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High-Resolution InfoComm

Aug 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Jeff Sauer

The debut of new projectors with higher resolutions

It can be easy to get complacent about resolution now that the majority of video projectors are XGA, and particularly now that the majority of LCD and plasma flat panels are WXGA. After all, that's enough for native 720p. Yet, resolution is a little like hard drive capacity and processing speed: More is never a bad thing, assuming reasonable scaling. And it can even offer surprising new applications. Among my favorite stories at this year's InfoComm was a welcome lack of resolution complacency, with several companies increasing native resolutions, and at least a few thinking about resolution in new ways.

JVC's DLA-HD2K debuted as a prototype at NAB and won a Video Systems NAB Pick Hit. It's a $29,999 projector that JVC is offering as a high-end home theater product that offers video professionals a very satisfying screening room projector, thanks to a native 1920×1080 resolution and a relatively small (for an HD projector) 13.2lb. form.

Samsung introduced a prototype 80in. plasma and a 46in. LCD panel, both with native resolution of 1920×1080. (Clarity Visual Systems also showed Bay Cat, a 46in. 1920×1080 LCD.) Samsung has smaller LCDs with the same, high native resolution for video, but higher resolution is a lot more difficult with plasma, given physical size constraints and the compartmentalized plasma pixel structures. Of course, the 80in. plasma isn't likely to be rushed to market until Samsung has a very clear idea of sufficient demand to warrant re-tooling a production plant. Still, Samsung is raising the bar on both LCDs and plasmas, which can only serve to drive product development forward.

Resolution at InfoComm wasn't only about showing better HD video. It was also a tool for building better display solutions. For example, Barco introduced a new 1920×1080 projector, the iCon H600. This model doesn't target HD content, although at 6000 lumens it offers plenty of brightness for a variety of install and rental situations and can handily show native HD video at either 720p or 1080i. The iCon H600 may be most appropriate for control room installations simultaneously showing multiple streams of standard definition.

Continuing Barco's line of smart projectors, the iCon has an integrated Pentium 4 processor and a Windows XP OS, and software that supports display of up to four video or graphic picture-in-picture windows within the 1920×1080 image. It also has the physical input connections to support multiple simultaneous sources. In addition to a lovely large movie, the iCon can also show a control room display screen for four full-resolution 720×480 SD video feeds and still have room for a graphical background.

NEC Visual Systems built a feature into its 42in. plasmas. Matrix support has been increased to 4×4 and 5×5 without requiring an external PC or system to create a video wall with a resolution up to 4265×2400 (853×480 from each panel). NEC built the signal splitting functionality directly into the plasma, accessible through the onscreen menus. Easy ID addressing allows multiple plasma screens to work together, breaking the incoming source picture into quadrants to be shown across the various panels. For 2×2 configurations, you can use a loop through output on the panels to send the signal from one panel to the next. To avoid signal degradation if the signal is going to 9, 16, or 15 panels, a distribution amplifier is recommended.

Digital Projection exhibited a tour de force in its single 200 sq. ft. floor booth. By seamlessly edge-blending five of its 2048×1080 Lightning 35HD projections into a single image, DPI displayed a 35.5'×16' image and created a 10 million pixel, moving image billboard. It was designed to be a statement about DPI's ability to develop custom solutions for unique applications, as well as a digital sign to send interested attendees to an off-the-floor suite for more detailed product information.

There's not much native 10 million-pixel stock content out there. So DPI had to collaborate with several partners, beginning with Show Sage, Fenton, Mich., to develop the 12-minute loop that integrated native 1080i and 720p video content with still image graphics and photographs, background mattes, motion graphics, and text. Show Sage used Dataton's WatchOut system to build the show, incorporating some video at its native resolution in specific areas of the screen, some as reduced-resolution montages or in onscreen windows, and some scaled up to the full 10 million pixels. It was the WatchOut system that spread the content out over the five Lightning 35HD projectors. Each projector was connected via DVI to a dedicated PC able to send a full-resolution, 2048×1080 digital motion image. To achieve the 10 million-pixel image, each projector was configured sideways in a 1080×2048 portrait mode and overlapped by about 15 percent. To make it all fit into the 50'×40' booth, DPI used a rear projection configuration with Large Screen Displays mirror mounts and a huge rear projection screen from Stewart, San Jose, Calif.

In a mini high-resolution shoot-out off the main floor, Sony unveiled the prototype SXRD projector — Sony's proprietary branding of LcoS — targeting Hollywood and the future of digital cinema. At 4 million pixels and 4096×2160, Sony's projector is able to come pretty darn close to matching the resolution of film. In a side-by-side, split screen comparison with Sony's 1920×1080 home theater SXRD model, this 4 million-pixel prototype was able to make HD video look soft.

Is it overkill? Certainly for most typical video applications it probably is, but if it received the kind of accolades from Hollywood that Sony claims, then it may be the first real look at a full acceptance of digital cinema. This technology won't be in a product until some time next year at best. As everyone knows by now, the transition to digital cinema is one that will take several years, but it's steps like this that show that it can happen.

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