The rising popularity of projectors, evident in the increasingly affordable prices seen on many models in the market, as well as the availability of tiny “pico” projectors and advances in miniaturization as seen in this post.signal an exciting time for established brands and their products – one of which is Epson.

Epson recently hosted a press briefing outlining their technical achievements and milestones leading up to their current lineup, concentrating mainly on the 3LCD technology. The assembled press were treated to an interesting trip back in time spanning 20 years, when the first Epson 3LCD-based projector was released into the market. This model was named the VPJ-700, had 80 lumens (!) and was introduced in 1989, a time when projectors were truly “investments” in the sense of the amount of money required to acquire them. It was usually businesses and large corporations that purchased these products.

                                             Mr. Eduardo Bonoan, Senior General Manager, Sales & Marketing for Epson Philippines, handling the opening remarks.

Now 20 years down the road, we have projectors in the P30k region, and quality and performance have improved in leaps and bounds. No other technology has made such a big impact as Epson’s 3LCD technology, and after seeing the concepts and methods behind it, it is easy to be convinced of 3LCD’s capability and advantage over the competing projector technologies. Comparison was made primarily against single-chip DLP projectors, which are usually in the same price range. To understand how 3LCD makes much more sense the 1 chip LCD, Epson proceeded to show the assembled press what goes on behind the metal and plastic of two typical projectors, each using a different technological solution.

                                             A quick preview of the competing single-chip DLP technology.

Single-chip DLP projectors are affordable due to the relative simplicity of the design, in which a color-wheel of varying design is used to route light through to achieve a particular shade of color. Since this color wheel is spinning very quickly, a color can be “displayed” on the projected image through simple visual trickery – as the lamp’s light energy is simply reflected away from the unwanted colors. As one can imagine, this is achieved at the expense of brightness, as light is lost in the process of displaying a color in the course of the color wheel’s continuous spinning.

                                             Multiple types of color wheels are used on DLP projectors, each with varyinglevels of compromise between brightness and color reproduction.

3LCD on the other hand employs no color wheels, instead relying on what is literally described in its name – 3 LCD’s route the 3 primary colors – red, green and blue from the projector lamp and recombines the colors using a special prism to create the required shades. Without any extraneous parts blocking out light, 3LCD projectors are able to achieve a high lumens rating even without resorting to additional power-saving measures – not that Epson ignored the chance to do so. With 3LCD, the name of the game is efficiency, and combined with the intrinsic nature of the system, color reproduction is much more accurate than 1-chip DLP which relies on blocking unwanted colors from being displayed, through a spinning color wheel.

                                             A DLP projector with a cut-away view of the lamp and spinning color wheel.

Other advantages also surfaced during the demonstration – most notably for this vertigo-prone and eyeglass-wearing editor – the absence of the “rainbow effect” in 3LCD projectors. The accuracy of the colors on a 3LCD projector was also a revelation, especially when compared side-by-side.to a single-chip DLP projector. Other, less visible advantages include a better price-to-performance ratio due to the more efficient light-handling nature of 3LCD and a longer lamp lifespan.

                                             Epson's 3LCD technology demo unit showing the dichroic lenses and the color-uniting prism.

It is true that alternatives to 3LCD that approach its performance exist on the market, yet there is always price to be considered – since LCD technology is quite prevalent, and thus easily obtainable, prices for the technology are inevitably lower. A global market share of 20.9% (as of June ’08 according to Future Source) and being a global leader in projector sales for the last 7 years is also quite obvious clues that the technology is sound, and the advantages are obvious.

                                             Japanese executives having a light moment during the Q&A portion.

At the same time, local projector sales has only begun to ramp up, if the number or review units we are getting compared to recent years is any indication. More and more units are popping up for review as these projectors reach the point of affordability / practicality for the consumers. All these new consumers will then need to know about their options, and how the different technologies stack up against one another in price, performance and operating cost.

                                             Demonstration of 3LCD and single-chip DLP technologies through the use of cut-away demo units.

Coincidentally, Epson is also celebrating its 10th year in the Philippines, and is planning to move forward with its product lines, including of course, the 3LCD-based Epson projectors. With this push also comes a desire to have consumers become aware of their technology, and with aggressive pricing plus some cutting-edge products, like the recently reviewed EMP-400W (1800W!), Epson is in perfect position to show off one of the best projector technologies to a newly emerging market such as the Philippines.