Casio Bulbless Projector?

[Skinny]

I was following the thread BETT Casio projector before it was closed by the admin so I never found the answer to my question.

 

I keep seeing the new Casio projector advertised as 'lamp free technology'. Fair enough, it's a laser/led hybrid but I also see '20,000 hours without changing lamps' here.

 

What have I missed here?

[jamesreedersmith]

Whats the question - its a non replaceable bulb assembly- when the projectors dies you replace it but have no ongoing costs in the mean time!!

[Skinny]

Whats the question - its a non replaceable bulb assembly- when the projectors dies you replace it but have no ongoing costs in the mean time!!

 

The penny just dropped. Thank you.

[maniac]

While I can see the advantages of this casio projector, I will still be sticking with traditional ones.

 

We find we have to change projectors not because the bulb goes or they malfunction, but because the technology moves on at such a pace the old projectors become obsolete very quickly. Very few projectors made a few years ago support widescreen resolutions properly, which makes them useless for modern laptops, and very few of them have HDMI inputs which are now starting to appear on everything, so who know what the next phase in technology will be which could make the projectors of today redundant within a few years anyway? Makes a long lamp life kinda pointless from that perspective.

 

Food for thought.

 

Mike.

[localzuk]

While I can see the advantages of this casio projector, I will still be sticking with traditional ones.

 

We find we have to change projectors not because the bulb goes or they malfunction, but because the technology moves on at such a pace the old projectors become obsolete very quickly. Very few projectors made a few years ago support widescreen resolutions properly, which makes them useless for modern laptops, and very few of them have HDMI inputs which are now starting to appear on everything, so who know what the next phase in technology will be which could make the projectors of today redundant within a few years anyway? Makes a long lamp life kinda pointless from that perspective.

 

Food for thought.

 

Mike.

 

Why is the widescreen issue a problem at all? When projecting, most widescreen laptops will happily adjust to the resolution of the projector, not to mention most schools have non-widescreen smartboards!

 

HDMI is brand new, so pretty much irrelevant to a school to!

 

How often are you replacing your equipment then!?

[Tricks]

We're actually discussing these Casio projectors at the moment, looking like we're getting a sample one to test out. In principle they sounds quite good. Higher initial cost but no bulbs to buy, and when they approach end-of-life the brightness doesn't dip off significantly as with bulbs. They also turn on and off a lot quicker, would negate that little annoyance with traditional projectors.

[sonofsanta]

I'm thinking very hard about one of these for a hall installation, as the lack of maintenance etc. is ideal when it's nearly 5m in the air. I'm just hoping 3000 lumens is bright enough, so I may have to ask for a demo unit to check, cos I wants the shiny new toy

[kevbaz]

were in the same boat howerver demand is out weighting supply so i doubt we will get our hands on one any time soon

[localzuk]

We've been told availability may be around the end of the month - if you've already ordered one. Stocks are very limited still it seems. Seems a bit dumb of Casio to introduce a product into a market and have such low availability!

[Sylv3r]

We've been told availability may be around the end of the month - if you've already ordered one. Stocks are very limited still it seems. Seems a bit dumb of Casio to introduce a product into a market and have such low availability!

 

I've been told next Thursday for the one i've ordered. I agree wiith the availability problem, surely if the product is as good as they say it is the uptake would be huge from BETT especially with the end of the financial year looming.

[ranj]

Out of interest whats the RRP for these projectors?

[enjay]

Short supply increases demand, remember - it makes us think the product must be really good if suppliers are selling out before they even get them.

[localzuk]

Short supply increases demand, remember - it makes us think the product must be really good if suppliers are selling out before they even get them.

 

That only works if people are able to actually get hold of them in a reasonable time... Making potential customers wait over a month for a product which should be being mass produced is silly, it means anyone working to a tight time-scale will look elsewhere.

[jack0w]

I saw these at BETT too, fantastic looking product. We'll be looking to get one of these to sample too

[NewOrder]

I saw them and was impressed. TCO may be a lot better than traditional. Need to check out energy consumptiom. I suspect this will be lower. Brightness will need checking. I would assume the next release will probably be better.

 

Also just heard that Apple are adding projectors to iPhones? That means HTC will have one out in the next 6 months?

[Robbocop]

This laser based technology does look quite interesting but there are a few things to watch, I think. One big advantage is that you don't have to wait for the "lamp" to warm up or cool down, so they will be nice and quick to set up and take down in a portable situation. One big cause of lamp failure is people moving a projector while the lamp is still hot. Also, power up/power down cycles shorten lamp life, so any projector which is constantly turned on and off should benefit.

 

Conversely, the output brightness is not that great yet, and sonofsanta, I'd be dubious about 3000ANSI in a hall. Also, as with any new technology, they'll get better as they develop, so I wouldn't organise any massive rollout just yet. Well worth getting one to try though, as I think they'll be fine in classrooms as well as for portability. The lamp issue is less of a problem in a classroom than in a hall. For fixed, always on situations, particularly where you need the brightness, like for signage, reception areas and so on, conventional lamps will be preferred for a while yet I think.

 

Nice to see something new though, isn't it?

[localzuk]

This laser based technology does look quite interesting but there are a few things to watch, I think. One big advantage is that you don't have to wait for the "lamp" to warm up or cool down, so they will be nice and quick to set up and take down in a portable situation. One big cause of lamp failure is people moving a projector while the lamp is still hot. Also, power up/power down cycles shorten lamp life, so any projector which is constantly turned on and off should benefit.

 

Conversely, the output brightness is not that great yet, and sonofsanta, I'd be dubious about 3000ANSI in a hall. Also, as with any new technology, they'll get better as they develop, so I wouldn't organise any massive rollout just yet. Well worth getting one to try though, as I think they'll be fine in classrooms as well as for portability. The lamp issue is less of a problem in a classroom than in a hall. For fixed, always on situations, particularly where you need the brightness, like for signage, reception areas and so on, conventional lamps will be preferred for a while yet I think.

 

Nice to see something new though, isn't it?

 

For fixed always on situations, why would you be using a projector at all? Why not a LCD/Plasma screen?

[Robbocop]

For fixed always on situations, why would you be using a projector at all? Why not a LCD/Plasma screen?

 

Depends on the situation. We get installations where people want large back projections, projections onto glass, projections onto the floor. The LCD thing is going to get really interesting in the next year or so. Anyone who saw the touch screens at BETT will realise that whiteboards will probably give way to these big LCDs as their size goes up and cost goes down.

 

Not that I'm a betting man

[NewOrder]

For fixed always on situations, why would you be using a projector at all? Why not a LCD/Plasma screen?

 

Plasma always consider power consumption.

[enjay]

Conversely, the output brightness is not that great yet

 

Are you suggesting that a 2500 Lumens LED projector is less bright than a 2500 bulb-based projector?

[Tcsltd]

I know most of you guys have seen these up and running and know what you need to know about them, I am going to see one being demo'ed this afternoon, has any one got any questions they would like me to ask on thier behalf?? (when are they dur in being the highest on my list!!)

[enjay]

@tcsltd - any chance you could get a power meter plugged in to one so we could see the wattage they pull? I find manufacturer stats oddly inaccurate on this point!

[Tcsltd]

The output on standby is 1 watt and in use 190w...must say I am quite impressed with it, a very neat piece of kit!!

 

The casio guys did say that they expect all back orders to be fulfilled by the end of March and to be looking at a free stick situation by the end of April.

 

I hope that helps

[sigmait]

Glad the Casio comes with a 5 year warranty; at least if the laser goes you get a new machine!

[Obiwan]

These do sound good however one thing concerns me, is Casio sure their laser based technology is safe for eyes? Don't get me wrong, I don't subscribe to the scaremongering "Wi-FI and mobile phones fry kiddies brains etc" schools of thought, however most lasers are pretty bad for your eyes, and without it being ultra-short throw it's almost impossible not to look into the light at least some of the time, even for a second. I suppose you could argue this applies to any extra bright projector which is not short throw.

 

Also 20000hrs sounds great, but don't get caught out by the sales boasts. I doubt they actually know how long they will last as something like this would be very difficult to apply an accurate accelerated age test to. The brochures '15 years of regular use' is laughable, how much high tech kit is still in regular use after 15 years in a school environment? They are careful to say 'up to' everywhere they print 20000hrs. The five year edu warranty only has to cover 5700hrs of normal school days (6hrs x 190days x 5years), still not bad but similar to other manufacturers. eg. Hitachi Digital Media

 

The last think is I notice these 'lampless' projectors still have a 'lamp' LED just to confuse us!