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The Pocket-Sized Projector Has Arrived
mallumax writes "David Pogue of New York Times has reviewed the Pico, which is a pocket projector from Optoma. The review is quite entertaining (Pogue projects the images on to a plane's ceiling, leaving passengers baffled) and detailed. The highlights are: It is a pocket-sized projector which runs on batteries and can project images and videos from a variety of sources like iPhone, iPod and DVD players with a 480x320px resolution, with a maximum screen size of 65 inches at 8.5 feet. It uses a non-replaceable 10,000 hour LED lamp and a DLP chip from Texas Instruments. The battery lasts for 90 minutes and can be recharged through USB or with its own power cord. The device weighs 115g and comes with an inbuilt speaker which is practically useless. If you want one, it will set you back by $430."
A non-replaceable lamp on an LCD projector? No thanks.
Given that its a "10,000 hour LED" it should last over a year of continuous use. At 8 hours a day every day it will last 3 years.
At more realistic (but still high) levels of usage... say, 4 hours 4 times per week, we're looking at 12 years.
In other words, you'll probably have upgraded multiple times before the bulb burns out.
It's 20,000 hours. Short, but that's 250 8-hour days of continuous use.
Your math is off. 20,000 / 8 is 2500 8-hour days of continuous use, nearly 7 years.
meh, typical projector bulbs can run $300-$500 anyway. (That is also one of the many drawbacks of DLP TVs)
3M makes and sells a very pocketable battery powered projector already. It has been for sale for a couple of months. Has better specs too, and it's cheaper. I'm not sure why we have articles that ignore stuff like this. I know we can't be experts on everything, but man, the author couldn't do a quick google search for pico projectors?
-Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
Not surprisingly, the tech specs (http://www.optoma.co.uk/PicoIntro.aspx) don't say how bright the thing is.
The review claims 9 lumens - pretty dim.
traditional projectors, like LCD Monitors, actually use more energy to display black, because it has to activate the cells to block light.
That may be true in LCD shutter technologies, such as an LCD monitor. This baby uses DLP technology, which is essentially a chip covered in tiny steerable mirrors. To produce black, they simply aim the mirror off-screen. It costs essentially no more energy to produce black vs any other color.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
...is a note played on an electric guitar played simultaneously with the note whose frequency is approximately 50% higher. The simple ratio means you get nice interaction between harmonics, even when the guitar is heavily distorted. They're very popular with many guitarists and are easy to play. Bands ranging from Hawkwind to Nirvana made/make great use of them. They don't usually come with projectors.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Posting AC doesn't undo moderation.
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
This baby uses DLP technology, which is essentially a chip covered in tiny steerable mirrors. To produce black, they simply aim the mirror off-screen. It costs essentially no more energy to produce black vs any other color.
Then gray must be even harder because it has to aim the mirrors back and forth rapidly.
That's only the fat, greedy, whitebread dickhead speculators punishing the common man for electing a president who will stand up for the people against the best interests of the greedy speculating fat fucks who drove gas up to 5 bucks a gallon and stole the common man's retirement accounts to stuff Wall Street's already fat ass.
No more free lobster and filet mignon for the financial institutions and other pigs feeding from the money trough: You and your crony-ass friends are on your way out. You have no chance make your time. So begins a new era, the age of the Common Man(tm).
TFA states that it's a 20,000 hour bulb, not 10,000 as the summary suggests.
Just FYI.
It's a laser, so it should last like, 40 million hours or something. A tad longer than your average incandescent bulb.
I'm not sure if we're talking about the same product, but the one in TFA uses a non-replaceable 9 Lumen LED rated for 20,000 hours (/.'s summary says 10,000)
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Then he spent some quality time with the Air Marshall and DHS ...
The American War on the Unexpected at your service.
on the article... 9 lumens