July Issue of Projection Monthly is Out

Dear Readers,

June has been a busy month as we put on the Projection Summit conference and attended InfoComm. Both were watersheds of information. News from these shows, plus additional information we gathered over the month is now available in the July issue of Projection Monthly. This issue comes in at 140 pages, so there is some good stuff in there for everyone in your organization.

Let's start with Projection Summit. We were thrilled with the conference this year and received favorable comments and marks on the quality of the presentations and information. Our thanks to our speakers, sponsors and support staff for helping make the event a success. Proceedings of the conference have been mailed to attendees and can be purchased separately for $495. The key highlights of the conference can be viewed at:
http://www.insightmedia.info/emailblasts/ProjectionSummitHighlights.htm

Coming up quickly (August 24-26) in Century City, California is the HDTV Forum. This will provide three days of sessions on all aspects of the industry; from content creation to distribution, from supply chain to finished HDTVs, and out through the retail channels. Look for all the major TV brands to be there, along with keynotes from ESPN HD and another big name in HD programming. For more, including the agenda and confirmed speakers and sponsors, visit the site below. And, if you register for the conference and at the Westin Century Plaza before July 15, you will be entered into a raffle to win three nights in the Presidential Suite, also known as the "Western White House."
http://www.insightmedia.info/HDTVConference/HDTV04.htm

And let's not forget our "Buzz Awards" for InfoComm. We honored a number of companies like Sony, Texas Instruments, projectiondesign/Christie and MicroDisplay Corporation/Uneed Systems with Best Buzz awards. A number of additional companies received "Good Buzz Awards." These awards recognize the "buzz" or noise their products or technology created at InfoComm.
http://www.insightmedia.info/emailblasts/InsightMediaAnnouncesInfoCommBestBuzzAwards.htm

Besides the cool stuff described in the Buzz Awards, we found lots of other news worthy of coverage too. In particular, the projection supply chain is groaning under the stress of high demand for RPTVs. We have a number of news stories that paint a clearer picture.

For example, a Chinese company plans to offer UHP-like lamps to dealers in China, but that has Philips and others worried, so stay tuned. Schott says that it is capacity limited in making reflectors for lamps. Meanwhile, TI has been trying to drive some standardization in the lamp industry, but that will not include LCD and LCOS projection makers - which may have some worried. Meanwhile, air-bearing color wheel motors, the ones preferred for RPTVs, are now in allocation mode. Schott has reacted by offering a new "fluid-bearing" motor.

Activity in the screen segment is heating up too. Jenmar has a new BlackScreen aimed at RPTVs, while DNP debuted two new screens aimed specifically at thin-RPTV applications. One screen is intended for use with the F1 model from projectiondesign and the other with NEC's WT600 short-throw projector. Casting a pall over all of this is DNP's suit against Toppan to cease production of rear-projection TV screens. No one is talking as the negotiations are getting serious. We will have to watch this one.

HP made headlines by unveiling its "wobulation" technology. This uses movement within the projection engine to create an on-screen image with two to four times the native resolution of the display. It is a frame sequential approach where the image is shifted about a half pixel to create the effect of more pixels. TI say wobulation is different than Smooth Picture, but HP claims TI has signed contracts to integrate the technology. OK

On the RPTV front, we have updates on the rollouts of Epson, Hitachi, JVC, Samsung, SpatiaLight, Toshiba and V. Inc. There is no doubt there will be a lot of buying options by Christmas for DLP, LCD and LCOS-RPTVs.

One of the more interesting developments is a new single-panel LCOS-RPTV that will be commercialized by Uneed Systems. Based upon a color wheel and panel from MicroDisplay Corporation, 43- and 52-inch sets should be ready this fall. We gave this one a Best Buzz Award.

In higher-end business projectors, we noticed a trend at InfoComm. Many are now moving to full 10-bit processing in the electronics, and adding blending and/or warping capabilities into the projector itself. Christie, Sanyo and Barco are leading the charge. Dual-lamp systems are becoming more popular too, especially where continuous operation is needed or desired. Christie and projectiondesign teamed up to produce the highest-brightness, single-chip projectors yet, using a twin lamp/twin color wheel system. Christie's model (DS+60) reaches 6000 lumens, while the projectiondesign version (F3) goes to 5000 lumens.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi has found a way to increase lamp life by 66%, Toshiba is pushing the wireless frontier with $1,199 pricing on a new model, and Plus has the brightest 3.3-pounder on the market (1800 lumens).

On the consumer side, quiet is in, as Mitsubishi has reached a new level - 23 dB, with Hitachi just behind it at 25 dB. This means virtually no noise from the projector.

On the projector networking side, Epson announced it will standardize remote projector management for its entire line of projectors, using the Lantronix device server to send serial commands to the projector over the Internet. With this, Epson is following in the footsteps of InFocus and others that inherited the approach from Proxima when the two companies merged. Since then, Christie, Sanyo, NEC and others have used some form of this TCP/IP-to-serial translator box in remote projector management.

In electronics, Genesis solidified its position as a major video processor and compression technology supplier for flat screens, with solid design wins from both LG and Sampo. Chip development is progressing with Philips announcing a new switchable Analog/Digital TV module, and Micronas reports availability of the MicModule, an innovative low-impact digital upgrade module for conventional analog TV designs. Finally, Pixelworks showed its next generation of video decoder SoCs and announced a new 3D comb filter that spans the three major worldwide regions - offering a single-board solution serving all geographies.

On the standards side, China made headlines last month by backing down from its home-grown WAPI wireless standard, while the country now is promoting a new CE/IT interoperability standard called IGRS, short for Intelligent Grouping and Resource Sharing, which is remarkably similar to the newly adopted DLNA specification (formerly DHWG) that recently ratified its 1.0 spec. The country may face similar rancor for this approach if it chooses to leverage the proprietary IGRS to force companies into Chinese domestic corporate alliances and IP sharing in violation of WTO National Treatment rules.

The latest Market Intelligence section highlights the surging demand for LCD-TVs, but raises questions about the sustainability of growth in the face of supply shortages for components. Some project a shakeout of LCD-TV makers as projected builds in production capacity outpace demand, with Samsung planning to invest $3B in an 8G plant. By 2008, LCD-TVs are projected to be the top application for TFT-LCDs, surpassing monitors.

In the Business and Strategic section, we report on the settlement of the PDP dispute between Fujitsu and Samsung, while other articles continue the debate over whether LCD-TV prices will rise or fall.

In Channel news, major CE retailers report positive financial results in the fiscal first quarter, and Sony readies plans to open solo-brand boutique stores.

Meanwhile, the race for biggest and best LCD-TVs and monitor continues. While Samsung has unveiled a 57-inch model, it's not due until Q3'05. But BenQ will reportedly deliver a 56-inch this month, although few details are available.

The bigger/better race continues in plasma as well, supplemented by some interesting developments for the professional and digital signage markets, unveiled at InfoComm.

Until next time…

Chris Chinnock and the Insight Media staff
203-831-8404
chris@insightmedia.info

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