digital projectors

Light Blue Optics (LBO), has announced it will demonstrate its latest miniature projection systems to key customers and partners at Display Week, 31 May – 5 June in San Antonio TX, USA (SID 09). Presentationtek has been following LBOs promising projection technology progress since August 2006. A key new feature of the demonstration will be LBO’s new projected image touch interface technology.

Hightlights of Light Blue Optics Pico Projection Engine

• laser based projection engine
• WVGA – QVGA video and images
• brightness of 10 lumens or more
• images remain in focus at any distance without a focus wheel
• safe under all normal use conditions (Class 1 laser safety classification)
• ultra-wide throw angle
• front projection + table down projection mode

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Toshiba’s TDP-SP1U DLP business projector is very portable at a light 4.8 lbs but doesn’t miss out on power with an impressive 2,200 ANSI lumens of brightness. This means you can set up in a meeting or conference room with wide open drapes and overhead lighting and still have a sufficiently bright projected image.

The contrast ratio, an essential factor in a good quality image, is excellent at 2000:1 (full on/full off). The TDP-SP1U has a native SVGA (800 x 600 pixels) resolution but, will scale a range of other input resolutions (480p to 1080i and VGA to SVGA). Being a business projector the Toshiba TDP-SP1U has a good compliment of connectivity options including an RS232 port for AV network control system integration. There are composite and S-video ports and a monitor-out for presenters to see on a display what is projected on the screen without turning away from their audience.
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The Mitsubishi HC6000 Full HD (1080p) home theatre projector is nearly identical to the recently reviewed Mitsubishi HC5500 home theatre projector. The main difference is the greater set-up flexibility of the HC6000.

Mitsubishi HC6000 vs HC5500 in Detail

• Horizontal lens shift (motorized) is included offering to correct up to +/- 5 percent horizontal misalighment with the projection screen.
• Wider vertical lens shift (motorized) of up to +/- 75 percent compared to 50 percent
• Wider power zoom range up to 1.6 compared to 1.2. For a 100 inch diagonal this allows the projector to be moved out as far as 181 inches compared to 138 inches for the HC5500
• A computer monitor loop-out is included allowing the presenter to have a monitor connected to the projector for seeing what is projected on the screen without turning their back on the audience.
• Contrast ratio is slightly higher at 15,000:1 compared to 14,000:1
• Maximum brightness is 1000 ANSI Lumens which is lower than the 1200 for the HC5500

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Mitsubishi’s HC5500 is an affordable, Full HD (1080p) resolution home theatre projector. Besides the full high definition native resolution, the projector is notable for exceptionally quiet operation, long lamp life and a Dynamic Iris which delivers an excellent contrast ratio (14,000:1) and more detail in darker scenes. With a brightness of 1200 ANSI lumens it is ahead of many home theatre projectors and able to tolerate some ambient light.

Projection lamp life at 5000 hours in economy mode is significantly higher than most projectors at a similar price point. The extra long life is probably due in part to the 3-dimensional micro surface structure air filter equipped with static charges to prevent micro particles from entering the projector cooling the system. Dust shortens a projection bulbs life. Given the price of replacement lamps, a five year life is a significant cost over life saving. Mitsubishi provide a one year (or 500 hour) warranty compared to the common 1 year term (projector is 2 years). Perhaps unnecessarily Mitsubishi have made it easy to replace the lamp, even if ceiling mounted, with a convenient side access.
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The ViewSonic PJ551D and PJ557D very bright DLP projectors which are light enough at 6lb (2.7 kg) to be considered portable. Their brightness at 2300 ANSI lumens, no doubt contributed to by Texas Instruments Brilliant Color technology, is suitable for business and classroom applications and will cope with a lot of ambient light eg. open drapes/blinds and overhead lighting. The 2000:1 contrast ratio is excellent for providing high image quality.

Both projectors have an XGA (1024×768) native resolution matching the most commonly found resolution of business PCs. With automatic scaling the projector will handle a wide range of other resolutions as listed at the end of this review.
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The Panasonic PT-AE3000U is a winner if you are looking for value for money home theatre projector. It has the latest technology and features and has gained some excellent hands-on customer feedback including a perfect 5/5 score on Amazon at the time of writing.

The Panasonic PT-AE3000U is 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels) native resolution for the very best picture, without scaling, of Blu-ray DVDs. Contributing to excellent picture quality are the high brightness of 1600 ANSI lumens and a truly impressive contrast ratio of 60000:1. The PT-AE3000U is based on the popular 3LCD projection engine known for brighter images and more natural colors. The impressive contrast ratio is achieved with the assistance of Panasonic’s fifth generation intelligent iris system which determines the brightness level of each image then optimally adjusts the lamp power, iris and gamma curve.
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Epson’s MovieMate 55 home theatre projector is as popular as it’s siblings, the MovieMate 50 and MovieMate 72, because of its complete entertainment solution capabilities. It truly embraces the “combo” label by combining a projector, DVD/CD player, twin Dolby 5.1 Digital 8W speakers and USB and other inputs to allow the playing of DVD movies, music CDs, MP3, WMA, photo CDs, JPEG, Video CD and DivX movies to name a few compatible formats. It’s a simple matter to hook up an Apple IPod, Nintendo Wii, Sony PS3 or Microsoft Xbox 360 for further music, video or gaming entertainment options.

The Epson MovieMate has a native 480p (854 x 480 pixels) resolution to match the built-in progressive scan standard definition (480p) DVD/CD player (slot loading at front of projector). Through scaling the MovieMate 55 will handle a wide range of video resolutions up to 1080i. While it is not high definition the Epson MovieMate makes up for it with the combination of a large projected image and entertainment flexibility. If twin 8W (equivalent to what you would get with a HDTV) speakers is not enough you can connect to a stereo surround sound system using a digital coaxial (S/PDIF) cable.
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Epson’s PowerLite 1705c and 1715c business projectors have the same features as the Epson PowerLite 1700c and 1710c with the addition of networking capabilities for easier monitoring and control. Common features include a portable weight, brightness to suit the business environment (1705c = 2,200 and 1715c = 2,700 ANSI lumens), native XGA resolution and the popular 3LCD projection technology platform.

The PowerLite 1705c and 1715c business projectors support 802.11a/b/g wireless technology. Notably, Epson have made establishing a network connection easier with their new Quick Connection Mode which features an automated setup process. Virtually no wireless experience is required to establish a fast (up to 54MB/s) network connection between computer and projector. For data safety the PowerLite 1705c and 1715c are compatible with a number of advanced security encryption formats to ensure secure data transmission.
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The Epson PowerLite 1700c and 1710c have the combination of a light, portable weight (3.5 lb) along with a maximum brightness to suit the business environment (2,200 and 2,700 ANSI lumens respectively). The native resolution of both projectors is XGA (1024 x 768) with an aspect ratio of 4:3 which matches the most popular laptop PC combination at the moment. Being based on 3LCD technology brings natural colors and sharp images. Users have total control over image color being able to adjust saturation from six different axes. The contrast ratio is 400:1.

Some notable features which are of benefit to the presenter are;
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Optoma’s EP1691 business projector features a high brightness of 2500 ANSI lumens, suitable for most business applications, along with a conveniently portable weight of 3.2 lbs (1.45 kg). The EP1691 is based on Texas Instrument’s DLP technology (Single 0.65 inch DDR DMD) and has a WXGA (1280 x 768 pixels) native resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. Apart from matching the resolution of the most modern widescreen laptop displays, WXGA resolution is suited for applications that are very detailed or information intensive. A WXGA resolution allows presenters to display multiple worksheets and spreadsheets on-screen at the same time.

While it has all the attributes of a business projector, the EP1691 can be considered a crossover projector as because of its native WXGA resolution it can display 720p HDTV video without any scaling (scaling causes some picture quality degradation).
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