Monthly Archives: December 2013

QP Optoelectronics unveiling new Short Throw Pico Projector at CES 2014

Micro Projector

Short throw pico projectors are getting more and more of a standard. People have limited space but want a bigger image at a shorter distance and QP Optoelectronics is set to unveil their new short throw pocket projector at this years Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014 in Las Vegas.

QP Optoelectronics Widescreen

 

In just a few weeks, QP Optoeletronics will debut some exciting new developments with their ultra-short throw pico projection technology.  Continuous improvements have resulted in a projection engine that has throw ratios of 0.5 to 0.3.  A typical pico projector will have a throw ratio of 1.4 to 2.2.  This means that a user can produce images that are 3-5 times (or greater) in size from a fixed distance.  This is a critical advantage for a pico projector. James Lupino, QP Optoelectonics’ Vice President of Business Development states, “We believe 2014-2015 is where innovative products will emerge that include our short throw projector as a key enabling component.”QP Opto is targeting both mobile projection, as well as head-up displays (HUD) and mobile eyewear, where greater throw ratio and high brightness are beneficial.  We look forward to seeing these latest advancements from QP Optoelectronics and will publish any new developments here, at Picopros.com!

[www.picopros.com]

New Review: Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro and AAXA P300!

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Scenes from Paul Walker’s The Fast and The Furious projected on a huge wall by the Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro and the AAXA P300!

 

 

Who will be the main course in this years holiday pico/pocket projector review: Brookstone’s Pocket Projector Pro or AAXA’s P300?

Since it’s the holiday season, we’re going to be stuffing our homes with friends and family.  So you’re definitely going to have to keep them entertained with something when they’re all sitting around in their food comas.  Well this year you can prepare for it. The time is right buy some new gadgets and what better thing to get than a mobile projector! This year we’re going to compare projector recipes so you’ll have something to serve as entertainment. So we’re going to compare the Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro ($429) and the AAXA Technologies P300 ($389). There are some good ones out there, but we’re going to compare this new Brookstone pico/pocket projector with something fairly comparable in price, features, and brightness.

 

The Ingredients

The AAXA P300 is battery powered (battery Included) and lasts upwards of 60+ minutes on a single charge. Now the Brookstone Projector has the “optional battery” that will keep it going for 2-hours, which is really good. The down side is that the battery is going to cost you an extra $99 bucks! So the total to make the Brookstone completely portable is around $529…again, a side dish to think about.

While we’re on addition features, both the Brookstone and the AAXA have keystone correction.  The really cool feature of the Brookstone is that is has a USB output to give you the ability to charge other devices on the go, if you buy the external battery with it. The features that the AAXA P300 has that the Brookstone doesn’t is an onboard media player to project video and text files or play your music directly from a its built in MicroSD reader(up to 32GB) or through its full size USB port to read from a USB memory stick.


The Recipe

These projectors are very portable and pack some great features, some more than the other. However, the side dishes of any meal only complement the course, which in this meal review, is the projection quality. The Brookstone Pocket Projector is rated at 200 ANSI lumens and the AAXA P300 comes in at 300 ANSI lumens; both of which have a resolution of 1280 x 800 (WXGA).  The contrast ratio of the Brookstone is 1000:1, while the AAXA P300 is at 2000:1.

The Main Dish

Now on to the main course of this holiday projector review! Both these projectors are about 4 feet form the wall and are so we can see how well they compare to each other.

You can see that the brightness of both these projectors are very bright! The AAXA P300 does have a more vibrant range of color to its projection quality. Although the brightness of the AAXA is rated at 300 lumens and is a bit brighter, the Brookstone does a a good job itself. The brookstone is rated at 200 lumens but seems to be a bit brighter than that, guessing maybe hitting close to 250 lumens instead. But projected from the same distance you can see that there is a difference.

So putting the whole thing in perspective, the Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro is small in size and very bright for its size, comparing fairly well to the AAXA P300’s 100 lumen advantage. However, things to keep in mind from this is that the price is a little steep and gets really pricey if you want to add the battery to the package.  For the AAXA p300 that is a little bigger in size, but at a reasonable price, you’ll get those few extra features; the battery, onboard media player and USB/MicroSD memory reader ability.

Here are the specifications

Brookstone Pocket Projector Pro AAXA Technologies P300 
Battery Sold Separately ($99) Battery Included60+ Minutes on Full Charge
200 ANSI Lumens 300 ANSI Lumens
1000:1 contrast ratio 2000:1 contrast ratio
Aspect Ratio:16:9 Aspect Ratio:16:9
Image Size:Up to 115” Image Size:Up to 120”

 
1280 x 800 (WXGA) 1280 x 800 (WXGA)
2x 1.0-watt speakers 2x 1.0-watt speakers
No Media Player Has Onboard Media Player
Inputs:HDMI

3.5mm Audio-Out

DC Input

(MHL micro USB to HDMI cable, micro and mini HDMI adapters Included)

 

 

 Inputs:HDMI

24-Pin Universal Port/VGA

SD Slot

USB (For Thumbdrives)

Mini USB

3.5mm AV Input

3.5mm Audio-Out

DC Input

 

 

 

Alcatel’s New OneTouch Hero Pico Projector Docking Port

Micro Projector

Alcatel has a new pico/pocket projector docking port to support mobile phones. They’ve made this to give mobile users the ability to project directly from their phone without draining the battery of the phone. It isn’t for sale just yet and no release date has been announced. Stay tuned for updates!

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Alcatel OneTouch is at least keeping an eye on this niche with a new docking station that doubles as an aforementioned pico projector. It’s a prototype accessory that’s compatible with the OneTouch Hero, thanks to its set of magnetic docking contacts on the back — all you have to do is clip it on and the phone recognizes that it’s been attached. The projector is 12Lm, which is a little dimmer than we’d prefer (we were told that the final product may actually be brighter than this, but they can’t confirm for now), and the company claims it can show a screen larger than 70 inches.

Pico Projector Heads-Up-Display (HUD) is here!

Micro Projector

If you’re a motorcycle rider then you’d know how we’re limited in sight and all the gadgets and things people cars play with on their drives to work. Well, now there are companies that are using pico projectors and using them in motorcycle helmets. All those cool movies where they show futuristic helmets that can tell you when you’re locked onto the enemy and ready to fire is now a reality!

 

Head-up Display (HUD) technology has been around for years.  However, adoption has been limited due to performance, cost, and lack of connectivity.  Well, things are changing – rapidly.  We’ve reported on exciting new products from Kenwood and Pioneer aimed at automobiles.  Now, HUD technology is starting to make its way into motorcycle helmets.  You read that right – helmets.

Head-up Display (HUD) technology has been around for years.  However, adoption has been limited due to performance, cost, and lack of connectivity.  Well, things are changing – rapidly.  We’ve reported on exciting new products from Kenwood and Pioneer aimed at automobiles.  Now, HUD technology is starting to make its way into motorcycle helmets.  You read that right – helmets.

Nuviz has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding to bring their technology to market.  Seeking a modest sum of $185,000, Nuviz will use the funds to scale production.  Backers of $479 will receive a complete unit to attach to their helmet, gaining access to all kinds of information, including navigation, various apps, and more!  Nuviz utilizes LCoS microprojection technology, for the geeks that are interested in that type of thing (like us).

[PicoPros.com]

 

Here is another company thats bringing another HUD Helmet to the game!

Presto: 360-degree situational awareness for riders who are used to mainly seeing their elbows in the often near-useless rear view mirrors that come stock on most motorcycles. Plus, the helmet can pair with a smartphone (Android at this point) to add phone call, music playback functionality, and more if riders want it.

In this world of “an Internet of things” as Weller describes our now cellphone-centric e-lives, the P1 is unusual in that it’s a standalone device and does not need the connection to a smartphone to operate: the GPS, HUD, power supply, and the operating system (called Synapse) are all built into the helmet, which looks much like any high-end helmet on the market today and functions as a data hub rather than an accessory for a phone. Synapse operates via voice commands and also speaks back to the rider. The HUD system in the P1 sits low and to the right, out of the rider’s main forward vision. Weller said he chose that position because it’s second nature for many people to look in that area for the GPS system in their cars – at least, it was for him.
[Digitaltrends.com]

Brookstone’s HDMI Pocket Projector Review

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IMG_0255Will Brookstone’s HDMI Pocket Projector be in Santa’s bag this season or end up a stone coal lump?

After eating this year’s Thanksgiving turkey, our food comas didn’t stop us from checking out the Black Friday Sales in the early hours of the morning. So at 6:00am Friday, we got our hands on the Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector ($299.99). Now we’ve already got a slew of projectors here that we use to compare and test the new guys, so today we’re going to compare the Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector’s performance with the AAXA P4-X, since they are some of the most popular ones today. Keep in mind that all three of these projectors have built-in batteries, which is what we’re going to run these on. They’re suppose to be mobile so thats how we’re going to test’em!

 IMG_0256

Unboxing The Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector

Opening the packaging you get 3 boxes inside which contain:

  1. The HDMI Pocket Projector
  2. An A/C charger
  3. 2 A/C Prong Adapters (U.S. and Euro)
  4. An HDMI Cable
  5. Two Adapters (Mini HDMI and Micro USB)
  6. Instruction Manual
  7. Travel Bag

IMG_0199

What Goes Where?

Video: The Brookstone is outfitted with an HDMI port for its only video output. But if you need a Mini-HDMI or Micro USB port you’re going to have to utilize those included adapters. Now the Brookstone projector only plays from the laptop of device thats plugged in. There isn’t an onboard media-player in the Brookstone but the AAXA P4-X does.The P4-X also has a memory card reader or USB reader (MicroSD/Full Sized USB).

Sound: You can get sound straight from the units themselves from their built-in speaker, which are better than most. Meaning you won’t need a hearing aide to hear it, but don’t count on putting on a show for everyone in your living room unless its absolutely quiet. But theres hope for you, both the P4-X and the Brookstone do have 3.5mm audio output jacks to plug in an external speaker system.

Bonus Feature: The USB 5V out power port has nothing to do with the performance of the Brookstone projector other than it’ll kill your battery power if you decide to charge other device. But its a cool side feature to be able to charge your phone or something with it!

Brookstone_HDMI_Pocket_Proj

Lights….Projector…Action!

Starting with the lights on against the AAXA P4-X, its not too noticeable but the brightness on the Brookstone is a bit lighter. So theres a light faded look to it. But not very notice in bright conditions. The color on the AAXA is more vibrant compared to the Brookstone.

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What we wish is that more pico projectors in the market had onboard media players. At first we thought that the Brookstone HDMI could be used that way because it has a USB Port but the port is only for charging. The AAXA P4-X actually does have this feature which makes it truly portable giving the user the ability to play view files and movies straight from a USB Memory Stick or even a MicroUSB card up to 32GB, which is pretty cool when your our and about. We think feature is a more useful than the ability to charge an extra device. Althought the charging port is an excellent feature for the traveler the USB port on the Brookstone could have been put to better use.

IMG_0290

Here is the onboard media player on the AAXA P4-X

Lights Out!

Hitting the light switch you will notice the difference in color. The AAXA P4-X’s native resolution is 858 x 480 which is comparable to the Brookstone at 858×480. Keep in mind that these projectors are only about 6 feet from the wall to see the best possible resolution.

Brookstone says the projector accepts a 1080p signal, but the signal gets downcoverted to the projector’s native resolution of 858×480 pixels. This basically means the wording on the box is misleading (“Projects up to 1080p HD images up to 60 inches diagonal”). So it takes a Blu-ray picture and downconverts it to slightly better than DVD quality (480p is 720×480). Not bad but HD is HD and this is not HD.

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Let The Show Begin….

The differences in just having a still image isn’t noticeable. So lets get to movie and play something to really see the differences, if any,  between these projectors. How will the Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector compare to the AAXA P4-X?

So why do we see a slight difference here right? Well, simply put the AAXA just has a better optical engine. So if you’re never able to find “Where’s Waldo” you can still spot the differences between these two projectors. You can clearly see the brightness and vibrant color between the 95 lumen P4-X and 85 lumen Brookstone HDMI. So the difference here is about 10 lumens.

The Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector (on the right) has its good points, like the USB battery charger to charge extra devices(very useful for travelers), the U.S./Euro adapters (Useful for the International traveler), and it’s slim size which makes it pretty easy to carry around. Something to keep in mind is that mobility may be at the list for most people; but the projection quality (Brightness/Color) should still be the reason why you buy a projector in the first place.

 

The Comparison Chart

Comp-Chart