Epson and Philips ready mini projector for portable gaming and beyond

Get ready for personal projection kids now that Epson and Philips have released this tiny joint reference design. Immediately available for OEMs, the 0.47-inch (diagonal) 3LCD panel is capable of projecting an 800 x 600 pixel image with the aid of Philips' 2.8 x 1.4 x 1-inch driver and 1.7 x 2.5-inch Ujoy lamp system. Perfect for portable gaming systems, camcorders, and PMPs assuming somebody picks this up for mass production. Hear that Microvision, the big boys are comin' for ya.

[Via Impress]

[pjnofrills @ Jun 13th 2007 9:31AM]

That looks neat. I would picture something like this appealing more to road warriors that don't want to lug a giant projector around an airport. 800 x 600 is enough for PowerPoint. Maybe I'm just a big nerd, though.

[Tim Brown @ Jun 13th 2007 9:40AM]

I'd like to see this as a wireless network standalone media player. small enough to move anywhere and a nice control system through a web browser or similar.

[bombastinator @ Jun 13th 2007 10:08AM]

Whats the wattage on this thing? Projectors are notorious for their high heat and power requirements. If you still need to plug the thing into a wall or carry a giant battery around with you the thing isn't worth much. there are already lcd projectors small enough to fit in a large coat pocket.

If you can fit it into say, a standard boomerang game controller you could build a whole system into one and play it on any handy table or the back of an airline seat. We won't even go into how cool it could be in a smart phone

[Tony C @ Jun 13th 2007 10:10AM]

Not sure if these are even in same class, because Microvision's projector is eventually supposed to be small enough to integrated into a mobile phone. Even their most recently publicized prototype was about the size of an Andes mint (http://www.getpicop.com/oem.html). They'd be lucky if that Philips/Ujoy system fits into a 6" box!

[Tony C @ Jun 13th 2007 10:24AM]

Quick follow up... Microvision (http://www.microvision.com) has a CNN video clip touting that the latest prototype was a "sugar cube sized full projection display"... Don't know what else their system needs to run the thing, but WOW, that's quite a difference in a few months time!

[strider_mt2k @ Jun 13th 2007 10:42AM]

That certainly throws a new light on things.

Brilliant!

[strider_mt2k @ Jun 13th 2007 10:44AM]

This

[strider_mt2k @ Jun 13th 2007 12:34PM]

Sorry everyone.

Sorry!

[Phour ZwanZig @ Jun 14th 2007 1:30AM]

Hmm where was this when they were still working on the Wii..

But ya know.. I could still see this as an addon using USB on the back of the Wii..

Could be possible.. I know Ill be crossin my fingers..

[Dwayne Hines @ Jul 14th 2007 2:06PM]

Interesting article, Thomas. However, were you aware that Microvision and Epson have some 25 patents together?
http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=EP1719010&F=8

[Dwayne Hines @ Jul 14th 2007 11:13PM]

Interesting article, Thomas. However, were you aware that Epson and Microvision jointly hold 25 patents on MEMS? That is, they are in a joint venture:
http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=EP1719010&F=8

[Chris Fifield @ Aug 31st 2008 12:21AM]

Whatever happened to your projector project Dwayne? I rewrote the story of our SUKI and almost included it.

[Dwayne Hines @ Sep 17th 2008 9:57PM]

Chris - Check out SID in San Diego next week - should be some hot stuff from Microvision there. Sept. 24, in the afternoon presentation.

[Chris Fifield @ Jan 18th 2009 7:37PM]

Dwayne- Checked it out, but not really with it, That's always been more of your thing. Hope all is well.