To survive, says Pacific Media Associates, any industry needs to innovate and change. Like a sports team, our industry needs a strong offense. Product innovation is one type of offense: for example, in our case, short-throw projectors, interactive projectors, PC-free presentations, and solid state illumination (laser, LED, and hybrid).

But a sports team also needs a strong defense. PMA’s Dr. Coggshall will make a presentation at the Projection Summit 2012 conference entitled Playing Defense in the 2012 Projector Business.

Christie hosted an HFR Summit at their worldwide center for engineering, research and development in Ontario, Canada. The high frame rate Summit included touring cinema-industry luminaries through its manufacturing facility and providing the first-ever laser projection of high frame rate cinema and alternative content on to a 30-foot white screen.

Recent Gordon E. Sawyer Academy Award winner Douglas Trumbull, Ian Bidgood, Technical Director, Park Road Post Production; Matt Cowan, Chief Scientific Officer, RealD; John Helliker and Bert Dunk, Directors at the Screen Industries Research and Training Centre and Demetri Portelli, Stereographer, met with Christie engineering and product development staff for information sharing session and discussion on high frame rates, laser projection, and the future of 3D and 4K projection.

The PoP Video is an add-on accessory turning iPod Touches (3rd/4th generation) and iPhones (4/4S) into a pico projector, with no need for extra cables.

It connects to iDevices via 30-pin connector and beams images at qHD (960x540) resolution at 13-130cm projection range. Battery life is up to 2 hours, with micro-USB connection handling charging duties.

The unit is around 1.5cm thick and weighs less than 100g.

A free iOS app provides a number of functions-- including simple projection of videos or web browsing via Safari.

Go PoP Video

Pacific Media Associates (PMA) reports WW Q1 2012 1000+ lumen projector sales show show 6% Y-o-Y growth, proving predictions on the demise of the projector wrong.

“Of course, ANY industry experiences a slowing of growth as it ages and increasingly saturates its potential market … whether or not it has strong competition from alternative technologies," the analyst says.

Many industry pundits, journalists and manufacturers predict the projector market will eventually die off, killed by the rise of large flat panel displays.

However PMA suggests the projector industry still needs to innovate and change-- playing the offensive game with developments in short-throw projectors, interactive projectors, PC free presentations and solid state (laser, LED, hybrid) illumination.

Go WW Q1 1000+ Lumen Projector Shipments Grow 6% Y-o-Y, Routs Projector Naysayers (PMA)

Christie launches the latest lens throw distance calculator with:

• 62 projectors, and now including calculations for the Christie M Series and Christie J Series
• Easy-to-use user-interface
• Built-in calculation of vertical and horizontal offsets with instant results
• Clear warnings if your calculations are outside of recommended limits
• A more detailed, printable, results page
• Online access, or downloadable version

Christie’s throw distance calculator can determine the lens required for the installation of your Christie projector-- or the screen size or throw distance you will need given your current Christie projector and lens combination.

Go Christie’s Throw Distance Calculator

Industry expert Pete Putman, writing in Display Daily points out back in the early to mid-1990s, Sharp was a powerhouse in LCD projector sales. Yes, right up there with InFocus, Epson, and NEC.

Today, the company’s projector market share is…well, frankly…projectors are obviously not their priority.

Putman finds a bright note in their 2011 launch of super-sized 70" and 80" Aquos LCD TVs - and their subsequent surprising adoption by commercial AV systems integrators.

He points out “every projector installation is also a candidate for a big LCD screen, especially now that Sharp is producing both consumer and professional versions of its 80-inch displays.”

Today a 2-piece projector/screen solution requires ambient light control and an architectural design to hide the screen (not to mention lamp replacements and filter changes. Compare that to a self-contained, bright and contrast display (that works under any ambient room lighting, doesn’t need to be hidden when not in use, and will run a long time before it hits half-brightness).

Putman expects Sharp to bring a 90” and maybe even a 100” LCD TV/monitor to market soon.

An 80” LCD screen clearly falls in what Putman calls the projector killer class at the low end, while a 90” display is “sitting right in the sweet spot.”