Large Venue Projectors

Oct 12, 2009 12:00 PM, By Jay Ankeney

More options for high-brightness projectors.

NEC NP4100W

Just last August, NEC released its NP4100W projector, a WXGA wide-aspect-ratio DLP design with the ability to display 5500 ANSI lumens and five optional bayonet-style lenses for quick and easy exchange. The NP4100W combines advanced features that extend the life of the projector and minimize maintenance needs including Eco mode, which increases lamp life by up to 50 percent for 3,000-hour lamp life and decreases fan noise; Quick Power Off technology, which protects the lamp during cool down; and a sealed dust-resistant optical system that enables better picture quality and reduces maintenance. An optional six-segment color wheel is available on the NP4100W for applications requiring extremely rich color saturation. The NP4100W is compatible as either dual- or single-lamp operation and features selectable settings, which allow for multiple light outputs to extend lamp life.

Panasonic PT-D6000US

Panasonic's PT-D6000US takes single-chip DLP projectors to a new brightness threshold of 6500 lumens and claims new levels of color reproduction (up to 145 percent of conventional models) with the aid of the newly engineered RGB Booster, Panasonic's proprietary Vivid Color Control technology, and a newly engineered lamp modulation drive system. Advanced image-processing circuits in the PT-D6000US analyze the video signal frequency range for each scene by extracting data on the distribution of high-, mid-, and low-frequency components, and they bring out fine details accordingly. Maintenance is simplified by the PT-D6000US's autocleaning filter, which makes filter cleaning unnecessary for approximately 10,000 hours.

projectiondesign F80

Norway's projectiondesign would recommend its first 3-chip DLP projector, the F80, for large venue installations. It offers up to 8000 ANSI lumens of brightness and an unprecedented contrast ratio of up to 10,000:1 thanks to contrast-enhancement technologies that are unique to projectiondesign and a world first in 3-chip DLP projectors, according to the company. Key features in projectiondesign's F80 include infinitely adjustable iris and aperture settings and motorized zoom, focus, and shift with memory for use in multiple settings with programmed calibration. By combining fixed and motorized optical filters for each color channel, the projector can be optically calibrated with near infinite accuracy. Most importantly, every lens for the F80 uses low-dispersion (LD) aspherical glass elements for high-quality focusing and sharpness, as well as high optical interfield contrast, resulting in very high perceived image quality.