Art's Infocomm 19

I am at Infocomm ’19 in Orlando. It is the start of day two of visiting the major projector manufacturers and learning about the latest, and hottest new models.

While I’m taking in another 8 meetings today, Nikki is also preparing several videos I shot yesterday, in the booths of Sony, Epson, Casio, Canon, Optoma, Viewsonic, and Vivitek.

This is certainly the Year of the Laser Projector here at Infocomm. Between all the meetings I had yesterday, the only lamp-based projectors were relatively inexpensive ones, and rarely were any of them a focus of the manufacturers at the show. We still don’t have laser projectors in the $1,000 range, although we certainly have Casio’s solid-state LED laser projectors starting even below that.

Here are just a few tidbits from my visits with marketing and product managers:

They have added a new Lightscene (specialty) projector (for digital signage, projection mapping). On the more mainstream side, Epson showed the new L10 series of laser projectors with interchangeable lenses (it uses the same lenses as Epson’s higher end lasers, and older G series lamp based projectors). The new L10 series starts with 6,000 and 7,000-lumen models. Shipments this fall.

Epson also showed their latest and greatest version of Moverio, a pair of “glasses” with twin projectors built in, designed for augmented reality, ideal for field support or training (you can quickly upload, for example, a technical document to a field engineer on site, so they can see the info in the glasses while also seeing through the info to work on whatever software or equipment). I see it also as great for doing portions of our videos, so am having Epson ship me a pair!

Epson also displayed their heavy metal – their largest projectors going up to 30,000 lumens, with more than a dozen laser projectors in their line-up, from “entry level – laser” to massive commercial laser projectors including 20,000, 25,000 and their brightest, a 30,000 lumen projector but that one won’t ship until early next year.

Sony’s booth was mostly about large LED displays, but there were some projectors, including their GTZ280 projector (it has been around a while), which is 4K, is seriously expensive, and designed especially for entertainment display and scientific applications, including renderings, modeling, etc. The smaller GTZ240 is another specialty projector, this one with a very wide-angle lens, whose primary markets including planetariums… It has features like MotionFlow, Reality Creation Upscaling, and 4K, 3-D capabilities for reliable simulations. Also interesting, it has an infrared mode for simulating night vision. You won’t find that on every projector.

Sony’s “latest and greatest” mainstream commercial laser projector is the VPL-FHZ75, which is a step up from the older FHZ61 that we reviewed last year. We will be bringing one of these in for review this year. Sony also showed their smaller laser projectors, including the PHZ10, which we reviewed a year or so ago. It is one of their affordable laser projectors (no interchangeable lenses).

ViewSonic is showing a number of projectors, one of which is this under-$300 pico projector with 80 lumens, the M1+, which is WVGA. In addition, they were showing (not demoing) the M2 which you can also see in this image. The M2, is a huge step up from the M1+. It is full 1080p resolution, and it is a smart projector! Still not impressed, it supports HDR! And it is very portable, check out the carry handle.

Here’s one more from Viewsonic, the LS850WU, a 5000-lumen laser projector, with WUXGA resolution and HDBT. They call that one a Home Enlightenment projector! And of course, we need to mention a 4K UHD entry, the LS700-4K, with 3300 lumens and a laser light engine. We will bring one of these in to review, in the near future.

Optoma is showing a number of new or newer commercial projectors for business and education, including the 506 series which offers laser projectors up to 5200 lumens. 506 series projectors are available in WXGA, WUXGA and 1080p versions.

And for you home theater fans, Opotoma is again showing their P1 home theater projector – laser, ultra-short throw. For more info (in June) check out my Advertorial/first look, which is featured on our homepage, just below the masthead. Head back to our homepage, and the P1 scene image just below the masthead to learn a lot more about the P1. A video will be posted shortly.An interesting tidbit, Optoma proudly proclaimed in signage in their booth that they are the #1 brand for 4K projectors world wide, per PMA (the research firm I often quote).

Ok, I just ran out of time. Heading to the convention center for day two of Infocomm. I’ll provide more on my next blog, focusing on today’s meetings and finishing off some additional info on yesterday’s meetings, including Canon. Today I start out with Vivitek, then LG, NEC, Panasonic…

Hang in there folks, more info, and videos coming real soon. We will be posting the many videos over the next two/three weeks. -art