Projectors

Pico projectors came into their own in 2009, but 2010 looks to see the technology penetrate all manner of devices. At CES Unveiled, a showcase featuring dozens of vendors showcasing their latest wares, we had the opportunity to see new pico projectors powered by Texas Instrument’s DLP technology, as well as new, experimental prototypes and devices.

The most intriguing was an unnamed Samsung phone that featured a pico projector (the follow up the the Asia-only W7900) embedded into its top. Despite have a projector built right into it, the cell was remarkably lightweight and felt good in hand. We beamed a video from the phone to the table, wall, and floor, and enjoyed a surprisingly detailed image with rich colors. It’s powered by Texas Instrument’s new DLP Pico chipset that delivers a sharp, DVD-quality 854 x 480-pixel resolution.

A release date hasn’t been decided, but we’re hoping to see this Sasmung phone appear on American shores as it could eliminate the need to lug full size projectors.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Intel Corp today charging the chip maker with “illegally [using] its dominant market position… to stifle competition and strengthen its monopoly.” This comes after an almost four year long probe into Intel’s practices. In 2006 the FTC started the process with an informal inquiry, spurred on by the American Antitrust Institute. In June of 2008 the FTC moved on to the next step, a formal probe, and issued a subpoena to Intel. Since that time Intel and the FTC have apparently been attempting to settle the case, but according to Intel senior vice president and general counsel Doug Melamed, the FTC “insisted on unprecedented remedies” that stalled talks and led to today’s filing.

The FTC alleges that Intel isn’t just being competitive in the market but unfairly hampering other CPU makers (AMD being the only serious competition, according to the FTC) by either threatening or rewarding computer vendors to keep them from buying other CPUs. The suit also alleges Intel redesigned their compiler to actively hamper the performance of non-Intel chips (instead of the compiler simply working better with Intel chips, a subtle but important difference).

Intel’s response to the lawsuit is that it has done nothing wrong. It also included an allegation that the FTC didn’t investigate some of the claims against Intel before filing and tacked them on just before. Though they aren’t explicit, I wonder if these are the same Section 2 “tag along” claims that Commissioner Rosch dissented on in his Concurring and Dissenting Statement (PDF).

Should the FTC win this suit, how much will the CPU landscape change? Will it resemble the current GPU landscape which, according to the FTC, is in danger of being taken over by Intel in a similar fashion to their CPU dominance? It will be years before the dust settles, but hopefully the court filings and procedures will give us a glimpse into the competitive world of computer processors.

There are many great projectors out there, but not all of them come with great remotes. Yours may be plagued with a lack of laser pointer, a short range, or run out of juice without warning. Enter the Logitech Wireless Presenter R400. This stylish presentation remote has a great feel, a plug-and-play USB dongle, and a range of at least 120 feet. You can even start a slideshow or blank the screen at a distance. The only drawback is that the R400 isn’t completely Mac-compatible.

Check out our roundup to find other remotes that will work on both PC and Mac and include more features you won’t find on most standard presentation remotes.

Today, Casio unveiled the XJ-S43W, the newest member of its Super Slim projector line. Designed as a combo of high-brightness and portability, the XJ-S43W features 2,500 ANSI lumens and weighs just 3.96 pounds. Some of the other features  of this 10.6 x 7.8 x 1.2-inch projector include:

• Native 1,280 x 800-pixel resolution (widescreen)
• An estimated lamp life of 2,000 hours
• 1,800:1 contrast ratio
• 18-inch to 300-inch projection size
• A 30-foor projection range
• 16.77 million colors
• 2X power zoom
• “Direct power On/Off” functions for reducing set-up and take down times
• HDMI, mini D-Sub connections, 3.5mm mini-jack connections
• Monoaural sound

The $999 projector will be available for purchase in September.

If you’re looking to add the third dimension to your multimedia projections, ViewSonic just may have the device for you. Its 3D-ready PJD6220-3D works in conjunction with Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology to bring blur-free 3D to gaming sessions, movies, and other applications. Here are some of the vital specs:

• Native 1,024 x 768-pixel resolution
• 2,200 lumens
• 2,000:1 contrast ratio

The ViewSonic PJD6220-3D will be available in February for $1,499.

If you’ve seen one pico projector you’ve seen them all, right? That’s what we thought until we had a chance to go hands on with Samsung’s new MBP200, which weighs only 5.6 ounces but can pump out an image as large as 50 inches. What makes this pico unique is that it sports a 2.2-inch LCD, so it doubles as a portable audio/video player. Plus, not only can you connect your mobile phone or laptop to this mini marvel, it accepts microSD cards.

We had a chance to play with the MBP200, and the image quality when projecting the movie Madagascar was surprisingly good–although you’ll get the best results with an image size closer to 20 inches. We also found it simple to focus using the built-in control.

The only thing that could be better than a pocket size projector is one that is integrated directly into a phone, and Samsung had one on display called the Anycall Show. The device uses Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, and the lens for the projector is on the top side of the handset. This phone, which should be available in South Korea soon, wasn’t much bulkier than an iPhone, and it displayed MPEG-4 videos with barely a hiccup. All we had to do was fire up the media player app and aim the Show at a small screen.

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Business travelers know the pain of toting both a notebook and projector from city to city, but it looks like relief is on its way in the form of the NEC NP62. The 3.7-pound projector features a USB port for easy connectivity to a PC that may be awaiting you at your destination. Highlights of this model include:

• 3000 lumens
• 1600:1 contrast ratio
• 1024 x 768-pixel native resolution
• 15-pin RGB, RCA, and S-Video connections
• Eco Mode technology to increase lamp life by 40 percent (for up to 3,500 hours of operation)
• Quick start and instant shutdown
• AutoSense (one-touch optimization that intuitively syncs the projector with most computer signals)

The $1,399 projector will begin shipping later this month.

We’ve seen pico projectors from 3M, Microvision, and Optoma, and now Samsung joins the growing mini-projector category with the MBP200. Designed to connect to mobile phones and laptops, the Samsung MBP200 can project an image up to 50 inches in size onto a sheet of paper, wall, or canvas from its 2.2-inch QVGA LCD.

The pico also has a microSD Card slot for swiftly loading content, 3.5mm jack (for adding headphone or speakers), and a small screen holder (with a telescoping pole hidden inside) that can turn a standard sheet of paper into a screen for viewing movies, documents, or photos.

We’re still wrangling up pricing, availability, and specs, so check back for more details.

Projectors are cool. Their cords? No so much. If you’re sick of dealing with cables when hooking up a projector, Imation has come to the rescue with the Wireless Projection Link.  It allows one or multiple users to connect a PC to a digital projector wirelessly, thus eliminating the hassle of dealing with cables.

You simply connect the Wireless USB dongle to a PC (and the base to the projector) to conduct wireless presentations at a range of up to 30 feet. It also features advanced scaling options for maximum screen usage.

The Imation Wireless Projection Link will be available tomorrow for $249.

A week ago, we got some significant playtime with Microvision’s very cool Pico P projector, but today we got hands on with  competitors that are jockeying to become the big dogs in the mini-projector space: the 3M Micro Professional Projector MPro110 and Dell M109S ($399.00). See the full specs of the projectors after the jump.

In our hands-on test, in which we played video clips and read news headlines, the Dell M109S proved the superior projector. It displayed a crisp image and robust colors that totally outclassed the 3M MPro110’s rather bland video.  It may have a power brick that’s the size of a, well, power brick, but in these preliminary tests, we think toting the extra may be worth it if high-quality video is an essential.

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