Just recently we wrote an article wondering about Microsoft’s acquisition of Perceptive Pixel (The Product You Missed at ISE 2013).

In a recent public appearance, Microsoft co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates popped up answering questions on an 80” touch-capable device he called “his huge Windows 8 touch whiteboard.”

This was during an AMA on the popular online community Reddit. An AMA is an “Ask Me Anything” session that allows Reddit users the opportunity to ask a Special Guest poster any question they like. Even Obama has been online for a Reddit AMA.

PMA Research’s latest quarterly forecast for the worldwide projector market says worldwide projector shipments will reach 9.5 million units in 2013. While the overall market is likely to trend up modestly from 2012, there are some areas of anticipated higher growth.

In the Mainstream segment (1000 – 3999 Lumens), PMA boosted their outlook for ultra-short-throw projectors in large part due to expected tenders in the Middle East as well as steady gains in the rest of the world. Solid State Illumination (SSI) models are also expected to outperform the overall projector market as well. New entrants into the SSI market and second-generation models which target mid-level price ranges will contribute to SSI growth.

In the New Era segment (sub-1000 Lumens), pico projectors recovered strongly in the second half of 2012, gaining 35% vs. the second half of 2011. PMA expects similar growth for these models this year, particularly for the very popular iPhone “sled” models. The success of these models may inspire the introduction of similar projectors for Android Smartphones such as the Galaxy S IV. Read more...

Christie unveils its latest electronics platform – Christie TruLife – with a proprietary, 1.2 Gigapixel per second, floating point architecture. Christie TruLife electronics forms the basis for the latest generation of projectors, capable of delivering ultra-high resolution, high frame rate video with high image fidelity (e.g., 4K resolution image processing at 60 fps and beyond). The current standard digital interfaces such as DVI have a bandwidth of 165 MHz.

With a high-performance electronics engine that leverages the latest in field-programmable gate array (FPGA) integrated circuits (ICs), the platform is capable of supporting a video-processing pipeline of up to 1.2 Gigapixels per second (GPix/s).

A common measurement of video-processing power -- the speed or rate with which video data is processed, is typically measured in Gigapixels per second (GPix/s). Christie says its platform scales to reach 1.2 GPix/s, which is nearly 10x faster than standard high-def projection and 4x faster than typical 3D projection, as well as double what other 4K projectors are capable of. Read more...

Extron introduces a new, two input 3G-SDI Card for the Quantum Elite videowall processing system that accepts SDI, HD-SDI, and 3G-SDI signals.

The new 3G-SDI input card features Extron high performance scaling technology, motion adaptive deinterlacing, and film mode cadence detection to ensure high quality image presentation on videowall displays.

Automatic source format detection captures 480i and 576i SDI sources, HD-SDI sources up to 1080i/60 Hz, and 3G-SDI sources up to 1080p/60 Hz, complying with SMPTE 259M, 292M, and 424M digital video standards. SDI, HD-SDI, and 3G-SDI input support is also available for the Quantum Connect videowall processing system.

"Many videowall installations incorporate SDI, HD-SDI, and 3G-SDI signals from sources such as cameras and production equipment," says Casey Hall, VP Sales and Marketing for Extron. "Quantum's 3G-SDI input card supports direct connections for these signals, eliminating the need for external conversion to DVI or other signal formats." Read more...