PicoProjector-info

Microvision is one of the most interesting pico-projector companies, with their Laser-Beam-Steering projector module. They have just started selling the Show-WX pico projector (available for $549). Michael Fritts, VP of Global Sales, Marketing and Business Development has agreed to answer a few questions.

Michael has responsibility for developing the global new products team, establishing partnerships and collaborations and building market awareness, to commercialize products. Before Microvision, Michael worked for GE for over 20 years, has completed the Executive M.B.A. program at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Q: Michael - first of all, thank you for this interview. The SHOW-WX is now shipping in a few countries, and is available in the US too. Are you happy with the sales so far? Do you have any customer feedback?

Yes, we’re pleased with the sales results. In fact, we recently released our first quarter results and reported a record backlog of $16.7 million, primarily for products based on our PicoP technology, including the ShowWX product. And yes we have feedback and it's been very positive.

The pico-projector market is growing quickly, and today there are over 50 pico projectors available. Finding the right projector is not easy as there are many parameters: size, weight, projection technology, resolution, brightness, inputs, built-in memory... and price of course. Today we have published a pico-projector buying guide, and we're happy to announce a couple of exciting new tools:

• The Feature search lists all the models in the market, with the ability to filter by technology, resolution, brightness, and more.
• The side-by-side comparison lets you choose up to 5 projectors and see how they measure up.

We'd be happy to get any comments you may have...

Display Photonics Systems (DPS) is a new start-up that has developed a new single-panel projection technology called Angular Color Projection (ACP). They claim that their solution is more efficient, brighter, smaller and cheaper than current solutions. DPS has already been granted some patents and created a fully working prototype. They are now seeking funding to complete product development and create a pilot production line in China.

ACP technology diagram

Here's how they describe the technology: RGB images are displayed side by side simultaneously on a single microdisplay panel and proprietary projection lens converges the RGB images to a full color image. At a certain plane within the projection lens, RGB color lights are distributed (encoded) at different angles. A set of dichroic mirrors are then used to converge RGB lights.

ACP can be used with an HID lamp, White LED, RGB LED or laser. The technology allows for future migration to OLED based (self emitting) projectors.

PicoProjector-Info was upgraded today (if anyone is interested, we upgraded to Drupal 6.x from 5.8). Most of the changes are infrastructure related so you won't notice much, but hopefully the site should be faster now, more stable and more secure.
If you do find any bugs, glitches or you have any comments, please let us know!

The nice folks at AAXA has sent us one of their new L1 laser pico projectors for review. Just for your information, AAXA is an advertiser here at picoprojector-info, but I'll try to be as objective as possible.

The L1 Pico-Projector is a small laser-driven LCoS pico-projector (800x600, 20 lumens). It is focus-free, which is great (more on this later). It can accept RCA/VGA/S-Video inputs, and can also read files from a USB key (which is very useful). It's got a little bit of internal memory (160Mb) - which only makes sense for documents or presentations. The L1 costs $599, it's an expensive pico!

The nice guys over at Ray Displays have sent us a Ray Projector for a review. The Ray is an LCoS projector with 640x480 resolution and 8-10 lumens. The Ray costs $199 (available in Ray Displays' web site).

What's in the box

Apart from the projector, you also get an operation manual, a small tripod, a charger and a host of cables and connectors: RCA cable and coupler, and 3 A/V cables - 2.5mm, 3.5mm and another 'white' 3.5mm (compatible with Apple iPod and iPhone video output).

Looking to advertise your pico-projector? PicoProjector-Info represents a great opportunity to expose your product to potential buyers, exactly when they look for more information and options before they decide on which projector to buy. Our site is viewed by tens of thousands of readers every month and is one of the few sites that is read mostly by consumers who wish to buy a pico projector or find out more information about these new gadgets. 

If you order a 3-months campaign in February we'll give you one month free, and when ordering a 6-month campaign we'll give you two. 

You can view our ad rates online. Contact us For details.