We started putting ads in professional magazines such as HiVi and AV Review. Our marketing people also brought the Pure Mat screen into specialty stores. However, at most of the stores, they were told, "The screen doesn't have enough brightness, does it?" and were treated coldly. There were only some limited stores where the Pure Mat was on display. Therefore, the Pure Mat was rarely sold, and we felt irritated for many days because our firm's concept could not reach the market.
Then, a legend about the Pure Mat arose. Some specialty stores and consumers started to think, "This screen is good, isn't it?" and the number of such people quietly and steadily increased. Our ads might have been effective. There were a growing number of devotees who described the effects of the Pure Mat as "natural images" or "no artificial coloring," and said, "We want to see it!" Because there were few places where the Pure Mat was on display, its popularity was heightened as a visionary screen. As a result, the number of people who wanted to see the screen went on increasing.
The timing of the entry of the Pure Mat into the market was good. In the spring of 2001, Sony's well-known VPL-VW10HT, a projector for a home theater, was remodeled into the VW-11. This product was so popular that it was selected as a "best buy" in the magazine HiVi before it was put into the market. Plus's low-priced DLP projector #HE-3100 captured the market. Around that time, Yamaha's DPX-1 was also put on the market. There is a marked difference between these projectors and older projectors in terms of performance. They symbolized the end of screen gain, which covered the insufficient quantity of light from projectors.
