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Mitsubishi LED Projector: Small, Cheap, Durable
mcaycedo writes "This new projector is my top number 1 "must have" gadget. The reasons: price (US$699), size (fit in your hand), convenience (uses AC, batteries, card adaptor) and duration (lamp life:20000 hours). The cons: only SVGA (800x600), lumens (N/A)" There are tons of applications for a LED projector of this size, too: in cars, integrated into portable video players, information displays of all kinds ... and as resolution and brightness improve, even more will emerge.
Mitsubishi Launches Mini DLP PocketProjector
by David Chait [Theater, Mobile] Tuesday, February 08th, 2005
If you've always wanted a front projector that you could take with you anywhere, the upcoming PocketProjector from Mitsubishi might just be what you've dreamed of.
Mitsubishi PocketProjector in hand
Certainly rating as one of the smallest projection units out there, the new Mitsubishi PocketProjector is a tiny 14oz powerhouse of a projector. A unit small enough to fit in your hand, run off batteries or car adapter, yet create a 20 screen with only one foot of throw.
Mitsubishi PocketProjector A/V Jacks
The PocketProjector can drive 800x600 SVGA resolution through its Lumileds tri-LED DLP system, rated at over 20,000 hours of lamp life. And it sports composite, s-video, and VGA connectors, great for visualizing anything from a laptop presentation to a portable DVD player. Heck, with a digital camera that has AV output, you can set up a virtual slide show no matter where you are - well, so long as you have a clean, flat, white surface to project onto. ; )
Mitsubishi PocketProjector Next to Cell Phone
The PocketProjector will be available in July at an SRP of $699 US - not cheap certainly, but a fair price for an SVGA projector with multiple inputs, multiple portable power solutions, and that is pocketable. They'll also be selling battery packs for the unit, plus 'solutions' of cables/etc. for different users/industries. Hopefully as soon as they're ready, we'll get one in for testing. I know a LOT of people who'd jump at a mini projector like this...
Here is a mirror http://mirrordot.org/stories/94956edfe592d87195c41 25ea9151084/index.html
I'm guessing that Lumens (N/A) is a possible con because it isn't listed. It has to use light, its an L.E.D. (Light Emmiting Diode).
I think it simply means that it hasn't been tested for light output in the unit of Lumens
~Eric
Page 2: Mitsubishi PocketProjector Press Release
Super-Small Video Projector Launched by Mitsubishi
Project Movies, Games, Photos from Palm-Sized PocketProjector
IRVINE, Calif.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Feb. 8, 2005-Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America's Presentation Products Division, the industry leader in home entertainment projector technology and innovation, today introduced its PocketProjector(TM), one of the world's smallest LED projectors. Weighing just 14 ounces and fitting easily into the palm of a hand or a coat pocket, the tiny projector is built for fun and creative applications. It can be battery powered or used with a universal car adapter for truly mobile video on the fly.
The PocketProjector has one of the shortest projection distances of any mobile projector on the market today: Users can easily create a 20-inch diagonal screen with only a little over a foot of projection distance, and a 40-inch screen image in less than a yard. With a special suggested retail launch price of $699, the affordable PocketProjector is the next must-have gadget, and the coolest gift for 2005.
"For digital cameras, handheld gaming and portable DVD players, the PocketProjector is the newest display tool or toy of choice," said James Chan, director, projector product marketing for Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America. "This projector can go where no projector has gone before. Just imagine being able to whip out a big screen from your coat pocket - people are going to have so much fun with it."
The PocketProjector powers on or off instantly for quick and easy start-up, and can display images from a notebook computer, portable DVD player, and gaming consoles for immediate use almost anywhere. It is lighted by three Lumileds(TM) LEDs (red, green, blue) that produce an SVGA (800 x 600 pixels) image formed digitally by the latest DLP(TM) chip by Texas Instruments. The projector's advanced lighting technology is rated to last an unprecedented 20,000 hours; with an average use of five hours per day, the lamp is expected to last over 10 years.
The PocketProjector will ship with a protective slip cover and AC power cord. Mitsubishi also plans to offer Convenience Packs with suggested retail prices from $199, which will contain application-specific cables, accessories and small screens for consumer and industry segments. An optional extra battery base will be available for a suggested retail price of $149.
"Our new PocketProjector is one of the most advanced products I've seen in a long time," said Aki Ninomiya, vice president, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America. "It establishes new standards and creates all new applications and markets for projection displays."
Pricing and Availability
Mitsubishi's new PocketProjector will be available in July 2005 through online retailers and major retail channels at a suggested retail price of $699. Optional battery pack and Convenience Packs will also be made available upon release of the projector.
About Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Presentation Products Division
Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America's Presentation Products Division markets an extensive line of professional presentation, display and front-projection home entertainment display systems and is known for its award-winning, high-quality, accurate color reproduction technology. Products are sold through authorized distributors, resellers, retailers, dealers, and system integrators throughout the United States. Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America is located at 9351 Jeronimo Rd., Irvine, CA 92618. For more information, please call 888-307-0312 or visit www.mitsubishi-hometheater.com.
Note to Editors: PocketProjector is a trademark of Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America Inc.; DLP is a trademark of Texas Instruments; Lumileds is a trademark of Lumileds Lighting.
Contacts
Lionheart PR for Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America
Nancy Napurski, 310-378-4633
nnapurski@lionheartpr.com
Lumens is a reference to the brightness of the image. I'm assuming (N/A) means they have no specific number for it, but IIRC 2000 is an average projector.
I got to read the first page of the article. It is pretty impressive. I didn't get to the dirty details but I'm pretty sure this uses three of TI's DLP chips. I have seen this sort of thing coming for a while now; the DLP chip is truly a technology marvel.
Now, as far as the Lumens are concerned... Lumens are a way to measure the light which is isotropically radiated from a given source. A projector doesn't isotropically radiate though, its emission is highly directional. For this reason, lumens are a very crappy way of defining, technically, the "brightness" of a projector. But, since people are used to buying lightbulbs according to the market-ese of Lumens, that's how Projectors are rated as well. Since the projector uses LEDs (Luxeons, from the sound of it) as the light source, I suppose that's why they're lacking a fancy lumen number to throw around: because LEDs, as highly directional light sources, are measured in Candles (abbreviated "cd" or millicandles as "mcd") and not measured in Lumens.
They'll probably make up a marketable number before too long, fret not.
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
The Mitsubishi site doesn't appear to have any real content on it about this product, but here's another review:
r ojector-8482.htm
http://www.techworthy.com/Blog/Mitsubishi-PocketP
Offical Press Release, without pictures
2nd article with 1 picture
_JS
Google is our friend.
http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=IRI
http://www.normthompson.com/jump.jsp?itemType=P
Search terms included: mp3-player plays-mp3s with-alarm alarm-clock
(why the hyphens in the search terms you ask? alarm-clock will match alarm clock, alarm-clock, and alarmclock; whereas "alarm clock" will only match "alarm clock". In other words, using the hyphen to conjoin two words instead of the quotes expands the possible pool of search results by including minute variations on a theme. hard-drive is another good example, catching: hard drive, hard-drive, and harddrive.)
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
800x600 has a 1000 pixel diagonal (8x6x10 right triangle. High school math came in handy for once), so a 40 inch projection will have 25 pixels per inch. Each pixel will be 1/25th of an inch, or (about) 3 of them will fit in an 8th of an inch.
Not bad for most uses of a wall projector.
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
Lumens are a way to measure the light which is isotropically radiated from a given source
...LEDs, as highly directional light sources, are measured in Candles (abbreviated "cd" or millicandles as "mcd") and not measured in Lumens.
Not to nit-pick (that's a pun...get it?) but what you are thinking of is referred to as "mean spherical candela". Lumens are simply the photometric equivilent of Watts (that is to say they are watts normalised to take into account the photopic curve which describes the spectral responsivity of the human eye) and are thus an excellent means of describing the optical output of a source or system.
Again I must disagree. As an illumination engineer I rely heavily on the Lumen ratings for the LEDs with which I design since that value is the integrated amount of light available from the source and is not related to the distribution of the emission. LEDs are indeed more directional than conventional sources but there is a wide range of emission patterns available.
Getting back to the matter at hand, I can't read the article but I agree that this device probably uses Luxeon emitters since they are the most concentrated sources available right now. The technology Lumileds is developing is advancing in leaps and bounds so it is unquestionably the case that these projectors are going to get a lot brighter quite soon. I wouldn't rush out and get this one since you will be able to get one about 50% brighter within a year for no more money (or at least no more cost to the manufacturuer, not always the same thing).
-Pinkoir
Luxeons aren't the most concentrated source out there. They're probably the most publicized high-power emitter out there, but Check out Lamina Ceramics if you want some real concentrated sources. Their highest-end commercial line, the BL-3000 line, has some pretty impressive specs for something less than 1.25 x 1.25 inches, including a 26-watt 567 lumen 5500K white light engine (which will set you back about $80 from Mouser Electronics. Search for Mouser part# 599-BL-32D0-0133).
I was following Lumileds pretty close until I read about the LTCC-M technology that Lamina is using. They're able to pack so many LED chips with this technology that it blows my mind, and they keep getting better at doing it, having just recently cut prices across the board for its two major product lines (BL-2000 and BL-3000).
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
My next project is with a laptop screen and an overhead projector with a one of those builders halogen lights
Em, you've been beaten to it
(Well apart from the OTT bulb :)
For $699, you get a LED (dim) LCD (crappy image) projector.
RTFA:
"It is lighted by three Lumileds(TM) LEDs (red, green, blue) that produce an SVGA (800 x 600 pixels) image formed digitally by the latest DLP(TM) chip by Texas Instruments."
Squeezebox? Looks like an alarm clock (I have one on my bedside table), sounds great, nice big bright green display, alarm function, plays mp3, wma, etc etc, and streaming radio. Nice little unit ($200 for cat5, $280 for wifi).
Here
---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"
Where is the 20lb ceiling-mount livingroom projector for $1000, that does 1024x768 @2000lm? Maybe this Mitsubishi projector will help compete them into existence.
Not quite $1K, but it does exceed your lumens requirement:
Optoma 749 2300 lumens, 1024x768 @ $1300.
Note: I do not in any way endorse tigerdirect - their customer is service is atrocious and they appear to have been astroturfing bizrate for quite some time. BUT, if they can manage to ship you a new and undamaged unit, you'll never have to deal with their customer disservice, and the odds on that are relatively good.
Just make sure you give them a throw-away email address, they are merciless spammers and spam-list renters.
NTSC specifies 525 lines, 480 of which are visible. But that's 20th century tech. The best modern television sets support 1080x1920.
It does not use a filimant bulb, it uses an LED as the light source. An LED has a typical life of 75,000 - 200,000 hours.
Actually, this raises some important points.
One is lifetime. Lumileds' Luxeon solution licks nuts compared to Lamina's LTCC-M technology. There's no better way to say it, really. Luxeons de-rate signifcantly after 20,000 hours while Lamina's modules are much more robust. LEDs are nice in that they don't "burn out" (unless you pump too much current through them. heh.) but instead they just get dimmer over time. So 10 years down the line you need to set your projector a little closer to the wall and have a screen a bit smaller. ahwell.
Another good point is packaging. When I say "array" or "cluster" you need to understand what Lamina has done. They've created a ceramic substrate into which they can directly layer circuit traces, and this substrate exhibits an incredibly high degree of heat conductivity, able to wick away large amounts of heat from the individual LED chips used. An LED chip is tiny. Imagine the head of a pin--that tiny. All of the stuff around the "LED" as most people are familiar with it is just packaging: the leads, the epoxy casing, etc. What Lamina has done is take packaging to the next level by doing away with most of the epoxy and clustering many LED chips densely on this extremely nice heat-conducting surface. That little less-than-1.25x1.25 device I was talking about has 39 cavities, each cavity containing, I believe, 6 LED chips, which would be 234 LED chips total.
Let's compare with A 5mm LED. Assuming circular uniformity, the cross-sectional area of a a 5mm LED is about 19 square mm. This works out to about 4500 square mm for 234 5mm LEDs. Lamina's solution, at an exact 26.7mm x 31.8mm, occupies slightly under 850 square mm, or about 1/5 the space.
They have a pretty spiffy RGB module too, which I suspect will be in a projector before too long. Oh, and these little buggers get HOT too; an active heatsink is REQUIRED.
Reinvent the wheel only at either a lower cost, greater effectiveness, or your own personal enrichment and satisfaction.
Took me forEVER to figure out I was being slashattacked, and I've temporarily added in a static-page-caching mechanism for WordPress. I lose some of my dynamic code, but the site keeps running. ;)
--- David Chait, Editor [CHAITGEAR]
I'd like to add that the failure mode for LED's is that they get dimmer instead of just stopping. So in 20k hours of use the "dead" LED will simply be 50% of its initial brightness.. but still work.