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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.

18 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Only, you say... by inertia187 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "only SVGA (800x600)"

    My 80486DX4 is only VGA (640x480), you insensitive clod!

    --
    A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
  2. The article: by killa62 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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...

  3. Another article... by reynhout · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Mitsubishi site doesn't appear to have any real content on it about this product, but here's another review:

    http://www.techworthy.com/Blog/Mitsubishi-PocketPr ojector-8482.htm

  4. Obligatory joke by mattiwatti · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hmm. I have $699 to burn...
    Do I buy a LED projector, or a SCO license?

  5. This isn't an article, it's an advertisement by winkydink · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I keep looking, but I cannot see how this is anything more than a product pitch. No comparisons, just 'this thing is really cool and think of all the cool things you can do with it'. TFA is nothing more than a rewarmed press release of the projector.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:This isn't an article, it's an advertisement by winkydink · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Keeping you up to date is giving you a round-up of the top ones out there and "picking" a winner, not just announcing a winner with no selection criteria; that, my fellow /. reader, is called an advertisement.

      --

      "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  6. hmm, it's illegal to watch tv while driving by way2trivial · · Score: 5, Funny

    but what if you mounted one on your dashboard, and followed a semi with a nice white door..

    with a little fm transmitter, you could even share the monotony breaker with neighboring cars..

    watch a DVD on a cross country trip?

    whoa fred- screens getting big! better brake!

    --
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  7. number 1? by bahamat · · Score: 5, Funny
    This new projector is my top number 1 "must have" gadget.


    I'm curious what other number 1 "must have" gadgets are on your list.
  8. Re:Who cares about size by syukton · · Score: 4, Informative
    A related complaint, I wanted an alarm clock radio that could play MP3s. Sounds easy? It isn't. I found a total of one product under $500 that can play MP3s and has an alarm. Why? Because they only make tiny little MP3 players that run off batteries, not ones the size of an alarm clock with a display I can read across the room.


    Google is our friend.

    http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=IRIF P7 90T#description has "alarm functionality" (doesn't sound so impressive) but runs for quite a while on an AA battery (45 hours) ($134.00)

    http://www.normthompson.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PR OD UCT&iProductID=4940 is an actual clock radio. this bad boy takes CDs and has an mp3 decoder. I like this more; only $99, too.

    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.
  9. Re:N/A? by Pinkoir · · Score: 5, Informative

    Lumens are a way to measure the light which is isotropically radiated from a given source

    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.

    ...LEDs, as highly directional light sources, are measured in Candles (abbreviated "cd" or millicandles as "mcd") and not measured in Lumens.

    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

  10. Re:N/A? by syukton · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.
  11. Re:This would be cool for the bedroom ceiling home by LoRdTAW · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder what kind of entertainment would be useful to watch while lying down in bed?

  12. Re:OBHACK by AC-x · · Score: 4, Informative

    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 :)

  13. Re:Who cares about size by radish · · Score: 4, Informative

    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"

  14. Re:20,000 hours lamp life - 2000 ? by merlin_jim · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you/they sure it's 20,000 hours of lamp life? If that were true, that would be about 10 times more than for a typical projector. Just recently I purchased a Panasonic projector. During my research and shopping around I observed that all bulbs have between 2,000 and 3,000 hours of life in them.

    So.... I question that 20,000 hours of life time quote...


    You shouldn't... this projector uses LEDs, not lamps. The projectors you were looking at all used incandescent or flourescent technologies; a bright/hot/charged region getting electricity slammed through it to force it to give off photons.

    This uses solid state LEDs; silicon junctions whose atomic makeup cause them to give off a specific frequency. Suitably heatsinked (and these come from the factory suitably heatsinked) you can give off TONS of light for a very long time.

    This is good. This is exciting. These LEDs probably cost LESS than a bulb for a traditional projector, and last for a much longer period of time.

    --
    I am disrespectful to dirt! Can you see that I am serious?!
  15. Re:Who cares about size by generic-man · · Score: 5, Funny
    I've got an alarm clock radio that could play MP3s, and it has a 19-inch monitor.
    at 7:00 AM
    mpg123 "Guns N Roses - Sweet Child O Mine.mp3"
    ^D
    It even plays Oggs too:
    at 11:30 AM
    ogg123 "Richard Stallman - Free Software Song (Whiny Emo Remix).ogg"
    ^D
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