Dale,
Thanks for the questions. In regard to your specific questions...<<Where will I see these things in use? Who will use them and how?>>, I have a couple of applications that can easily benefit from a "low-cost" projection system.
Although I cannot speak directly for TFS, nor do I pretend to know any specifics regarding their microdisplay business plans, I personally think that there is a large market for overhead projector replacement in a majority of corporate conference rooms and in the majority of school classrooms.
Specifically, presentations of the future will be based upon work done with a computer. What better way to show the work from a computer than by using a projected image of the computer screen?
In the majority of corporate installations, group presentation of documentation in Word, Excel and PowerPoint formats will be used for such activities as Operational Reviews, Organizational Seminars, Engineering Design and Drawing Reviews and Video Conferencing.
The current projection system issues of resolution and high cost will be solved using microdisplay components.
In the classroom environment, projected displays will provide a high-resolution display which will be the focal point of a real-time classroom presentation. As above, these projection devices need to be very economical in order to be accepted as a viable alternative to today's overhead projection technology. I would stress that overheards are not exactly real-time devices. Specifically, I see teaching applications where the teacher can bring up data from the Internet and integrate it with specific lesson plans and learning activities.
Some of the current ideas would place a TV monitor at the desk of each student, in order for the student to be able to properly see what the teacher is trying to present. I think that this method will be too expensive. By using a high-resolution projection system, a central point of focus is created to allow teachers to more effectively communicate their lessons. Presentations of video and high-density text require the high resolution and low cost that will be afforded by the microdisplay-based projectin system.
Your statement..<<At $2K apiece, they aren't going to replace computer monitors or TV's>> is correct. The microdisplay projection systems are not meant to go head-to-head with this type of existing technolgy. These systems represent a paradigm for the future. In bringing information to a large number of people, using only one focal point - the high resolution image projector, separate computer monitors and TV's will not be necessary in these environments. (My analogy is the JumboTron at a football stadium. It is cheaper than putting monitors at every seat!!). In both the short and the long term, a lot of money will be saved.
These are just a couple of my ideas. I would hope that Jim Armstrong would chime in here as well. One of his previous postings mentioned some of the markets he anticipated for these types of devices.
I think that companies involved with microdisplay projection technology have the potential for becoming the "Kodak's, Xerox's, etc. of the future".
Ben F |
