projector

Curtain rises for handheld 'Pico Projector'

We'd almost forgotten about the "Pico Projector" as more than a year had passed since we'd heard of it making any significant progress. But when our colleagues at Crave Asia spotted a working demo using the technology earlier this month, we were reminded of its promises to project photos and video from mobile phones and other portable devices.

Now Taiwan-based projector company Optoma is partnering with Texas Instruments to bring its own version of the micro-projector to market. Its technology requires a separate companion product, rather than projecting directly from a phone or media player, but … Read more

The InFocus X10: 1080p projector

Let's not beat around the bush: TVs are great, but for the proper movie experience you need a projector, in a dark room, with an epic surround-sound system. Because that's the way to enjoy a really good film--it's even the way to enjoy a bad film. The problem is that projectors are rarely cheap, so when we heard about the InFocus X10, which will set you back a relatively reasonable 1,099 pounds ($2,165), we started to have dreams of a home cinema all of our own.

The X10 is a really smart-looking DLP projector … Read more

Sony's 4,096x2,400 resolution projector

Unless you have room for a 50-foot screen in your swanky penthouse, this projector probably will not be very practical--at least, not right now. Sony's SRX-R105, running around $100k, is the latest generation of so-called 4K projectors, named as such because of their 4,096x2,400 resolution. That's greater than 9 million pixels, or more than four times the resolution of 1080p displays. Hmm, I wonder if Kristen Dunst looks any better in Spider-Man 3 (one only a few movies natively available in this format) at this level of detail.

Such 4K projectors are intended for professional applications--namely, … Read more

DisplayLink technology migrates to projectors

Tired of spending hours frantically trying to get that projector connected to your PC before your guests become incredibly disinterested in your summer driveway movie party? Or maybe you're having flashbacks to that last presentation you gave. You know, the one that just wasn't much of a presentation. I mean granted, you had no charisma or stage presence, but that's usually nothing a 90-page PowerPoint slide show can't fix. No, your real problem was that your assistant working the projector didn't know his VGA port from his LAN port.

Even if you're like me … Read more

Ultimate uselessness: The Car Projector Clock

The mad inventors at Hong Kong-based Brando are at it again, hard at work developing products of little or no use. And its latest offering ranks right up there with the MP3 stylus on the practicality meter.

As ridiculous as it may seem, the Car Projector Clock does exactly what its name indicates: It projects a digital readout on an interior surface, as seen on OhGizmo, not unlike bedroom versions that beam a display on the ceiling. You might ask why someone would need this--and, therefore, why it was created--especially when most if not all cars already have a clock … Read more

Asus builds projector into a laptop

When we first set eyes on the PMP projector, we thought how cool it would be if the same feature could be incorporated into a laptop. Asus seems to share the same sentiment as it showcased a prototype with a swiveling projector where a Webcam would have been.

No details on the resolution or brightness were available, but from the photo we snapped at Computex in Taiwan, it's apparent that the current iteration will be viable only in total darkness. Moreover, the top bezel of the LCD is so wide, it results in a 12.1-inch portable having a … Read more

Project videos from a PMP

Personal media players suffer from one major issue--sharing movies on the small LCD is quite impossible. But this is not the case for the Suniview PMP Projector, which claims to be the first portable media player to incorporate a Pico Projector under the hood.

Granted, the projector is not exactly a powerhouse at 5 lumens with only VGA resolution. But this is a step in the right direction for overcoming the compromise between portability and display size.

The PMP Projector is a Windows CE device with a 400MHz Samsung processor powering the built-in 3.5-inch QVGA screen. It comes with … Read more

BenQ: Two bulbs are better than one

Unless you're really out of luck, chances are that nothing can stand in your way to clinch that million-dollar deal with the help of BenQ's latest SP920. That's because this XGA DLP beamer is powered by dual onboard bulbs for two very good reasons.

First, it gives you backup redundancy in case of nasty blown bulbs. Second, their combined lumens serve out a staggering 6,000 ANSI brightness--more than sufficient for large venue conferences or to offset moderate ambient lighting.

To deliver the best bang for your buck, there are three selectable lamp modes. From high-power 6,… Read more

Sony pushing 'live' content into theaters

No longer are movie theaters just for movies.

Sony Pictures Entertainment now sees them as almost-live performance venues.

The entertainment company wants to display live events in theaters equipped with digital projectors, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Sony has established a new unit, called The Hot Ticket, to distribute the broadcasts. The company will focus on shooting music concerts, sporting events, and Broadway shows, the paper reported.

New York's Metropolitan Opera showed eight performances with high-definition technology at movie theaters across the country earlier this year, according to the Journal.

According to the Los Angeles Times, … Read more

Hands-on with Samsung's new pocket projector

One of the funkiest new gadgets Crave UK has seen on our trip to South Korea is the Samsung P400 pocket projector. OK, "pocket" is something of a misnomer--it's about the size of a Mac Mini, so you'll need baggy clown trousers if you want to carry it around with you, but we're sure you get the idea.

Not only is it pretty small, but it's also lightweight--we're not sure how heavy exactly, but it's certainly under 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). It sports an attractive glossy black finish, an internal battery … Read more