The Seiko Epson Corporation, manufacturer of electronics equipment ranging from printer paper to digital cameras, says it will control 20% of the projector market by the end of 2007, up from 18% in 2006. According to the Chief Executive of Epson’s Visual Instruments Operations Division, Tadaaki Hagata, global demand for projectors will rise to five million for 2007, compared to 4.5 million in 2006. Tadaaki Hagata also hinted at upcoming Epson technologies including LCD technologies capable of 50,000:1 contrast ratios. Epson also licenses its technologies to other projector manufacturers; making their technology present in over 20% of projectors globally already.

[via Digitimes]

The future’s so bright at Sharp, you gotta wear shades - literally. Sharp has just announced their new XG-PH70X which blasts out an amazing 5200 ANSI lumens brightness and gives a whole new meaning to “Don’t look towards the light!” But lumens themselves don’t make a projector shine, so Sharp included a few other features as well - specifically a horizontal and vertical lens shift which allows for an amazing amount of flexibility when installing the projector. Adding to that flexibility is the availability of six different lenses, ranging from short to long throws and allowing for a screen size of up to 500 inches diagonally. Lastly, the projector has a mind of its own it seems with Sharp’s powerful Computer Integrated Video Composer II Video Processor which is touted as “smoothing jagged edges, minimizing image noise, and creating a perfectly rectangular image with keystoned images.” Though with the lens shift capabilities of this projector, you shouldn’t need to worry about keystones except in the most awkward projector positions; still - it’s good to know it’s there if you need it. Other specifications for the new XG-PH70X and the lensless XG-PH70XN version include a single XGA (1024 x 768) DLP chip, a 1200:1 contrast ratio, and wired networking functionality for remote management. Both will be available in March with the XG-PH70X costing $8495.00 and the XG-PH70XN costing $7995.00.

[via BusinessWire]

Normally, awards are nothing special to report on; they’re nothing special because they rarely go to projectors. So imagine our surprise when the Casio XJ-S35 won one of Europe’s more prestigious awards from the International Forum Design group. The XJ-S35 beat out over 1,000 other entries from over 30 nations to take the award. Evaluation criteria for the iF Product Design Award is quoted as “Design quality, Workmanship, Choice of materials, Degree of innovation, Environmental friendliness, Functionality, Ergonomics, Visualization of use, Safety, Brand value, and Branding.” We feel the award is well deserved as we currently have the XJ-S35’s little sibling, the XJ-S30 projector, in our offices waiting for review, and our first impression is very good. You can expect our review of the XJ-S30 sometime next week.

[via iF]

Today it’s Stanley who is joining the miniature projector fray, but luckily, Stanley is using familiar technology for theirs - a homegrown micromirror device similar to that of a Texas Instruments DLP chip. This new projection system was shown at this week’s International Conference of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) in Japan. Stanley is developing this projection system with mobile phones specifically in mind, which should be no surprise since that’s where all the other micro-projectors are aiming. The core of Stanley’s new technology utilizes piezoelectricity to tilt the actuator, similar to that of how Texas Instrument’s DLP chips work, and a laser deflecting light off the mirrors in order to create an image. While no word on when this new projection system will be integrated into mobile phones and other mobile devices, more competition to produce the best projector for mobile devices will end up as a big win for the consumer.

[via Tech On!]

The Future of Things has a very in-depth and extensive article about Explay’s Nano-Projector first announced last summer. There has been a considerable amount of news lately about miniature projectors for mobile devices with Texas Instruments throwing their hat in the ring with their DLP projectors, Microvision and their mint-sized projector, and now Explay with their own laser-based projection system. The projector is shown in action displaying a cartoon and a music video at a mobile display-friendly 320 x 240 resolution. However, Explay does say that it has the capabilities to increase the resolution to High Definition, expanding the possibilities of these new portable projectors. Photos do show the Nano-Projector displaying an impressive image on your standard A4 piece of paper, which shows enough promise of better things to come. TFOT also interviews Golan Manor, vice president of technical marketing for Explay who gives his two cents and says that we’ll be seeing these in production starting this summer. It’s an interesting read, to say the least, and it seems that projectors in cell phones is now inevitable.

[read First Look at the Smallest Projector in the World]

Epson came through with two new interesting LCD projectors for the business market today with the EMP-1815 and EMP-1810. While basically the same projector sharing the majority of the same features such as an amazingly bright 3500 lumens and 500:1 contrast as well as XGA (1024 x 768) Epson 3LCD panels. Connectivity is also the same with two D-Sub 15 Pin inputs and one output, S-video, and Composite RCA. What seperates the two is the EMP-1815’s Compact Flash and USB slots for PC-free presentations. The EMP-1815 also offers integrated wireless networking, though it doesn’t specifically mention which 802.11 standard it is compliant with. While available in Japan this March, it will take a few more months until they reach North America under the PowerLite name.

[via Engadget]

Taxan, who is an up-and-coming projector manufacturer, will be adding three more DLP projectors to their projector line-up this March. The three new projectors are all pretty similar except for a few differences. The KG-PS125X, KG-PS120X, and KG-PS100S are fairly bright at 2500 lumens and fairly light as well at only 3.9 lbs each. The KG-PS125X and KG-PS-120X are both XGA (1024 x 768) resolutions, while the KG-PS100S is only SVGA (800 x 600). One additional feature of the KG-PS125X is that it offers 802.11b wireless network connectivity through a Secure Digital slot. Connectivity shared by all three include D-Sub 15 Pin, Composite RCA, and S-Video.

[via Engadget]

Even though CES is over and done with, that doesn’t mean that manufacturers are going to stop introducing new projectors. Toshiba introduced a new projector today with a folding arm document camera for all your conference room needs. The Toshiba TDP-SC35U is 2000 lumens bright and utilizes a single 0.55″ SVGA (800 x 600) DLP chip, which is bright enough and sharp enough for most PowerPoint presentations, and to bring out the color in all of those charts, it also has a 2000:1 contrast. The folding document camera is the real kicker for the TDP-SC35U however - with a resolution of 648 x 486 you can project an image of whatever you fancy to show off at the next meeting. Of course, it’s not limited to just meeting rooms but also has applications in educational institutions and in home theaters to a much lesser extent - it also offers HDTV compatibility. Connectivity is pretty standard with two D-Sub 15 Pin inputs, Composite RCA, and S-Video just to name a few. While Toshiba does offer much higher resolution projectors and document cameras such as the TLP-XC2500U, the TDP-SC35U can be had for only $899.00 - about half that of the more powerful models.

[via businesswire]

If you have gone to your local cineplex lately, you may have started noticing some interesting DLP splash screens being played right before all those advertisements for popcorn and soda. Texas Instruments has been on an aggressive campaign pushing the benefits as well as the potential of DLP technologies. One of their campaigns is in the digital cinema market where they recently announced that over 3000 digital cinema screens are now using DLP projectors; up from only 1000 screens ten months ago. Manufacturers like Christie, Barco, and NEC are leading the DLP digital cinema market and are replacing the old film projectors with new HD digital projectors. The next time you go to the movie theater, check to see if they’re using a DLP projector and if they are, see how different it is from your movie experiences in the past.

Texas Instruments isn’t only looking to the cinema to push DLP’s benefits, though. Last week we mentioned Microvision’s PicoP cell phone projector, and now Texas Instruments have announced their own cell phone projector. Using a miniature DLP chip and three different colored lasers, Texas Instruments hopes to project DVD quality images from your cell phone onto any surface. While only in development stages, they do have a working prototype of their cellphone projector and intend to deploy it commercially shortly.

[via PRNewsWire]

We’ve seen a few portable LED projectors such as the Toshiba FF1AU and the Mitsubishi PK20, and now one more manufacturer is taahrowing their hat in the ring with the Samsung SP-P310MEMX. Sure, it’s only 25 lumens bright and sporting a single SVGA (800 x 600) DLP chip, but it only weighs 1.6 lbs and has a 2.5 hour life when operating on its battery. The dimensions of the SP-P310MEMX measure 5.0″ x 3.7″ x 2.0″ without the battery, making it extremely portable. It will be available shortly in North America for only $799. The European version, the Samsung SP-P300ME is currently available but only has half the brightness as the SP-P310MEMX.

[via Engadget]