Oh! Gizmo

By David Ponce

While we’ve seen our fair share of projectors for the iPhone, all of them work by taking the device’s video feed, amplifying it and projecting it onto a surface. Not so for the HypnosEye. It simply uses a lens and a mirror to project images from your iPhone’s (or iPod touch, we suppose) screen directly to a projection screen. No amplification.

rather than use an ordinary mirror which would result in an unclear image, HypnosEye has implemented a special mirror with a reflection agent on top of the glass surface (rather than behind). As a result, you can show media from your portable device almost anywhere at anytime.

For the full specs, price and a video, keep reading.

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By Chris Scott Barr

I’ve heard a lot of talk about pico projectors and such, and how they would be a great addition to cell phones. The thought of one showing up in a digital camera never really crossed my mind. The people over at Nikon have obviously been mulling it over, since they have just announced their new Coolpiz S1000pj with a built-in projector.

I’m really not sure what I think of this thing, after all, it seems like a projector would be wasted on a camera. Sure, you can show off the pictures that you’ve just taken, but who really gets that excited about looking at pictures that they just got done taking?

The LCOS projector is rated at 10 lumens and has a 30:1 contrast ratio. It can be set anywhere from 10 inches to 6.5 feet away from the wall you’re projecting upon. This will create a picture that is between 5 and 40 inches high. Aside from the included projector, you’ve got your standard 12MP point-and-shoot camera with a 5x optical zoom. It does have a neat feature that detects motion, and adjusts the shutter speed and ISO to compensate. Look for this out in mid-November for $429.

[ Nikon ] VIA [ Crave ]

By Chris Scott Barr

iPhones and iPods can be great for watching videos, but only if a single person is trying to view them. However, if you’re wanting to show something to a group of people, you’re not going to want them to crowd around your tiny screen are you? Well later this year you’ll be able to pull out a small accessory that will make your videos large enough to be viewed by all.

The Mili Pro LED projector is a cool little dock for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Just slide your iPhone into place and it will project an image roughly equivalent to a 40-inch TV. The picture will be displayed at 640 x 480, which isn’t going blow your mind with its clarity, but it will get the job done. Having something this small that hooks up to your iPhone/iPod Touch (or any other device using VGA or RGA connectors) would certainly be appealing for the business types giving presentations, or anyone else just wanting to show off video on a bigger scale. Look for this in September for around $300.

[ PhoneSuit ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While the iPhone and iPod Touch are pretty good for watching movies by yourself, what about those times when you want to share? Having a group of people huddled around that relatively small screen can be pretty awkward, so this mini projector dock from Honlai Technology seems like a good alternative, at first glance at least. While it’s quite a bit larger than the official iPhone/iPod Touch USB dock, when compared to other video projectors it’s downright tiny. But that compact size does cost you when it comes to image quality.

While the 640×480 image resolution is understandable, the ANSI brightness rating is a less-than-stellar 10-15 lumens, and you’re looking at a contrast ratio of just 200:1. So while it’s able to project an image that’s roughly 15 to 27 inches in size, don’t expect a similar visual experience as you get from your local digitally-equipped movie theater. The dock also features a mini AV jack allowing you to connect other devices as well as a set of 2W speakers for stereo sound. Unfortunately I have no idea if this thing is currently available, when it might be available, or what it will cost.

[ QingBar MP101 Mini Projector Dock ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Tiny, ultra-portable projectors might be grabbing most of the attention these days, but what you gain in portability, you lose in image quality and brightness. So if you’re instead looking for a top-of-the-line model for your dream home theater, you can go ahead and add the Meridian 810 to your wish list. It’s the type of projector you need to plan and make room for, but with a resolution of 4096 x 2400 (or 10 megapixels) I think it’s definitely worth converting that spare bedroom into a dedicated projector room. The 810 uses specially calibrated light engine panels from JVC along with a 4000 lumen lamp to project an image on a screen up to 25 feet wide without any visible pixelation. And since most home theater enthusiasts only have access to 1920 x 1080 HD source material, the Meridian 810 uses four 1080p scalers working together to up-res anything from 480i to 1080p up to its full 10MP resolution. In fact I can’t really see a downside to Meridian’s latest offering, unless you have a problem dropping $185,000 on a projector. (Hmm… new house or new projector… new house or new projector…)

[ Meridian ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re a home theater snob who only considers projectors from companies like Christie or Barco worthy of your time, then please move on. But if you’re a financially restricted gaming enthusiast who would like to play on something bigger than the 19″ CRT in your living room, this might be of interest. The Olens XPJ projector doesn’t pretend to be the top of the line in any department, but with a price tag of just $279 there’s no way it can be. It has a resolution of just 640×480, so you won’t be playing anything in HD, but depending on how far you place the projector from a wall or screen you can get an image that’s anywhere between 40 to 70 inches in size. Apparently if you try and push it larger than 70 inches, the image starts to noticeably degrade.

The XPJ uses a proprietary 270 watt lamp which is rated for about 300 hours. For some reason the Olens Technology website seems to think that’s enough for 300 movies, so maybe they only watch Steven Seagal’s more recent one-hour action masterpieces. Fortunately the replacement bulbs cost a reasonable $29.99, and the projector even comes with a spare right out of the box. As for connections you get VGA, S-Video and composite video, and it also features a set of built-in stereo speakers since there’s a good chance that anyone buying this projector probably doesn’t have a surround sound setup at home.

[ Olens Technology XPJ Projector ] VIA [ PC World ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If your office is big on meetings, but short on space, it might be time to upgrade to an ultra short throw projector like the PLC-XL51 from Sanyo. The projector uses a large diameter aspheric lens and a high-precision aspheric mirror that allows for large projections from an extremely short distance, without distortion. From a distance of just 3 inches the PLC-XL51 can actually project an image up to 80 inches in size. So not only is it useful for small rooms where you want to project on a wall, but it can even be handy for architects who want to project a set of blueprints onto a table.

The PLC-XL51 is actually an upgrade to the company’s PCL-XL50 model, and adds Sanyo’s exclusive PJ Network interface which allows you to monitor and operate the projector’s functions from anywhere you have access to a web browser. Other features include a ‘Color Board Mode’ which allows you to adjust the hue when projecting on a colored surface so that it actually appears to be projected on white, as well as a built-in vibration security sensor which sounds an alert when the unit is picked up.

The Sanyo PLC-XL51 will be available come September of this year with a price tag of $3,995.

[ Sanyo PLC-XL50 (previous model) ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Christie, the company who makes those giant digital projectors that are probably in use at your local theater, has just announced a new system called Christie Advanced Color™ that should make color matching an array of projectors extremely easy for anyone who can push a button. The system uses a precision handheld light meter that is pointed at various targets on the projected array. The light output measurements are then used by the Christie Advanced Color software to calibrate all the projectors to a high level of uniformity.

While it might seem like an easy way to color calibrate your home theater display, the system is primarily designed for setups that rely on multiple Christie projectors at once. Since the projectors work together to produce a single image, any differences between them will result in visible seams that take away from the effect. Apparently using the software and the light meter requires no technical expertise, but if you do happen to have an expert on staff they can still make manual changes and tweaks to the calibration as they see fit.

[ Christie Introduces Latest Advancement to Automatically Color Match Projection Arrays ] VIA
[ About Projectors ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m definitely looking forward to the day when video projectors are small enough to fit inside a cellphone, but that’s still quite a few years off. If you want to get your hands on a compact projector today, this is pretty much as small as they come. The MP100 from Honlai Technology uses LCoS or ‘liquid crystal on silicon’ micro-projection technology. It’s similar to the way a DLP projector works, but it uses liquid crystals instead of individual mirrors. While the MP100 is small enough to sit in your hand, it can reportedly produce a projected image between 5 to 37 inches in size.

It uses a 5W LED as its lamp source giving it a brightness of about 10-15 lumens, and a contrast ratio of about 200:1. It also features a standard VGA input as well as a mini AV jack and composite video connections. The rendered mockup pictured above even seems to have slots for compact flash and SD cards, but specific details seem hard to come by at this point. Not surprisingly the MP100 only has a resolution of just 640×480 pixels, which will probably keep it relegated to emergency PowerPoint presentations, or crappy vacation slideshows.

[ Honlai Technology MP100 Mini Projector ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]