How do lasers play into this? Yes, they're intense and bright but because the light is focused into a small point, the light can't be diffused smoothly into a large image. If you spread the light over an area, it defeats the point of a laser (no pun intended), which is defined as an intense concentration of light at a single frequency. So how does this work, and why are lasers used instead of regular non-lasing LEDs?

sdc100 wrote:How do lasers play into this? Yes, they're intense and bright but because the light is focused into a small point, the light can't be diffused smoothly into a large image. If you spread the light over an area, it defeats the point of a laser (no pun intended), which is defined as an intense concentration of light at a single frequency. So how does this work, and why are laseers used instead of LEDs?

The projector breaks the image down into pixels and then the showwx combines red, green and blue lasers to make the correct color for each pixel in the image with the use of an occilating mirror.

so tempted to buy this just as a gadget.. what do you guys think? worth it? i might show a slideshow every now and then but other than that, not much use for this

also, since its lazer, im guessing there arent ever bulbs to change?

If I get the laptop adapter, can the projector be plugged in and charging while it broadcasts the image? I wouldn't want to run out of juice during a presentation. It looks really cool from the video and reviews.

I own this, so let me clear a few things up. First, you CAN charge and use at the same time.
Without being plugged in, the battery lasts just shy of 2 hours.
The VGA cord has a tripod mount on it, but the base unit itself does not, so if you want to mount it you need that.
The laser aspect of it means its always in focus, which is true. I have used it in a tent while camping and it looks great.
My only complaint is the lack of HDMI or DVI input, which is now available in the newer model. Otherwise, this thing is awesome!

ME: Knock, knock.
PicoP: Who's there?
Me: HDMI.
PicoP: HDMI who?
Me: Sorry, wrong projector.

Dwass wrote:Will these be good for home theter? I have wanted 70 inch or more. Thanks!

At 10 lumens, you can hardly do a slide presentation in a totally darken small room. Most single LED flashlights that run off 3 AAA batteries are brighter. So the answer is no, you can't project a watchable 70" image using any pocket size device at this point in time.

If you look on the support site it says some stuf about turning it on while it is plugged in to the charger to calibrate the battery. so i take from that faq post that it can be run at the same time that it is charging.

from the site

The battery needs to be recalibrated to show the correct reading. To do so follow these steps:

Insert battery into the SHOWWX, then plug the SHOWWX Wall charger into the SHOWWX and a power outlet.
Charge the battery until the battery indicator on the SHOWWX turns green.
Keep the SHOWWX plugged into the charger and power it on and check the battery level using the on-screen display. For information on how to do this, refer to the SHOWWX User Guide.
If the unit reports a battery level less than 97-100%, remove the battery and wait for the "No Battery Present" message and then re-insert the battery while the unit is still powered on and plugged into the wall.
Re-insert battery, power cycle the SHOWWX and check the battery level via on-screen display. It should read 100%.

Light output. The ShowWX is rated at 10 ANSI lumens, and our test sample measured between 8 and 9 lumens. That doesn't sound like much, but when you're projecting a 20" to 30" diagonal image, it's plenty bright--even in ambient light. In the manual it discusses the possibility of using the ShowWX on a 100" diagonal screen in a light-controlled room. While the image is still visible in such a setup, it is also quite dim.

http://www.microvision.com/showwx/support/faq.html

the support faq page for the projector.

I read that one reviewer said text was horrible on this. Can anyone confirm this that owns one? The picture in the YouTube demo looked pretty sharp.

Dwass wrote:Will these be good for home theter? I have wanted 70 inch or more. Thanks!

It has a max diagonal of 100", I believe.

Brightness: 10 Lumens

Absolutely terrible. Even the ambient lighting outside my house would make using this at night a real challenge.

I would have to spend another $50 to buy blackout curtains in order to use it and even then I don't know...

skou wrote:By definition, a lumen (or 1 candlepower) is 1 candle at 1 foot.

steve

Check your definition. Since a lumen is a measure of luminous flux, a candlepower is a measure of luminous intensity, and a foot-candle is a measure of illuminance, you've just crammed three physically impossible equivalences in one sentence. That's actually kind of impressive...

And the ironic bit is, you posted that embarrassing nugget in an effort to "correct" deeluxx, who actually had it right; since there's 4×pi (=12.57) steradians in a sphere, a 1cd isotropic emitter would be 12.57lm. (If anyone's really bothered by the extra .57, well, a candle's not quite isotropic anyway; deeluxx was probably taking into account the downward light absorbed by the candle itself. ;-) )

ah screw it. i bit. in for 1. worse case scenario, i know a couple tech junkies that i can unload this on for the same price it cost me

sdc100 wrote:At 10 lumens, you can hardly do a slide presentation in a totally darken small room. Most single LED flashlights that run off 3 AAA batteries are brighter. So the answer is no, you can't project a watchable 70" image using any pocket size device at this point in time.

I have one of these, also and you can project in a lit room...but you have to keep the image much smaller. You are correct there is no way to 70" in normally lit room. When I put my daughters to bed at night we watch videos off youtube or movies on the ceilings or walls at around 100" and they love it.

BensonM wrote:Check your definition. Since a lumen is a measure of luminous flux, a candlepower is a measure of luminous intensity, and a foot-candle is a measure of illuminance, you've just crammed three physically impossible equivalences in one sentence. That's actually kind of impressive...

And the ironic bit is, you posted that embarrassing nugget in an effort to "correct" deeluxx, who actually had it right; since there's 4×pi (=12.57) steradians in a sphere, a 1cd isotropic emitter would be 12.57lm. (If anyone's really bothered by the extra .57, well, a candle's not quite isotropic anyway; deeluxx was probably taking into account the downward light absorbed by the candle itself. ;-) )

my brain just melted.. and i'm good at math lol. must be tired.

rudedawg92 wrote:The projector breaks the image down into pixels and then the showwx combines red, green and blue lasers to make the correct color for each pixel in the image with the use of an occilating mirror.

Ah! Thanks for the explanation. So this works like DLP TVs (and laser printers). This sounds WAY too electromechanical to be sturdy -- especially for a portable device that will be banged around. How is each pixel projected? Does the mirror shift ever so slightly for each of the 848 x 480 pixel? Or are the laser beams deflected by magnets, like the lasers at laser light shows?

Either way, it seems to require a lot of precision and if it's electromechanical, I'm afraid that it won't have much of a lifespan.

xxjeffdoggxx wrote:20" to 30" diagonal image

lol

It's like a really crappy screen the size of my computer monitor but portable...

I still don't get it, it must be for crazy business execs or pathetic techies that just like the novelty.

As a proof of concept I think its great, but only in that domain. When this is part of my phone and I can project a keyboard onto my desk and start typing I will stop saying its stupid and worthless.

edchang00 wrote:I read that one reviewer said text was horrible on this. Can anyone confirm this that owns one? The picture in the YouTube demo looked pretty sharp.

I have one. If you use the analog vga adapter text will look bad. Otherwise, I have never had problems with text.

So would this be directly compatible with a Windows-based computer, or would I have to but a connecting cable separately?

sdc100 wrote:Ah! Thanks for the explanation. So this works like DLP TVs (and laser printers). This sounds WAY too electromechanical to be sturdy -- especially for a portable device that will be banged around. How is each pixel projected? Does the mirror shift ever so slightly for each of the 848 x 480 pixel? Or are the laser bean deflected by magnets, like the lasers at laser light shows?

Either way, it seems to require a lot of precision and if it's electromechanical, I'm afraid that it won't have much of a lifespan.

I would agree that it seems like pretty delicate technology but I have had mine for over a year and there have not been any problems...even with my daughters running around with it. Since it is portable they must have addressed the durability issue.

For people worried about the 10 lumen deal lumens are measured in visible light spectrum. While this projector uses laser technology to display, most laser spectrum is invisible to our eyes and cant be measured by lumens usually in nm so whatever 10 lumens is getting rated is probably from the projector constantly shooting the image.Don't quote me or expect a 6k but you might be surprised 6' image is a good size

rudedawg92 wrote:And these are not regular lumens...these are LASER lumens. They are supposed to be brighter and sharper. Normal projector images are bright in the middle and lose contrast the further you get from the center.

Trolling? OK, I bite. Lumens are a measurement of amount light produced. It doesn't matter what makes that light, be it laser, led, or any kind of bulb.

This is different than, say, Watts, which measure power; with Watts, two sources using different methods of producing light may produce different amounts of light at the same Wattage. For example, a 100W incandescent bulb is about as bright as a 26W florescent (in some cases).


In any case, this product seems kinda out-dated, needing proprietary cords for decades-old inputs (VGA? Composite? Really, no HDMI?). Maybe worth it if you have an iPod.

BensonM wrote:Check your definition. Since a lumen is a measure of luminous flux, a candlepower is a measure of luminous intensity, and a foot-candle is a measure of illuminance, you've just crammed three physically impossible equivalences in one sentence. That's actually kind of impressive...

And the ironic bit is, you posted that embarrassing nugget in an effort to "correct" deeluxx, who actually had it right; since there's 4×pi (=12.57) steradians in a sphere, a 1cd isotropic emitter would be 12.57lm. (If anyone's really bothered by the extra .57, well, a candle's not quite isotropic anyway; deeluxx was probably taking into account the downward light absorbed by the candle itself. ;-) )

That... was beautiful.

rudedawg92 wrote:I have one of these, also and you can project in a lit room...but you have to keep the image much smaller. You are correct there is no way to 70" in normally lit room. When I put my daughters to bed at night we watch videos off youtube or movies on the ceilings or walls at around 100" and they love it.

Interesting use. I'm trying to look for an excuse to buy this and watching videos on the ceiling in bed is the only viable one so far. I live in NYC, and as any NY apartment dweller can tell you, there are no bare walls to project an image. Then I tried to justify it for work but my hospital already provides great A/V equipment. And the low contrast dim image may not be usable for some of our micrographs, where color variations are sometimes very slight. BUt ceiling projections before bed ... nice.

Will this work with my iPhone?

BensonM wrote:Check your definition. Since a lumen is a measure of luminous flux, a candlepower is a measure of luminous intensity, and a foot-candle is a measure of illuminance, you've just crammed three physically impossible equivalences in one sentence. That's actually kind of impressive...

And the ironic bit is, you posted that embarrassing nugget in an effort to "correct" deeluxx, who actually had it right; since there's 4×pi (=12.57) steradians in a sphere, a 1cd isotropic emitter would be 12.57lm. (If anyone's really bothered by the extra .57, well, a candle's not quite isotropic anyway; deeluxx was probably taking into account the downward light absorbed by the candle itself. ;-) )

I'm a lighting designer in the Bay area and this just MADE my entire day!

Anyone know if there is a way to convert a coax signal to this thing to run the dish? Would be sweet to have this for the bedroom since we only watch the tv at night.

ptbarcla wrote:The next gen model will have HDMI support... it's "shipping now" and costs $369.00 on their site.

Tech specs for the new model are here:
http://www.microvision.com/showwxplus/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=37

The tech specs for the one offered on Woot tonight is here:
http://www.microvision.com/showwx/specs.html

Looks like identical resolution (848 x 480) and connectors (iPhone, Composite, VGA) to the one offered here. No mention of HDMI output or connectors anywhere. Only difference seems to be 15 lumens vs. 10. Price is $319.

If this is really the latest model, then the deal here looks pretty darn good.

in for 2

jay415 wrote:Tech specs for the new model are here:
http://www.microvision.com/showwxplus/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=37

The tech specs for the one offered on Woot tonight is here:
http://www.microvision.com/showwx/specs.html

Looks like identical resolution (848 x 480) and connectors (iPhone, Composite, VGA) to the one offered here. No mention of HDMI output or connectors anywhere. Only difference seems to be 15 lumens vs. 10. Price is $319.

If this is really the latest model, then the deal here looks pretty darn good.

OK, I correct my own message. There *is* an HDMI version as well:
http://www.microvision.com/showwx/hdmi/

Note to self - finish checking the web site. :-)

therritz18 wrote:Techies: Can I run PowerPoint presentations with this?

Accountants: Can I write this off?

I just bought one recently from Amazon for $159. I can tell you its WVGA output shows PPT/Keynote presentations just fine. The text is quite legible and the image is crisp. I use Keynote on my iPad and the outputted presentation is just as crisp. I bought the VGA adapter and it plugs into my laptop and shows a great image as well.

This is in contrast to my old Optoma Pico that sported 320x200/240 resolution...fine for video but crap for presentations (the text was completely illegible).

Reviews have been generally positive save for having overheating/shutdown problems when charging the battery while using it for extending periods. The general solution has been to use it with a mount to elevate it and let heat dissipate or remove the battery and use it with the charger or usb cord only. I have found the latter to work like a charm.

It doesn't say it in the description, But the picture says it all.

I mean , from what I gather this is some kind of LSD dispenser. has to be that way for this thing to have ever been reviewed favorably right?

If It doesn't do that then it should have a little writing on the front of the box that say's LSD not included. and then in the instructions "recommended use with LSD or best results."

something along those lines.

Also - I believe the designer of the packaging for this particular product is H.R. Puff N Stuff's Biggest Fan.

After doing a little research I found out that this wouldn't work for the purpose I would like to use it for; showing Netflix off my ipod touch.

The reason for this has nothing to do with the projector, apparently only the ipod touch/iphone 4th generation or ipad will output video from Netflix.

Mine is only 3rd generation, so it will only show video and photos from the built in apps. :o(

I thought I would mention this here, in case anyone else finds the info useful.

Edited: to reduce confusion.
Edited again: was still confusing.

Does anyone know how this compares to the Optoma Pico Projector? Better? Worse? Same?

So when using IPhone 4 or Ipad 2....you can only output from IPod/Photo apps.... not from other apps like Netflix? Would be nice to just have the projector output exactly what's on the screen period...

bhiller05 wrote:After doing a little research I found out that this wouldn't work for the purpose I would like to use it for; showing Netflix off my ipod touch.

The reason for this has nothing to do with the projector, apparently only the ipod touch 4th generation will output video from anything except for the built-in ipod video app or the photo viewing app.

Mine is only 3rd generation. :o(

I thought I would mention this here, in case anyone else finds the info useful.

cradletodd wrote:So when using IPhone 4 or Ipad 2....you can only output from IPod/Photo apps.... not from other apps like Netflix? Would be nice to just have the projector output exactly what's on the screen period...

No, it WILL work on IPhone 4th gen and also IPad either gen. It seems you can indeed output exactly what is on the screen from an IPad 2 at least, not sure about any of the others.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC953ZM/A


Also, I believe this is a software limitation and not a hardware limitation. Apple wants to provide incentive to upgrade, I guess. I am thinking that this barrier could be overcome with jailbreaking and related antics, but I know almost nothing about that, yet.

I've always wondered about the practicality / portability of these pico projectors. I would question do you really need the pocketable portability? How often do you still have to connect these to a video source like a laptop or dvd player, or want sound that you can actually hear so have to connect it to some speakers external speakers. By that time you are lugging around more equipment than a 'pocketable' device anyway.

I bought an Optoma PT-100 (PlayTime 100) which shows up here at kids.woot! from time to time and while marketed as a 'toy' projector, it blows away most of these pico projectors and and can be used for 'non-toy' applications. It weighs only 1.5 lbs so its still highly portable. It produces 50 lumens so it is much brighter and is definitely usable in a lit room, and will product a bright 50" image in a dark room. It has the same resolution, has built in vga and composite inputs and will accept component video with a $3 component to vga adapter. It has a built in speaker that puts out ample sound and has pretty nice contrast being a dlp, led backlit device. Unlike typical projectors and more like a pico projector the PT-100 doesn't get hot, can be turned on an off instantly and its limited option set make it easy for kids and tech challenge adults.

While the Optoma PT-100 does have to be connected to a power source (it runs on 12v 1500mA DC, so some of the more techie savy here could rig up a battery source easy enough), and it won't fit in your pocket, it may be a viable option for everyone else that wants a cheap projector which is actually very usable and still pretty portable.

cradletodd wrote:So when using IPhone 4 or Ipad 2....you can only output from IPod/Photo apps.... not from other apps like Netflix? Would be nice to just have the projector output exactly what's on the screen period...

It works fine on iPhone 4 for Netflix as well as anything that accepts the protocol used with the standard apple video adapters. Same for iPad 1. I have one and it is great with these devices.

iPad 2 supports video mirroring so I suspect it may work with any app that doesn't block the feature but if it requires HDMI to do the mirroring then this likely wont work.