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Matchbox-sized Laser Projector
soupisgoodfood writes "Light Blue Optics Ltd. have developed a laser-based projector called the PVPro. It's small enough to fit into a cellphone or PDA.
Some specs: Supports resolutions up to 2048x1280; No moving parts; Infinite focus; Green monochrome, with a colour version expected late 2006; Max consumption of 1.4W with an average of <350mW.
Looks a like a good solution to the increasing problem of smaller devices trying to display more information."
Once these come out in color, imagine having one of these babies inside your laptop. You can then set your laptop on any work surface 2-10' from a wall and have a big screen monitor. If we want to get fancy even we can slap some gyros and accelerometers into the computer and you can have the computer on your lap, and provided you don't wiggle too much ( no pr0n ) you could probably work fairly well from a sofa as well, the software would adjust the image and angle of the projector using servos, etc. Very cool.
Well, that's easy for the green and red part, the blue laser is other business.. they don't come cheap nor small.
\u262D = \u5350
I have a 48" projection TV and a 21" CRT monitor, running both at the same time sucks massive amounts of power. Replacing them both with a laser projection system that takes less then a watt and a half to run would be fine by me!
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
They also have a virtual keyboard for sale. Imagine setting your cell phone on a table, pushing a button, and getting an instant monitor and keyboard. No one will need PCs for surfing the web and common functionality. Give it ten years or so to become widespread.
Infinite focus to me sounds like a collimator. Does this mean that you need another lens somewhere to form the image?
Actually, I worked an MCI Shareholder event in the mid '90s alongside a Texas-based company that had an enormous water-cooled laser video projector with an optical turret that could fly video images around the room.
Because the light is coherent, it really IS in focus at every point, and the clarity of images on the spherical screen, the walls, the set at the Kennedy Center Opera House, and simultaneously on my hand held in the beam indicate to me that "infinite focus" is certainly not a marketing gimmick.
Coherency is not a property of the light that will degrade over a few hundred feet. The picture (from that mid-90s unit) did have the strange specular quality that we associate with laser pointers (and other visible-spectrum lasers), though.
If you wanna look for the smoke-and-mirrors in the announcement, maybe think about power consumption, or the delivery date for full-color instead.
If this device uses a laser to project its image, it makes me concerned about the dazzle or sparkle you see when looking at a truly monochromatic, coherent point of light. Shine a laser pointer at the wall, and it looks like the dot sparkles. I believe this is a function of the coherency of the light plus the way our eyes perceive the light.
I have a hard time imagining watching an entire wall full of sparkle effect across the entire picture. Do they somehow make the light non-coherent, so your eye doesn't have this problem?
--Brandon / Split Infinity Music
So, then, do they have to use such high-priced light sources? The lamps for old-school overhead projectors or slide projectors are well under $50.
Is there some inherent requirement in projecting a digital image that requires so much more lamp, versus projecting a film/transparency/analog source?
---
"I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
I'm waiting for something like this to go 1024x768, then I'll probably get one. LED lamp. No heat, long life. Not terribly bright, though.
Hi there I work for LBO and I can confirm that the projector really does work and is currently being shown to interested parties at 3GSM in Barcelona. We will also be demonstrating the projector in action at the big displays conference and exhibition in San Francisco in June (http://www.sid.org/conf/sid2006/sid2006.html). Look forward to seeing you there. ;-)
I doubt it is pulsed - the laser is probably on continuously at variable amplitude. So, the pixels will just blur into each other. This is how a regular TV works as far as I understand. If you look at a TV you see lots of dots, but the reality is that the bandwidth on a standard TV is not sufficient to go from black to full RGB in one pixel - which is why small-fonts on TVs look horrible (it is also why analog TV is described in terms of lines of resolution and not columns - only the lines are discrete). A computer monitor is more expensive than a TV because it actually achives high bandwidth and consequently truly high resolution.
My guess is that with the laser projector each pixel will really be a horizontal dash. The only place you might get separation would be in the vertical direction, but you get that even with normal TVs and it isn't very noticable. If you fired it against a screen that would scatter the light somewhat then it might help in this regard.
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC= 895872
250 lux
1 lbs.
SVGA
Introducing a portable projector so small, it can fit in the palm of your hand. Weighing about a single pound, this portable battery operated DLP (TM) projector supports native 800x600 SVGA resolution, and is powered by a sequential LED light source with support for RCA video, S-video and VGA inputs.
- Unbeatable convenience through extreme portability in both size and weight
- Long life-lamp, with quick-on, quick-off, no warm up period
- A projector at practically the cost of less than two regular projector lamp
- Can be battery operated
Included Accessories:
Protective slip cover.