Pico projectors have certainly come a long way since first introduced, but they still have a tough road ahead of them if they want to become mainstream, Microvision announcing they have just successfully integrated the first "direct green" laser samples from two leading manufacturers into pico projector prototypes, an important first step in the road towards cheaper pico projectors.
In order to understand why this is such an important checkpoit you must know that traditional laser video projectors use red and blue laser diodes and a frequency-doubled "synthetic" green laser to create a full color image this leading to a far more complex system that makes manufacturing more challenging (and pricey).
Unlike their present day counterparts, direct green lasers are capable of producing green light natively, greatly simplifying laser design and manufacturing processes.
It should also be noted, that unlike other projectors that use more traditional light sources (such as LEDs), laser projection equipment is able to deliver an improved color gamut as well as higher sharpness and contrast ratios compared to their
DLP or LCD counterparts.
All these come at the
expense of brightness, although the improved image contrast makes up for this since it makes the whole image look a lot more bright.
“We are very pleased with the performance of these early direct green laser prototypes,” commented Sid Madhavan, Microvision vice president, R&D and Applications.
“These encouraging results give us confidence that direct green laser diodes will be capable of meeting the performance requirements for integration into our PicoP display platform.”
According to Microvision, five companies have announced they are developing direct green lasers for late 2011 to mid 2012 commercial introduction, so there is still some time left until the very first direct green laser prico projectors will hit the market, although I am sure they are indeed worth the wait.
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