The LED projectors category includes the latest projector technology used in ultra-portable projectors, business projectors, and digital projection. See below for a list of LED projector reviews and information pages. LED projectors are becoming more and more popular.
LED technology is being used in a wide range of products, including home theater projectors, business and education projectors, and even the emerging market of Pico projectors, and other mini projector systems. This has its benefits in a variety of fields, with several different uses.
While most pico and pocket projectors utilize LED light sources, when it comes to larger projectors the number one player using LED light engines is Casio. But that’s not quite correct as they use a hybrid design with both LED and laser.
Lasers would be the other major solid state technology used, and it’s being used in some impressive, more expensive commercial projectors.
Most manufacturers of LED projectors are claiming 20,000 or more hours of life expectancy for their light engines. That’s about 4-6 times traditional lamps in conventional projectors.
The life of an LED light source is seriously spectacular. Even with 40 hours of viewing per week, the average LED can run for an impressive 10-25 years, which is longer than the expected life of the product itself! Let us put in perspective how long 25 years really is in the world of technology. In 1985, the VHS was the standard in home recording, a really huge TV was only 32 inches, CDs were new, DVDs were only a dream, and high-definition was still 15 years away. Thus, because technology changes so much, the use of the same LED projector 25 years into the future is not really practical. But theoretically, it’s possible!
First picture from the LED Optoma PK301 pico projector.
Second, the LED Samsung SP-F10M projector in bright mode.
But back to reality. To our knowledge, all current pico projectors use a small LED light source. Pico projectors make possible integration with small devices such as smart phones, etc. They can boast an absurdly long life of up to 20,000 hours.
In the home theater space, LED light sources are emerging, typically in higher-end 3-chip DLP projectors. As of the 2010-2011 season, all home theater projectors using LED light sources are over $10,000. LEDs are somwhat limited in brightness, however, which might explain why we haven’t seen more in the lower price ranges.
In the business sector, LED light sources are beginning to rival conventional lamps. However, despite these developments, we can’t guarantee that LED light sources will replace all conventional lamps, especially if you consider that we are now seeing some business projectors sporting lamps with lives as long as 5,000-6,000 hours.
LED light sources may come into the main home theater market a little behind their acceptance in the business education market. For example, the Samsung SP-F10M at $1,299 is an excellent example of LED light sources going into lower cost projectors.
Another example is Casio’s LED hybrid projectors, which use both LED and laser technology. Both the LED Samsung and the hybrid Casio projectors have the same kind of extremely long life ratings, and both run around $800-$1,500 dollars.
We should keep in mind that the business sector is more than 10x the size of the home theater world. As a result, as it comes to economies of scale, LED light sources are quickly becoming valid propositions in business and education, whereas they are still very expensive in home theater space (due to low numbers and high development costs).
With developments in LED technology, LED popularity and widespread usage is anticipated to rise. It is expected that, in the business/education world, LED light sources will become dominant over conventional lamps over the next few years (2011-2012). Furthermore, LED home theater projectors should soon become available at lower prices.
