Picoprojectors Hit the Mainstream
Another future has arrived. Last year, my colleague Max Baron
analyzed competing technologies for picoprojectors—tiny video projectors
occupying less than a cubic inch of space. (See MPR 12/8/08-01, "The New Peripheral is Almost
Here.") Although picoprojector modules began appearing in small presentation
projectors and other specialized devices, the technology hadn't quite hit the
consumer mainstream.
Then, in August, Nikon revealed the world's first digital
camera with a built-in projector. The Coolpix S1000pj, available now, displays
still photos and video clips at VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels). It can
project images on a screen or light-colored wall at distances up to six feet,
producing an image up to 40 inches wide.
For a while, at least, the S1000pj has a feature that
distinguishes it from the hundreds of imitative designs that are turning digicams
into low-margin commodities. The projector allows the S1000pj to command a
higher price ($429) than similar digicams. (See MPR 6/26/07-02, "Commodity Products Make
Commodity Markets.")
Nikon's Coolpix S1000pj is the first digicam with an
embedded picoprojector. It uses liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) technology and
LEDs. Nikon announced the camera in August and began shipping it in September.
(Photo illustration: Nikon) |
Picoprojectors herald a new age of video. Fifty years ago,
transistors and ICs replaced power-hungry vacuum tubes, liberating electronics from tethered power. More recently, LCDs have replaced bulky CRTs, liberating television and computer video from tethered screens. Eventually, picoprojectors will replace bulky video projectors and will liberate portable video from the confining dimensions of tiny LCDs. More important, embedded picoprojectors will allow inventors to create new products we haven't dreamed of yet.
It's obvious that digital cameras, camcorders, and
camera-equipped cellphones can put a built-in projector to good use. Think how often you've seen people crowding around a digicam or cellphone, craning their necks and bumping heads while squinting at photos displayed on a small LCD with a narrow viewing angle.
Portable videogame machines with embedded picoprojectors are
an intriguing possibility. Portable movie players and TVs are obvious
candidates. A small e-book reader for the sight-impaired would be useful. There
are all sorts of opportunities for advertising displays and marketing
promotions. Someday, opening a greeting card might even play a video.
Resurrecting an Art Form
When built into digital-audio players, picoprojectors
will finally redress one of my pet peeves. They will compensate for losing the
wonderful 12- x 12-inch canvas for album art when recorded music abandoned
vinyl in favor of cassettes, then CDs, then disembodied MP3 files downloaded
from the Internet.
In a column written four years ago, I anticipated that tiny
projectors would someday become multimedia substitutes for classic album
covers: "If we can build video cameras into cellphones, it should be possible
someday to build video projectors into audio players. At a touch of a button,
the player will project music videos, artwork, and liner notes onto the nearest
light-colored surface. Eventually, the display might even be a self-standing
holographic image." (See MPR
12/27/05-02, "The Oblique Perspective: Merry Virtual Christmas.")
However, there are still obstacles to overcome. Today's
picoprojectors aren't very bright, so their range and viewing environments are
severely limited. With the Nikon S1000pj, you'll need a dark room to see a
clear image at its maximum range of six feet. Its picoprojector is rated at a
mere 10 lumens.
In comparison, my Kodak Carousel 760H slide projector from
the 1970s has an incandescent lamp rated at 525 lumens. It shines like a
lighthouse, throwing a bright, clear image of a 35mm slide onto a 60-inch
screen from 20 feet across the room.
The trade-off is heat—lots of it. The Kodak lamp dissipates
300W, requiring a cooling fan to avoid melting the slides. Even so, you'll see the
slide pop into a different plane of focus in about 30 seconds, forcing the
projector's autofocus lens to whir as it resharpens the image. Projecting a
slide for more than a minute degrades the color dyes in the film emulsion and shortens
the slide's life.
Modern video projectors for business presentations and home
theaters are even more powerful. Their lamps are rated from 1,000 lumens to
more than 3,000 lumens, so they can project bright images without requiring a completely
darkened room. But again, the trade-off is lots of heat and the steady hum of a
cooling fan.
The Cooler Alternative
Picoprojectors have none of those problems. Their
cooler light sources of LEDs or low-power lasers are much more efficient. As
partial compensation for their lower brightness, picoprojectors concentrate
their light into a highly directional beam. A conventional projector lamp
radiates light in all directions, wasting most of it.
Over time, picoprojector technology will improve, opening
brighter environments to their images. As costs for picoprojector modules
decline, more products will incorporate the technology.
Many of today's engineers vividly remember the famous
opening scene in the first Star Wars
movie, in which R2D2 projects a holographic recording of Princess Leia's
distress call. Now grown up, some of those engineers are reducing science
fiction to science—and making another future come to pass.
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