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Millimeter2005 Projector Roundup
Nov 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Jeff Sauer
The latest trends for this year’s front projectors.
Sony’s new 4K SXRD large-venue projector, featuring the revolutionary Silicon X-tal Reflective Display technology.
In the broad brush strokes of a whole year, it's easy to look at the front projector industry and surmise that not much has changed. Sure, prices have continued to come down, and that has expanded the market, but that is to be expected to a certain degree. XGA is still by far the dominant native resolution. And ultraportables, those projectors from 6lbs. to 10lbs., easily continues as the category with the most action, in terms of models.
Yet, a closer look at our 2005 Projector Roundup chart reveals a few interesting trends, as well as a few encouraging ones for video professionals. For example, our chart includes 322 different models, up slightly from the 302 of last year's chart. This year, more than 26% weigh between 5lbs. and 7lbs., compared to 20% last year. That's the group that includes the largest number of the value-oriented models that are directly responsible for expanding the front-projector market. Many of those value projectors are now priced well less than $1,000. But, unlike last year, when $1,000 bought only SVGA models, this year several XGA models are also available for sub-$1,000 prices.
As XGA products become less expensive, they also become far more popular. While nearly half of last year's 5lb. to 7lb. models were SVGA, this year more than 70% are XGA. There are still plenty of SVGA products — more than 12% of the products in our chart — but there are also an increasing number of higher-than-XGA products, including a solid 12% with a native SXGA resolution and another 5% even higher. That means, by straight number of models at least, that SXGA is now as popular as SVGA, although the SVGA models are much higher-volume products.
For video professionals, there is an almost 100% increase in the number of native widescreen projectors (50, up from 27). More interestingly, that includes 29, up from 19, that weigh less than 30lbs. And of those 29, only 10 have a native resolution of less than wide-XGA, compared to seven of 19 last year. The pleasant implication, and indeed the indirect reality, is that more projector manufacturers are geared toward producing better-looking motion video.
Understanding the chart
The chart organizes projectors by weight class, from the smallest microportables all the way up to the large venue heavyweights. There are subsections in each weight class that further sort the projectors by native resolution in ascending order. Finally, within each of those groups, the projectors are simply listed by the ascending physical weight, from lightest to heaviest.
Of course, it's impossible to accurately portray any individual product in such a large chart. However, I've tried to include the most commonly noted statistics including brightness and contrast, imaging device, lamp, and audio processing. I've also included some limited information about lens configuration (please note the abbreviations for different lens configurations) and connectivity. Since it's reasonable to assume that every projector has at least a 15-pin RGB, an RCA for composite video, and S-Video (even if via a conversion cable on some of the smallest models), I've called out other connector options. Specifically, does a given model have a digital connector, like DVI, and does it have component inputs by either 3x RCA or 3x BNC jacks? In most cases today, even business-oriented projectors are able to process a component video signal through the 15-pin RGB port, albeit via a (rarely included) conversion cable. That's not ideal, but it is at least another step toward better motion-video playback.
Microportables (6lbs. or less)
This one-time glamour category of the miniaturization of electronics really hasn't changed all that much over the last couple of years, although there's one intriguing exception. This past year, Mitsubishi introduced the 0.8lb. PocketProjector. It's less than half the weight of the previous small-size leader, and that alone is noteworthy. However, this is no standard miniature projector and probably will not be the next big-selling road-warrior model. Sure, it will fit in an overcoat pocket, but its light source is three LEDs, and that means only about 250 lux of brightness — a mere fraction of any of the 2lb. models on the market.
Does that make the PocketProjector a bust in traditional business settings? It very well could, but that's not why Mitsubishi's new product is so interesting. The simple existence of such a projector begs for entirely new uses for front projection — from personal gaming to retail display enhancement to automobile interior information display — and it should be fascinating to see what comes from the potential.
Of the more traditional microportables, the biggest change is Digital Projection's introduction of the first SXGA resolution model in this category, the 6lb. iVision 20sx+. Beyond that, average prices have dropped roughly 20%, down from $2,392 last year to $1,923 this year. However, the numbers look very similar: 72 models this year compared to 67 last year, with a near-identical 55% being DLP-driven as opposed to three-panel LCD, and roughly half with XGA resolution.
Ultraportables (6.1lbs. to 10lbs.)
Ultraportables represent by far the largest weight class, with 103 different models this year, up from 95 last year. Contrary to the microportable category, where one might have expected it, DLP made significant gains in the ultraportable category over the past year. DLP is now the imaging technology in more than 61% of this year's ultraportable models, as compared to just 40% of those from last year. LCD panel makers launched the major “3LCD” marketing awareness campaign this past January, but that was likely to be in response what was, given product development cycles at that time, already a clear trend. Next year's chart will likely indicate whether that marketing effort was successful or not.
The drop in average pricing in this category of roughly 10% ($3,032 down from $3,355), was not as dramatic as in the roughly 20% drop in the microportable category, but it still represents a boon for the consumer. Amazingly, these small models can now achieve 2000 to 3000 lumens of brightness — even as high as 3500 lumens.
This weight category is also where video professionals will find affordable widescreen models. Last year there were just two wide-XGA projectors in this class. This year there are seven, plus another five with either native 480p or 540p.
Portables (10.1lbs. to 15lbs.)
While the next three weight classes all have fewer models than last year, this portables class is the one that shrunk the most, shedding five models down to 28. The desktop-install and fixed-install categories are down by two and one, respectively. That's clearly a function of the miniaturization of electronics. Since it's possible for manufacturers to get both the brightness and resolution out of smaller form factors (only three models in this category are brighter than the 3500-lumen high of the ultraportable category), there's often no reason for the bigger chassis.
On the other hand, this is the size class where you'll start to see more professional features, like powered zoom and focus, optional lens, and more professional BNC component video inputs. It's also the category with the smallest 2K, or 1920×1080, resolution projectors from LCoS proponent JVC. Those models have dropped significantly in price to less than $20,000.
Of the 28 projectors in this category, 20 are three-panel LCD, five are DLP, and three are LCoS (specifically, JVC's D-ILA).
Desktop install (15.1lbs. to 30lbs.)
This category, historically an extension of the portable class, differs in that, at this weight, you'll find almost exclusively powered zoom and focus (only two have manual zoom/focus) and several with install-oriented features like lens shift, optional lens, multiple connectivity options, and redundant lamp designs. A few models top 5000 lumens, although that is fairly consistent with last year.
This category is also heavily skewed toward LCD. Thirty-nine of 45 are LCD-based, and the other six are DLP. Interestingly, four of those six are Wide-XGA models that primarily target home entertainment (i.e. motion video) use.
Fixed install (30.1lbs. to 50lbs.)
There has been very little change in this category over the last year. In fact, the majority of models are exactly the same as last year. There are 19 total, down from 20 last year. There are eight XGA and one UXGA, which is the same as last year. There is one more wide-XGA unit (four total) and two fewer SXGA (six total). There has been a modest 5% drop in average price.
The biggest change is that there are now nine DLP-based models, compared to five last year, six of which are single-chip solutions. That's a testament to the improvements in single-chip color wheel technology over the last couple of years.
Medium venue (50.1lbs. to 100lbs.)
By the straight numbers, this is category that has seen the biggest growth. There are now 36 different models, which is a 50% increase from just a year ago. However, that increase includes 15 models from Christie Digital, compared to last year when new development and end-of-life old product cycles caused the company to report only five models. On the other hand, NEC discontinued its activity in this weight class, including six of last year's total.
Of the 36 models listed in this chart, more than a third (13) are SXGA, the same number that are native XGA, although six more are wide-XGA. DLP chips are now in 17 different models, as compared to 12 from a year ago, although in this category that number is entirely three-chip configurations.
Large venue (100lbs. and above)
These are the heavyweights, the reality and digital cinema engines that hold nothing back on quality. Average brightness is considerably higher than even the medium-venue class: While none of the medium-venue projectors exceed 10,000 lumens, all but three large venue models do.
Interestingly, this category no longer includes any native XGA models. SXGA is now the minimum standard. The number of Wide-SXGA models has doubled to eight in the last year and Sony has the first 4096×2160 models. There are no longer LCD-based projectors: All but two are now three-chip DLP, except for Sony's two 4K SXRD (Sony's version of LCoS).
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