CEDIA 2003: Steamrollered

THE FRONT LINE

CEDIA 2003: STEAMROLLERED

Peter Putman, CTS, ISF

Okay, time to hang it up. The writing’s on the wall, the fat lady has sung, the clock has run out.

If one thing was abundantly clear at Cedia Expo 2003, it’s that Texas Instruments’ Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology has basically taken over the front projector market in the home theater space. Oh sure, you do see the odd polysilicon LCD projector here and there, and a few companies are still showing LCoS (reflective LCD) products.

But the home theater marketplace has voted, and cast its lot with digital micromirror devices. It doesn’t matter if a particular projector design uses one or three devices; DLP is simply the way to go – for now.

Don’t agree with that statement? Go argue with Yamaha, InFocus, Digital Projection, Sharp, Runco, SIM2, Marantz, NEC, DWIN, Crystal Vision, Toshiba, Samsung, Vidikron, Optoma, and BenQ. All of ‘em had at least one new DLP projector to brag about in Indianapolis, and several companies had two or three models.

Samsung’s SP-H700A DLP front projector had amazing image quality.

To top things off, three of these companies showed 3-chip DLP prototypes (no color wheel artifacts, just good old dichroics) which will all come to market in 2004. And there are other companies working on 3-chip designs that will migrate from the Pro AV channel into the Cedia channel.

PROJECTION HIGHLIGHTS

There were some excellent images being projected in booths and on the trade show floor. In particular, the InFocus 3-chip prototype, Samsung’s new SP-H700A (designed with a lot of help from video veteran Joe Kane), Digital Projection’s single and three-chip chassis’, and Marantz’ VP-12S3 (single chip) will help to make people forget they ever heard of three-gun CRT projection. (I still use one, so what does that say about me? And all you folks at TI in Plano can stop laughing now…)

There is so much DLP-engined product in the market that it has taken most of the suspense out of press conferences. The minute SIM2 announced a single-chip projector using the ‘Matterhorn’ 1024x576 device; you knew at least half a dozen other manufacturers would have it in short order. I am aware of at least six different three-chip designs that are being engineered for home theater, and the latest TI Mustang/HD2+ 1280x720 DMD is now popping up in over a dozen front projector designs.

Sony’s Qualia 004 1920x1080 LCoS projector
attracted large crowds throughout the show.

But the microdisplay wars are far from over. Companies such as Panasonic, Sony, and JVC are countering with projectors based on either high-temperature polysilicon or LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) devices. Most notable of these was Sony’s new Qualia projector, an enormous chassis that resembles a hi-tech bathroom scale and employs three homegrown 1920x1080 LCoS panels, dichroics, and a xenon lamp.

The Qualia dominated Sony’s booth, and lines to see its images were long all three days. I managed to sneak in to the demo an hour before the show closed on Sunday and watched about 10 minutes of clips from HDCAM, including some original 1080i footage and film transfers. Image quality was quite good, except for what appeared to be some compression at the high end of the grayscale (otherwise known as ‘crushed whites’). I’ve seen this before with other LCoS demos, both front and rear projected.

While Sony’s Qualia did kick up a lot of interest, JVC had an equally interesting and quieter demo off the floor at the Hyatt. Not only was a new 1400x750 front D-ILA (also LCoS) projector on display, I was able to see a prototype front LCoS projector with .8” 1920x1080 D-ILA panels that took up about 1/3 as much room as the Sony box – and its picture quality wasn’t too bad. High black levels and some white crush were the usual suspects here.

Fujitsu’s 55-inch 1366x768 plasma is a first for the company (as well as Hitachi).

It’s good to see both companies working on an alternative to the flood of DMDs, but keep in mind that the manufacture of LCoS panels is a tricky business and usually means low device yields. That’s because the walls between pixels are so thin. Thin walls (cell gaps) means a larger ‘fill factor’ (over 90% of the panel surface is used for imaging), but the pixel walls can break or deform during fabrication.

So, the big question for Sony and JVC (not to mention Toshiba, Hitachi, and several other companies using LCoS microdisplays) is this: Can you get high enough device yields to manufacture a viable, deliverable product? So far, no one has been able to ‘solve’ this LCoS conundrum and in fact several manufacturers have switched from LCoS to DLP RPTV engines simply because they can get enough DMDs to deliver a working product in large quantities.

Samsung’s entry into the front DLP market was one floor down in the Hyatt, and showed a lot of homework had been done. Joe Kane did the demos himself on the SP-H700A, a unique little box with selectable color gamuts (EBU/SMPTE/HDTV), numerous user memory settings, and the ability to directly input R,G,B color coordinates to get the projector to a specific white point as the lamp ages. To me, this was the best-looking 720p single-chip projector at the show – no contest.

This .8 inch LCoS device has 1920x1080 pixel resolution
and will show up next year in a new JVC front projector.

InFocus came into the market last year and many of us editors adopted a “show me” posture when the folks from Oregon announced they intended to be major players in the HT space. Well, after selling several thousand projectors worldwide, it looks like they do have it all figured out and announced the ScreenPlay 7205 as their latest entry. This 1280x720 DLP box employs Faroudja FLI2310 processors and a seven-segment, five-speed color wheel.

Vidikron unveiled the Model 20 and Model 40 front DLP projectors, the difference being the Model 20 uses the ‘Matterhorn’ 576p chip and the Model 40 goes all the way with a 1280x720 native device. Meanwhile, corporate partner Runco (who never does anything low-key) announced eight (that’s right, eight) new high-end 3-chip DLP machines that provide anything from 3000 – 6000 lumens with 1280x1024 DMDs and 720p, 960p, or 1024p outboard processing.

Marantz demo’ed both an updated single-chip model, the VP-12S3, and a three-chip prototype that was running a bit on the red side but still looked good. Digital Projection is poised to compete in the $10K and up projector arena with a bunch of products. One is the super-small iVision HD, a single-chip 1280x720 DLP design that weighs but 6.6 pounds. The three-chip Mercury HD was in evidence, and there are even plans to bring out a three-chipper using the new 2K cinema-grade DMDs.

Optoma’s H76 front DLP projector is very aggressively priced under $8,000.

Optoma had the H76, the current price leader in the single-chip 1280x720 arena. This box is selling for under $8K and has the potential to be a ‘disruptive’ product in terms of price, as does BenQ’s PE8700 which is a very similar product and sells in the same price range. SIM2 had the Domino on display, and this little wonder makes use of the ‘Matterhorn’ 576p DMD device to compete at a lower price with other 576p and 1024x768 front projectors.

ANOTHER STEAMROLLER?

Projection wasn’t the only highlight of the show. In fact, the deluge of flat-panel technology into the CE and HT markets has the potential to be another slam-dunk. With all of the oversupply and price wars taking place in Asia, the field of plasma and LCD resellers and retailers is more crowded than the upcoming California gubernatorial recall election.

The writing is clearly on the wall here – flat panel TVs are the wave of the future, and that wave is coming faster than many analysts expected. The forecast is for flat-panel technologies to surpass CRT displays by 2005 in all categories, and with plasma and LCD TVs and monitors now available in sizes from 10in. all the way to 63in. (with some 70in. and 72in. product in the works), the battleground will extend even to rear-projection TVs using microdisplay technologies such as (what else?) DMDs and LCoS panels.

Panasonic showed a variety of LCD-powered RPTVs
and also a POD (digital cable ready) set in its booth.

Here were some of the highlights:

Samsung is one of the big players in this market with both LCD and plasma fabrication lines running full-tilt in Korea. They’re into their third generation of plasma with four models, starting with the 42in. SPN4235 (852x480) and 42in. HPN4239 (1024x768 ns). Both have integrated NTSC tuners and a fan-less design for cooling to keep noise down. The 50in. HPN5039 (1366x768) and 63in. HPN6339 (1366x768) will also include NTSC tuners. All four models offer DVI inputs and Digital Natural Image processing.

In the LCD arena, Samsung offers the LTN406W, a 40in. widescreen NTSC TV with 1280x768 resolution and the even larger 46in. LTN468W (1280x768). There are 22in. (LTN265W) and 32in. (LTN325W) models also in the new line. All of ‘em use Samsung’s Patterned Vertical Alignment LC crystal process for wider viewing angles.

LG knocks heads with Samsung daily in the flat panel world, and showed up with new 42in, 50in, and 60in. plasma monitors. The RU-42PZ90 has an integrated NTSC tuner, while the 50in. MU-50PZ90V and 60in. MU-60PZ90V are monitors only. (Similar products with the Zenith brand were also on display (P42W34, P50W38, and P60W38). Of particular interest was the DU-42PZ60, a 42in. plasma HD-ready TV using a 1024x768 (non-square) pixel matrix. This product featured a built-in NTSC and ATSC tuner, a first in its category.

Samsung had a literal wall of LCD TVs ranging from
15” to 40” in 4x3 and 16x9 aspect ratios.

No discussion of flat-panel TVs would be complete without a mention of Sharp, the current worldwide leader in LCD TV sales. They unveiled the new 30in. LC-30HV6U and 37in. LC-37HV6U integrated LCD TVs, but with a new horizontal speaker design below the screen. Sharp had a neat technology demo featuring the LC-15L1U-US, a 15in. LCD TV equipped with 802.11b wireless card and batteries for a true ‘portable’ LCD TV system.

The “new and improved” Vidikron added three plasma monitors into their line. The VP-42 is a 42in. 480p monitor that is HD-ready, as is the 50in. VP-50 (1366x768) and the 60in. VP-60 (1366x768). RCA is also a ‘player’ with two LCD TVs. The LCDS2022B is a 20in. design with 800x600 resolution and 160-degree viewing angle, while the LCDX2722W sports 1280x768 resolution, DVI input and 170-degree viewing angles.

Fujitsu had a couple of surprises, including the first-ever 50” plasma monitor assembled at the Fujitsu-Hitachi plant. The P55HXA actually measures 55” diagonally and sports 1366x768 resolution, plus it uses the familiar Alternate Lighting of Surfaces (AliS) technology found in 42in. Fujitsu and Hitachi models. A 63in. model (ostensibly OEMed from Samsung) also made a debut and is branded as the P63XHA. (Hitachi also had their version of the 55” panel on display as a technology prototype.)

Digital Projection is serious about the home theater channel with the
compact iVision HD and 3-chip Mercury HD DLP projectors.

Panasonic showcased the 42in. TH-42PX20U and 50in. TH-50PX20U plasma monitors. Both offer an integrated NTSC tuner and two speakers, Photo Viewer SD and PCMCIA slots, and a pedestal stand. In the world of smaller screens, Panasonic’s 22in. TC-22LH1 and 32in. TC-32LH1 are LCD TVs with 1280x768 pixel resolution and HDMI inputs. Sony is also onboard with a new 26in. LCD TV. The KLV-26HG2 WEGA is an HD-ready set with integrated NTSC tuner, a Memory Stick slot for JPEG and MPEG1 playback, and updated speaker design.

There were several other companies showing a variety of small LCD TVs in the 10” to 17” size range. Many of these have Wide XGA (1280x768) resolution and are suitable for use in small rooms, kitchens, or even as carry-around TVs if power is available. Luce, Samsung, Sharp, and Zenith are all well represented in this product category. None of these products are ATSC-ready, although Luce did show a larger LCD TV with a built-in ATSC tuner earlier this year.

Zenith had a 55” DLP rear-projection TV on display.

GOT FLAT IF YOU WANT IT

This recap is by no means exhaustive, but it does give you a pretty good idea of how the market is being redefined by microdisplay and flat panel technologies. Eventually, the two will compete head-to-head in 40” and higher screen sizes. Right now, DLP has the advantage in price – RCA’s 61” DLP rear-projection TV lists for $4500, while a comparable 61” plasma monitor is close to $20K – but that will surely change with time.

The prediction here is that LCD monitors and TVs will take over the market up to 40” – 42” within a couple of years, with plasma still hanging on in larger sizes. LG and Samsung have both shown LCD TVs with screens larger than 50”, and Sharp has a 60” version in the works. Right now, these are not viable products and both are far too pricey to compete with plasma and even rear-projection TVs. But the day is coming…

Copyright ©2003 Peter H. Putman / Primedia Business Media and Magazines.
This article will also appear in Sound and Video Contractor magazine.


						THE FRONT LINE
					CEDIA 2003: STEAMROLLERED


					Peter Putman, CTS, ISF Okay, time to hang it up. The writing’s on the wall, the fat lady has sung, the clock has run out. If one thing was abundantly clear at Cedia Expo 2003, it’s that Texas Instruments’ Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology has basically taken over the front projector market in the home theater space. Oh sure, you do see the odd polysilicon LCD projector here and there, and a few companies are still showing LCoS (reflective LCD) products. But the home theater marketplace has voted, and cast its lot with digital micromirror devices. It doesn’t matter if a particular projector design uses one or three devices; DLP is simply the way to go – for now. Don’t agree with that statement? Go argue with Yamaha, InFocus, Digital Projection, Sharp, Runco, SIM2, Marantz, NEC, DWIN, Crystal Vision, Toshiba, Samsung, Vidikron, Optoma, and BenQ. All of ‘em had at least one new DLP projector to brag about in Indianapolis, and several companies had two or three models. Samsung’s SP-H700A DLP front projector had amazing image quality. To top things off, three of these companies showed 3-chip DLP prototypes (no color wheel artifacts, just good old dichroics) which will all come to market in 2004. And there are other companies working on 3-chip designs that will migrate from the Pro AV channel into the Cedia channel. PROJECTION HIGHLIGHTS There were some excellent images being projected in booths and on the trade show floor. In particular, the InFocus 3-chip prototype, Samsung’s new SP-H700A (designed with a lot of help from video veteran Joe Kane), Digital Projection’s single and three-chip chassis’, and Marantz’ VP-12S3 (single chip) will help to make people forget they ever heard of three-gun CRT projection. (I still use one, so what does that say about me? And all you folks at TI in Plano can stop laughing now…) There is so much DLP-engined product in the market that it has taken most of the suspense out of press conferences. The minute SIM2 announced a single-chip projector using the ‘Matterhorn’ 1024x576 device; you knew at least half a dozen other manufacturers would have it in short order. I am aware of at least six different three-chip designs that are being engineered for home theater, and the latest TI Mustang/HD2+ 1280x720 DMD is now popping up in over a dozen front projector designs. Sony’s Qualia 004 1920x1080 LCoS projector attracted large crowds throughout the show. But the microdisplay wars are far from over. Companies such as Panasonic, Sony, and JVC are countering with projectors based on either high-temperature polysilicon or LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) devices. Most notable of these was Sony’s new Qualia projector, an enormous chassis that resembles a hi-tech bathroom scale and employs three homegrown 1920x1080 LCoS panels, dichroics, and a xenon lamp. The Qualia dominated Sony’s booth, and lines to see its images were long all three days. I managed to sneak in to the demo an hour before the show closed on Sunday and watched about 10 minutes of clips from HDCAM, including some original 1080i footage and film transfers. Image quality was quite good, except for what appeared to be some compression at the high end of the grayscale (otherwise known as ‘crushed whites’). I’ve seen this before with other LCoS demos, both front and rear projected. While Sony’s Qualia did kick up a lot of interest, JVC had an equally interesting and quieter demo off the floor at the Hyatt. Not only was a new 1400x750 front D-ILA (also LCoS) projector on display, I was able to see a prototype front LCoS projector with .8” 1920x1080 D-ILA panels that took up about 1/3 as much room as the Sony box – and its picture quality wasn’t too bad. High black levels and some white crush were the usual suspects here. Fujitsu’s 55-inch 1366x768 plasma is a first for the company (as well as Hitachi). It’s good to see both companies working on an alternative to the flood of DMDs, but keep in mind that the manufacture of LCoS panels is a tricky business and usually means low device yields. That’s because the walls between pixels are so thin. Thin walls (cell gaps) means a larger ‘fill factor’ (over 90% of the panel surface is used for imaging), but the pixel walls can break or deform during fabrication. So, the big question for Sony and JVC (not to mention Toshiba, Hitachi, and several other companies using LCoS microdisplays) is this: Can you get high enough device yields to manufacture a viable, deliverable product? So far, no one has been able to ‘solve’ this LCoS conundrum and in fact several manufacturers have switched from LCoS to DLP RPTV engines simply because they can get enough DMDs to deliver a working product in large quantities. Samsung’s entry into the front DLP market was one floor down in the Hyatt, and showed a lot of homework had been done. Joe Kane did the demos himself on the SP-H700A, a unique little box with selectable color gamuts (EBU/SMPTE/HDTV), numerous user memory settings, and the ability to directly input R,G,B color coordinates to get the projector to a specific white point as the lamp ages. To me, this was the best-looking 720p single-chip projector at the show – no contest. This .8 inch LCoS device has 1920x1080 pixel resolution and will show up next year in a new JVC front projector. InFocus came into the market last year and many of us editors adopted a “show me” posture when the folks from Oregon announced they intended to be major players in the HT space. Well, after selling several thousand projectors worldwide, it looks like they do have it all figured out and announced the ScreenPlay 7205 as their latest entry. This 1280x720 DLP box employs Faroudja FLI2310 processors and a seven-segment, five-speed color wheel. Vidikron unveiled the Model 20 and Model 40 front DLP projectors, the difference being the Model 20 uses the ‘Matterhorn’ 576p chip and the Model 40 goes all the way with a 1280x720 native device. Meanwhile, corporate partner Runco (who never does anything low-key) announced eight (that’s right, eight) new high-end 3-chip DLP machines that provide anything from 3000 – 6000 lumens with 1280x1024 DMDs and 720p, 960p, or 1024p outboard processing. Marantz demo’ed both an updated single-chip model, the VP-12S3, and a three-chip prototype that was running a bit on the red side but still looked good. Digital Projection is poised to compete in the $10K and up projector arena with a bunch of products. One is the super-small iVision HD, a single-chip 1280x720 DLP design that weighs but 6.6 pounds. The three-chip Mercury HD was in evidence, and there are even plans to bring out a three-chipper using the new 2K cinema-grade DMDs. Optoma’s H76 front DLP projector is very aggressively priced under $8,000. Optoma had the H76, the current price leader in the single-chip 1280x720 arena. This box is selling for under $8K and has the potential to be a ‘disruptive’ product in terms of price, as does BenQ’s PE8700 which is a very similar product and sells in the same price range. SIM2 had the Domino on display, and this little wonder makes use of the ‘Matterhorn’ 576p DMD device to compete at a lower price with other 576p and 1024x768 front projectors. ANOTHER STEAMROLLER? Projection wasn’t the only highlight of the show. In fact, the deluge of flat-panel technology into the CE and HT markets has the potential to be another slam-dunk. With all of the oversupply and price wars taking place in Asia, the field of plasma and LCD resellers and retailers is more crowded than the upcoming California gubernatorial recall election. The writing is clearly on the wall here – flat panel TVs are the wave of the future, and that wave is coming faster than many analysts expected. The forecast is for flat-panel technologies to surpass CRT displays by 2005 in all categories, and with plasma and LCD TVs and monitors now available in sizes from 10in. all the way to 63in. (with some 70in. and 72in. product in the works), the battleground will extend even to rear-projection TVs using microdisplay technologies such as (what else?) DMDs and LCoS panels. Panasonic showed a variety of LCD-powered RPTVs and also a POD (digital cable ready) set in its booth. Here were some of the highlights: Samsung is one of the big players in this market with both LCD and plasma fabrication lines running full-tilt in Korea. They’re into their third generation of plasma with four models, starting with the 42in. SPN4235 (852x480) and 42in. HPN4239 (1024x768 ns). Both have integrated NTSC tuners and a fan-less design for cooling to keep noise down. The 50in. HPN5039 (1366x768) and 63in. HPN6339 (1366x768) will also include NTSC tuners. All four models offer DVI inputs and Digital Natural Image processing. In the LCD arena, Samsung offers the LTN406W, a 40in. widescreen NTSC TV with 1280x768 resolution and the even larger 46in. LTN468W (1280x768). There are 22in. (LTN265W) and 32in. (LTN325W) models also in the new line. All of ‘em use Samsung’s Patterned Vertical Alignment LC crystal process for wider viewing angles. LG knocks heads with Samsung daily in the flat panel world, and showed up with new 42in, 50in, and 60in. plasma monitors. The RU-42PZ90 has an integrated NTSC tuner, while the 50in. MU-50PZ90V and 60in. MU-60PZ90V are monitors only. (Similar products with the Zenith brand were also on display (P42W34, P50W38, and P60W38). Of particular interest was the DU-42PZ60, a 42in. plasma HD-ready TV using a 1024x768 (non-square) pixel matrix. This product featured a built-in NTSC and ATSC tuner, a first in its category. Samsung had a literal wall of LCD TVs ranging from 15” to 40” in 4x3 and 16x9 aspect ratios. No discussion of flat-panel TVs would be complete without a mention of Sharp, the current worldwide leader in LCD TV sales. They unveiled the new 30in. LC-30HV6U and 37in. LC-37HV6U integrated LCD TVs, but with a new horizontal speaker design below the screen. Sharp had a neat technology demo featuring the LC-15L1U-US, a 15in. LCD TV equipped with 802.11b wireless card and batteries for a true ‘portable’ LCD TV system. The “new and improved” Vidikron added three plasma monitors into their line. The VP-42 is a 42in. 480p monitor that is HD-ready, as is the 50in. VP-50 (1366x768) and the 60in. VP-60 (1366x768). RCA is also a ‘player’ with two LCD TVs. The LCDS2022B is a 20in. design with 800x600 resolution and 160-degree viewing angle, while the LCDX2722W sports 1280x768 resolution, DVI input and 170-degree viewing angles. Fujitsu had a couple of surprises, including the first-ever 50” plasma monitor assembled at the Fujitsu-Hitachi plant. The P55HXA actually measures 55” diagonally and sports 1366x768 resolution, plus it uses the familiar Alternate Lighting of Surfaces (AliS) technology found in 42in. Fujitsu and Hitachi models. A 63in. model (ostensibly OEMed from Samsung) also made a debut and is branded as the P63XHA. (Hitachi also had their version of the 55” panel on display as a technology prototype.) Digital Projection is serious about the home theater channel with the compact iVision HD and 3-chip Mercury HD DLP projectors. Panasonic showcased the 42in. TH-42PX20U and 50in. TH-50PX20U plasma monitors. Both offer an integrated NTSC tuner and two speakers, Photo Viewer SD and PCMCIA slots, and a pedestal stand. In the world of smaller screens, Panasonic’s 22in. TC-22LH1 and 32in. TC-32LH1 are LCD TVs with 1280x768 pixel resolution and HDMI inputs. Sony is also onboard with a new 26in. LCD TV. The KLV-26HG2 WEGA is an HD-ready set with integrated NTSC tuner, a Memory Stick slot for JPEG and MPEG1 playback, and updated speaker design. There were several other companies showing a variety of small LCD TVs in the 10” to 17” size range. Many of these have Wide XGA (1280x768) resolution and are suitable for use in small rooms, kitchens, or even as carry-around TVs if power is available. Luce, Samsung, Sharp, and Zenith are all well represented in this product category. None of these products are ATSC-ready, although Luce did show a larger LCD TV with a built-in ATSC tuner earlier this year. Zenith had a 55” DLP rear-projection TV on display. GOT FLAT IF YOU WANT IT This recap is by no means exhaustive, but it does give you a pretty good idea of how the market is being redefined by microdisplay and flat panel technologies. Eventually, the two will compete head-to-head in 40” and higher screen sizes. Right now, DLP has the advantage in price – RCA’s 61” DLP rear-projection TV lists for $4500, while a comparable 61” plasma monitor is close to $20K – but that will surely change with time. The prediction here is that LCD monitors and TVs will take over the market up to 40” – 42” within a couple of years, with plasma still hanging on in larger sizes. LG and Samsung have both shown LCD TVs with screens larger than 50”, and Sharp has a 60” version in the works. Right now, these are not viable products and both are far too pricey to compete with plasma and even rear-projection TVs. But the day is coming… Copyright ©2003 Peter H. Putman / Primedia Business Media and Magazines. This article will also appear in Sound and Video Contractor magazine.