DailyTech - TI Pushing DLP Into Mobile Phase

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Gadgets TI Pushing DLP Into Mobile Phase
Nirav Sanghani (Blog) - January 10, 2007 6:36 PM

4 comment(s) - last by gorobei.. on Jan 12 at 4:15 AM

Texas Instruments pulls DLP out of its pockets and projects it ... well, anywhere it wants to

Texas Instruments DLP technology is working on a palm-sized DLP projector to use with mobile devices, similar to the ultra-miniature projector created by Microvision. With sights far set on integration, Texas Instruments will, for now, work on portable DLP projectors.

TI says that this device will change the way content sharing works between mobile devices and displays. Also, this technology is said to drive content sharing, especially amongst videogamers and film buffs, due to its on-the-go access to high-quality video content.

The "less than one pound" Pocket Projector will use the 0.55 DLP chip and three different colored laser to project an image onto any surface. It will also connect to mobile devices. The projector will be able to put out larger screen size pictures than the current micro-projectors can. The downside to this is non-integration. The portable projector connects to mobile devices using the video-out feature on OMAP-enabled devices.

TI has already implanted over 3,000 DLP projectors in digital cinemas nationwide. Manufacturers, NEC and Christie Barco, already control most of the HD cinema market, but DLP cinema technology is rapidly growing.

Both companies only have prototypes for the cell phone projectors. There is no news on whether development will begin soon.

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Umm... wow?

By therealnickdanger on 1/11/2007 10:35:36 AM , Rating: 2

How mobile are we talking? Obviously, no battery could sustain a projector bulb for a feature-length film. Wireless A/V connection? Power cord? I just can't see this truly being mobile. I must not understand this article at all...

RE: Umm... wow?

By masher2

(blog) on 1/11/2007 11:44:38 AM , Rating: 2

A projector that fits into your shirt pocket and weighs half a pound is pretty damn mobile...even if you do have to plug it in to use it.

In any case, I can easily see future versions not requiring wall power. A standard cell phone battery could easily run one of these, if it was only being asked to project low-lumen image of, say, 8" in size.

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RE: Umm... wow?

By Avatar28 on 1/11/2007 10:45:39 PM , Rating: 2

Well these will apparently use LEDs for a backlight. But, yeah, I don't see batteries giving much of a life. Although if the circuit was properly regulated you could probably get enough for a movie out of a recharchable LiIon battery back. For example, this light
http://www.flashlightreviews.com/reviews/stenlight...
The Stenlight S7 is intended for caving and contains 2 3 watt Luxeon LEDs. Using its rechargable LiIon battery pack it gives a full 8 hours of runtime on high with dead-flat brightness. Some of the new LEDs from Cree apparently give twice the brightness of the Luxeons for the same power input so there is still room for improvement even there.

If the projector used a decent battery pack and a regulated high-power LED or two I think you could probably manage okay with it, depending on how much power the DLP chip pulls.

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RE: Umm... wow?

By gorobei on 1/12/2007 4:15:30 AM , Rating: 2

i think it says 3lasers to provide the rgb light.

assuming some sort of attenuated beam to avoid blinding somebody accidentally, the power life should be better than a umpteen candella led.

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