March 14, 2010, 11:51am
In the realm of projectors, a quiet war is being waged between two competing technologies in a scale perhaps similar, but not as high-profile, to the legendary tiff between Betamax and VHS or Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.
On one corner of the table is DLP, short for digital light processing, a technology pioneered by American semiconductor firm Texas Instruments (TI). The single-chip DLP is used by a number of projector manufacturers such as Infocus and BenQ. A newer technology, the three-chip DLP, has also been introduced by TI but the single-chip is more widespread, primarily due to cost.
On the other end of the table is 3LCD, a technology invented by Japan-based Epson Corp. Interestingly, it was imaging company Kodak which first adopted the technology before Epson launched its own 3LCD projector, the VPJ-700, in 1989. A host of other projector makers like tech giants Sony and Panasonic have since acquired the license to use 3LCD projectors.
As opposed in the 1-chip DLP which uses a spinning color wheel to project the red, green, and blue lights, the 3LCD technology employs three chips for each color which are then recombined by a prism to project the image onto the screen.
At a recent press tour of its 3LCD facilities in Japan, Epson said the company and its licensees have shipped a total of 60 million 3LCD chips in the last 20 years. The company operates two major 3LCD plants in Japan – the main R&D center in Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture and the main factory in Chitose in the northern island of Hokkaido.
Epson has cited a survey of electronics research firm FutureSource Consulting which said that Epson has held the top share of 16.1 percent in the global projector market in the last ten years (2000 to 2009). In the Philippines, company officials cited the same report which showed that Epson held a commanding 20.2 percent share in the local projector market. The subsidiary, however, is expecting this figure to rise to 24 percent this year because of the company’s renewed focus on the corporate segment.
Eisuke Shimoyama, manager of visual instruments at Seiko Epson Corp., said during the press briefing that 3LCD projectors are 25-percent more light efficient because of its use of three-chip light engine.
“In DLP technology, the chip makes use of the white segment to boost lumens. However, this reduces color performance and clarity,” said Shimoyama.
The Japanese executive said TI has done a “brilliant” job of marketing DLP but said there is “nothing brilliant” about the technology. “DLP is actually very inefficient in using energy and projecting colors as it has spinning mechanism that can fail,” he said.
Koichi Kubota, chief executive of the visual instruments operations division of Seiko Epson Corp., said the projector market is expected to grow despite the growing popularity of widescreen LCD television.
“These two markets are different because of the size factor,” said Kubota, implying that LCD TVs can never attain the large screen size of projectors.
The official said the company has scrapped plans of producing a palm-size projector that it previewed it the past. “We decided not to roll out because of the brightness factor,” he said.
There are still many areas of growth for Epson’s projector business, said Kubota, adding that the company is currently “studying” a 3D projector although no timetable has been set for this yet. “One factor that is making its development difficult is the fact that there are different standards for 3D technology as of now,” he said.
One new product that Epson is excited to launch, however, is a “short-throw” projector that is expected to give an entirely new meaning to “interactive” white boards.
The BrightLink 450Wi, which has been pilot-tested in different parts of the globe, is an intelligent and interactive projector that allows educators to turn any standard whiteboard or smooth wall into an interactive learning area.
Because the projector is connected to a Window-powered PC, the lectures written in the interactive white board can be saved in a file.
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