Presentation & Display: The Challenge of Next-Generation

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Opinion

Presentation & Display: The Challenge of Next-Generation

10/9/2006

The main area of weakness for projectors is in image contrast (front projection), where the lighting in the front of the room needs to be carefully controlled to avoid the image being washed out. Projectors vary by manufacturer and model in terms of how they handle various resolutions and aspect ratios. As of press time, very few 3000-plus ANSI lumen brightness, affordable (sub-$20,000), and native 16:9 projectors are available. And projectors dictate to a large extent the layout and design of a classroom: Once in place, the projector(s) and screen(s) aren’t likely to be moved, making reconfiguration of the classroom difficult to achieve.

Small (sub-20 lb.) projectors are continuing to get brighter: The Christie LX50 and Sanyo PLC-XP56 are prime examples. Ultimately, it’s not the brightness of the projector that matters to the end user, but rather the amount of light per square inch of screen. To get an image on a 150-inch diagonal screen that compares in perceived brightness to a 2500-ANSI lumen projector shining on a 100-inch diagonal screen, the projector would need to be more than twice as bright. So while a 5000-ANSI lumen projector might be uncomfortably bright on a 70-inch screen, it will work fine with bigger screens in larger rooms.

Monitors are seeing changes and growth, both as flat panels are released in larger sizes and lower price points, and as HDTV continues to drive development of large-screen projection monitors. While monitors do well as compared with front projection in terms of image contrast, they continue to fall short in terms of image size. And, monitors currently are moving faster than projectors toward HDMI as the sole input, making integration with existing analog systems more complex.

The Next Generation

What are the products we will be putting into classrooms in the next three to five years? Some of them may look like…

1.) Really Big Monitors. For a time, NEC offered the WT600-DS84 with an 84-inch diagonal image in a 16:9 aspect ratio. While the specifications stated that it would handle “up to 1920x1080 (1080i),” this single-chip DMD device had a native resolution of 1024x576. Oh, and the list price was $19,995. As a first-generation/next-generation product, though, it met the four criteria, at least for small-to-midsize classrooms. It was large, not greatly affected by ambient lighting, and it handled a wide variety of input signals and resolutions (VGA and DVI input connectors, and handled HDTV), and the form factor was reasonably compact – only 22.5 inches deep. Hopefully, more manufacturers will look at the potential for this type of product, both in classrooms, as well as in the home. Watch for prices to drop as second- and third-generation products emerge.