® video format, these light-weight, handheld viewers offer the ultimate in portability for demanding photo enthusiasts, professionals and consumers alike, whether on-location, at work, at home, or traveling."

Features of the Epson P-3000 and P-5000 Multimedia Storage Viewers

The Epson P-3000 and P-5000 Multimedia Storage Viewers offer many new and innovative features that give both professionals and enthusiasts a fast, convenient way to download, view and store photos and videos, and store and listen to music on-the-spot. Product highlights include:

• Large Four-inch LCD: View and share images and videos with precise clarity and detail in 640 x 480 high-resolution
  
  
• World's First Four-Color LCD: New Photo Fine Ultra technology offers the world's first four-color filter system of red, blue, emerald green and yellow green, rather than the standard three-color LCD technology; capable of displaying over 16.7 million colors, enabling images to be reproduced more accurately than ever before
• High Capacity Hard Drive: Download, view and store thousands of JPEG and RAW photos, or videos and music with either a 40GB (P-3000) or 80GB (P-5000) hard disk drive
  
  
• Adobe RGB Color Space Support: Supports images taken in Adobe RGB and a wide color gamut reproduces 88 percent of Adobe RGB color space
  
  
• Expanded File Support: Supports image files (JPEG, EXIF and select RAW files), video files (MPEG4, Motion JPEG and DivX) and audio files (MP3 and AAC)
  
  
• Faster Download Speeds: New processor provides speeds up to 250 percent faster than previous models
  
  
• New Interface: An improved interface and three viewing modes enable users to quickly organize files, create albums and slideshows and assign file ratings for easy access
  
  
• Long Battery Life: Rechargeable lithium ion battery delivers up to three hours worth of power to run in continuous slide show or video modes
  
  
• Built-in Memory Card Slots: Two built-in slots for Compact Flash® I/II and Secure Digital™ memory cards; many other cards supported via third-party adapter
  
  
• Direct Printing: Print photos directly to select Epson printers via USB 2.0 connection

The Epson P-3000 and P-5000 are designed to address the ever-increasing digital storage needs for multimedia applications. The Epson P-3000 has a 40GB hard drive and the Epson P-5000 has an 80GB hard drive for storing thousands of music, video, or image files. With increased support for viewing and zooming JPEG and select RAW files, as well as the addition of DivX video support, the P-3000 and P-5000 offer a wide variety of supported file formats. They also come with Epson's new Link2 software, which provides an automatic file conversion function for most music and movie formats, as well as the ability to build, edit and store music playlists.

The Epson P-3000 and P-5000 are designed with a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface for easy and quick file transfer to a computer. Once images have been downloaded to the viewers from a memory card, they can be connected to a computer to back up the images to ensure they are saved. The P-3000 and P-5000 are both Windows® and Macintosh® compatible.

Pricing and Availability

The Epson P-3000 and P-5000 are currently available through authorized dealers, mail order, photo specialty stores, select retail outlets, distribution, select retail Web sites, and on the Epson retail Web site (http://www.epsonstore.com/) for a price of $499 and $699, respectively. The product carries a one-year limited warranty and is supported by the EPSON Connection(SM), a customer support and technical assistance line. For more information on Epson and its products, call 1-800-GO-EPSON (1-800-463-7766) or visit the company's Web site at http://www.epson.com/.