Ultra-Short Throw Projectors Shine at Infocomm 2014
June 2014 – At Infocomm in Las Vegas this year one of the areas seeing new models and many improvements was the ultra-short throw projectors. These projectors are designed to produce a high brightness (over 2000 lumens) 60″-100″ image in under 1meter from the screen. These displays typically provide a WXGA (1200×800) resolution with some providing up to WUXGA (1920×1200) which is a 16:10 aspect ratio vs the flat panel specs for HD at 16:9 aspect ratio with a 1920×1080 display.
These projectors are targeted towards spaces that need large displays but do not have an unobstructed image throw space for a traditional projector. The lensing systems can be use be use for standard image or inverted images in either front or rear projection applications. The easy setup and close location are now making this a preferred device for the digital signage and retail signage market. The under 1 meter setup distance works well in a retail store footprint as this allows signage on the same wall footprint from the real wall as the depth of the clothing racks for the items on sale. The use of the projector allows for a high change rate of the advertising message at very low cost.
At the show, Cannon and Panasonic were showing their new products that use traditional and long life lamp technologies. Cannon was showing their 2000-3000 hr bulb system with WXGA image at 2500 lumens also using DLP technology. While the units feature manual keystone correction and manual focus, they feature a fixed projector position (so you can mount it under a table) with the ability to tilt and keep the image focused over a very large range. The projector also can support 3D images with electronic shutter glasses, and the input controls can also display closed captioning when broadcast or digital sources are provided. The units are self contained with network connectivity, HDMI and standard composite video and VGA inputs for the image, and a 10w powered speaker for sound.
The Panasonic product featured a system that produced a 2000+ lumens image on a 100″ screen with a 1500-2000hr life dual bulb source. This is produced with a WUXGA image using DLP technology. Thier ultra short throw projects can now support an interactive pen setup that allows for dynamic white boarding of the images displayed. Using a special pen or pointer system, the projector can now save the interactive session on a windows computer and share it with others. The interactive capability is enabled by an embedded camera that is part of the projector and is used as a dedicated function camera.
Panasonic Utra Short Throw Projector – Interactive Whiteboard Function
Casio introduced a new generation projector to the ultra short throw market. They have a new lampless unit the XJ-UT310WN which features a hybrid light source. The dual LED & Laser source provides 3100 Lumens on a 80″ screen at WXGA resolution from as little as 1.5 feet away. This new light source provides 20,000+ hrs of operation giving an average of 10x improvement in operating life prior to “light source” replacement over lamp based systems. To make the projector useful over the full light source life, the unit is equipped with a self-powered 16 watt speaker along with having a dedicated dynamic microphone input. Connectivity includes network standard RJ-45 plug, a wireless LAN adapter and a local RS-232 connections to provide control and remote status monitoring capabilities. In addtion to the HDMI, USB, VGA, S-Video and Composite video inputs, the unit can support the network and RS-232 connections to provide close captioning for direct email alerts when used in conjunction with Crestron RoomView®. Similar to the Cannon unit, the DLP engine is 3D ready when combined with Casio 3D active glasses.
Casio Ultra Short Throw Projector on wall mount
Similarly to the Panasonic unit, the Casio projector supports interactive function. Rather than a special pen or pointer interface, Casio has created an app for bothe iOS and Android so a wireless tablet or other WiFi device can be used as the interactive controller for the whiteboarding function. The free mobile app allow educators to easily integrate technology into the classroom. The app allows for displaying and annotating presentations originating from a mobile device, as well as capture and save the work from a session. The app additionally allows for opening a browser and displaying real-time content. Finally , there is an image capture function in the app, that uses the camera from the mobile device to take a picture and send it to the projector.
