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[Leo]

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I ordered a SHOWWX+ today, couldn't hold back the curiosity: )

[Leo]

Man, can't believe it's been almost 3 years. I thought I'd give an update. Microvision experienced several delays--and continues to do so--in releasing their laser projectors. This was mainly due to the cost and availability of the frequency doubled green lasers. Around first quarter of 2012, Microvision will be using the new diode direct green lasers that are set to revolutionize not just pico projectors but also home theater projectors as lumen output increases. Pioneer is working with Microvision to design an even smaller light engine that Pioneer will be using in their automobile heads up display. The new projector will be 720p resolution as compared to the current 480p module.

I've owned both the original ShowWX and ShowWX+. I can't really recommend the original ShowWX, it's fine if you just want something cheaper to play with, but the image quality is so much better with the newer ShowWX+ it's hard to justify the older model.

So this will only focus on the newer ShowWX+. First off, it's almost surreal when you first pick up the projector, it's about the same size as any smartphone, a little bit thicker, but if you've owned a crt projector or even a digital, this thing is just shockingly lightweight.

The colors on the ShowWX+ are excellent. The original ShowWX had too much red, and this was very visible in skin tones and faces, with everyone looking like they were blushing. The ShowWX+ has fixed this with the colors being pretty balanced, and although I didn't measure anything, by eye, the color temp is much closer to 6500k. Nothing can really prepare you for the POP and saturation that lasers produce. Greens and reds in particular are very intense.

As for blacks, this is probably as close to CRT as it gets, even exceeding it When no light is called for, the lasers shut off, either for the whole image, or just a part of it. Now, there is no "lens" per say. There is however, an "exit window" which I believe is producing a very, very minor halo around a white mouse cursor on a completely black background. This would look familiar to anyone that's owned a non-LC CRT projector.
Ansi contrast seems very high as well, lots of pop to the image, similar to DLP or even Plasma, the simultaneous contrast on this thing is way higher than CRT...no question. And understandably so, as there is no lens to generate light scatter, just raw light painting an image.
Also, and this is a minor quibble, but if you are viewing a completely black image, you will notice a flickering, greenish line 1 or 2 pixels high on either the very top or bottom of the image. From what I understand, because there is some warm-up time required of the green laser, it has to be kept on all the time, so there is a faint line present.

One thing that annoyed me with the original ShowWX, was that objects moving on screen had a little jitter or jerkiness. I'm happy to say the new ShowWX+ has fixed this issue, moving objects and test patterns now move smoothly and fluidly.

Like CRT, the image isn't composed of pixels, but rather "spots" of light that blend naturally with one another. Displaying a 1x1 pixel checkerboard pattern, the ShowWX+ was able to fully resolve a 480p image. The image has an analog and film-like appearance, like CRT, with the exception of speckle which is addressed below.

As for resolution, the 480p can produce a very nice, smooth image up to 60" or so. As you go bigger, the image will get a bit softer, but it's a film-like quality, so very forgiving. Because this uses lasers, the image is always in focus, even up to 150" wide, which I checked out just for fun.
There are a couple catches though, Microvision appears to have chosen to conceal scan-lines by shifting the image up and down. This works great for still images, but for movies/tv, it's easy for your eyes to see the scan lines rolling, especially when there is a lot of movement like an action scene or car chase. A guy on laserpointerforums recorded this effect with his camera:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/testing-microvision-showwx-axaa-l1-laser-pico-projectors-51970-2.html#post738140

Honestly I would prefer 480p with some visible scan lines, I had a Dwin HDP 500 CRT and your eyes tend to filter them out pretty easily, however the scan line moving around on the Microvision projector can be distracting. I'm hoping with the new 720p projector they get rid of this "trick".

The other issue is speckle/sparkle produced by the lasers. I'm pretty sensitive to visual artifacts such as rainbow effect on DLP, and the visual speckle from the Microvision projectors makes the image unwatchable for me. If you've ever seen a laser pointer or laser level, you'll notice tiny dots that cover the light, and move any time you move your eyes or head. Speckle occurs as a result of laser light being coherent. The photons are all traveling like a marching band, in sync, same frequency, same timing. But when these coherent photons strike an imperfect surface like a screen or wall, they tend to get divided into groups, some brighter, some darker. The result is every pixel becomes divided into dots of varying luminous intensity. The entire image now is covered in these dots producing a specific speckle pattern.

There are mechanical solutions to this, and one is to move your screen surface fast enough that each time the photons hit the surface, they strike different surface patterns, and as a result generate a constantly varying speckle pattern. Because are eyes can't track every speckle pattern, they just average out all the speckle patterns, which averages the luminous intensity of all the speckle dots, and what we see is an image without speckle.

For anyone interested, you can pick up a pair of Dayton Audio DAEX25 Sound Exciter (transducers...like buttkickers) and attach them to a *flexible* screen surface. Then connect an amp sending a 40hz sine wave (which you can generate with the free Audacity program). The transducers will send waves through the screen material, which will move the screen enough to vary the surface patterns. Doing this produced a speckle free image, allowing me to actually enjoy watching the image the Microvision laser projector produces.

I mentioned earlier in this thread that laser light can be brighter than lamp based light at the same measured lumens. This is true, however, it's not THAT much brighter. The ShowWX and ShowWX+ are 10 and 15 lumen projectors. The cones in the human eye are more sensitive to specific wavelengths of light than others. Lasers can generate these wavelengths, and the result is that our visual system registers a stronger signal from laser light than it does a lamp based light, with the same lumens. However, from my own experience this effect is mainly with brightly colored content, like animation. It doesn't seem that much brighter either, maybe 5-10 lumens more, but I might be wrong.

There are limitations on how bright the lasers can be and meet safety requirements. One approach Microvision may take in the future once laser output increases, is to use a proximity detector and turn off the lasers if an object/person is to close.

For overall image quality and useability, it depends a lot on how sensitive you are to speckle. Some people don't seem to be as bothered by it. I'm not one of them, and that's why I made a simple vibrating screen to eliminate the speckle. As for brightness, these really do pair nicely with smart phones, where you can project a bright 20" image for gaming, web surfing, or watching movies via netflix, etc. In a dark room at 60" wide, animation (because it's often created/rendered at brighter levels) is totally watchable, where as live action content is going to vary a lot based on the levels it was shot at.

In 2012, Microvision's 720p, 15 lumen direct green laser projector will be available. Pioneer's aftermarket automobile HUD will be using it. And supposedly, direct green lasers may have less speckle...so I'm crossing my fingers. What I'd like to do is a stack of 3 or 4 projectors and a high gain screen, for about 90+ lumens.

[larryk]

Yes what a difference 3 years can make. The laser projection revolution is now part of the "Red" revolution with respect to both digital camera technology, distribution, and display technology.
Red has released their 5K Epic and Scarlet digital cinema cameras which are quickly taking over the Major 3D and even 2D cinema production. The camera shoots in 5K raw format and is amazing when projected with a 4K projector or even down rez'ed to 2K. They have also developed the Red Ray which is a distribution technology and will allow 4K and 2k download and streaming video at speeds of 20Mb per second and less with big screen picture quality. The Projector that they will be releasing, likely at the next NAB will be a 4K scanning laser projector for both home use, at under $10,000.00 and for commercial cinema. The only difference between the two being the lumen output. With respect to projection, this I see as the turning point to where it makes sense to move away from CRT projection with the laser having CRT or better contrast, faster refresh rates, and light source lasting 20,000 to 30,000 hours. An exciting time to be a filmmaker and theatre buff.
you can check out some links here

some films and shows shot on RED cameras
http://www.red.com/experience

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?63715-RED-Projector

http://www.reduser.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?40-RED-RAY
Larry

[quixlor]

What material did you use to make your screen with the surface exciters? How far apart did you place them? I'd also like to make one for myself, and was wondering about the details.

[Leo]