TI Feeds the Frenzy
Not surprisingly, LED-based and 3D projectors were the focus of the Texas Instruments booth at Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA), the world’s largest Consumer Electronics trade fair, according to the organizers. What was a bit surprising was the full scope of the products and manufacturers who are embracing these new products.
In addition to its booth at IFA, TI posted a special site on their DLP website to cover DLP action at IFA. In the video, Michael Guillory gives a virtual booth tour and discusses these new projectors in English. Christian Thevot and Hanif Shangama give similar tours in French and German, respectively.
Guillory first shows off the 3D DLP LED-based home theater front projector. There has been a lot of talk about 3D RPTV with DLP technology and LEDs or Lasers, but DLP front projectors can do 3D as well.
He goes on to discuss the 1080p LED-based, 700-lumen home theater projector, to be built by Delta in Taiwan and to be marketed by Optoma, Vivitek and others. It is unclear if the 700-lumen projector is a 2D-only or a 2D/3D model, however.
Guillory showed a Toshiba pico-projector based on the DLP pico chipset and said Optoma will also have a similar projector on the market by the end of the year. He also demoed the LG pocket projector, presumably the HS-102 demonstrated at Projection Summit in June. In addition, a Lenovo gaming projector based on DLP imager and LED light source was shown, although the projector was not turned on. The Lenovo projector may be billed as a "Gaming Projector" but it sure looks like a pocket projector to me.
A brief video hosted by Thomas Möcker of Toshiba was also posted on the TI website. He discusses DLP/LED projectors from Toshiba, from the first pocket projector in 2006 to the pico-projector to be available soon. This will be followed by a 100-lumen pocket projector in the first half of 2009 and a 700 lumen front projector to be released in late 2009. None of the projectors in the on-line video were shown operating. Toshiba briefly exited the pico/pocket projector segment, so their re-entry seems to be emblematic of the renewed interest in the category by many players.
You can expect additional coverage of IFA in the September MDR and October LDR as we get more details from our man-on-the-scene. In addition, the upcoming Insight Media report on LED based pocket/ultraportable projectors will take a deep look at the markets and technologies for these projectors.
By Matt Brennesholtz, DisplayDaily
