Quality business presentations to prospective customers or staff require crisp, projected images and a powerful message if they are to make a lasting impact.
Modern projectors utilise either Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Digital Light Processing (DLP) technologies and many customers are faced with making the decision of which technology is best suited to their individual needs.
The answer is not that simple as both technologies offer distinct advantages. It ultimately comes down to usage and choice. While the quality of high-end LCD projector solutions cannot be disputed, DLP is rapidly making headway because of the distinct benefits it offers for mobile business and home entertainment application, as well as its reduced cost of ownership for power users.
"Acer`s new range of projectors for business presentations features DLP technology, and, from a mobility point of view, DLP is the way to go for sales teams and mobile professionals. The image quality is now on a par with LCD and the differences between the two technologies have become largely academic," says Gary De Menezes, commercial director at Acer.
DLP is a digital display solution, which uses an optical semiconductor, known as a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD), to create the source material. The micro mirrors (representing pixels) are much closer together than LCD, resulting in a higher contrast ratio, crisp images and reduced pixelation.
"DLP technology ensures that the projectors have almost no pixel visibility from a normal viewing distance, a feature which is driving its success in the home theatre market," says De Menezes.
"LCD has a good level of brightness but low contrast. For crisp imaging both brightness and contrast must be more or less aligned. As a digitally-based technology, DLP reproduces better colour contrast with all digital devices, which is especially important for digital broadcasting applications."
In addition, say De Menezes, DLP is an expandable technology that will improve in contrast quality and will reduce in chipset size without impacting the format of the chassis. Acer`s DLP projectors are compact and light in weight from 0.99kg to 3kg.
In the case of LCD, improving the contrast inevitably leads to enlarging the schematical layout, which increases the size of the chassis and the overall unit.
"Importantly, DLP projectors have a longer lifetime. LCD panels deteriorate over time because of the build up of heat as light shines through to project the image. DLP, on the other hand, is reflective and not transmittive. This negates the problem of heat build up, meaning that lamps generally last longer," De Menezes says.
In conclusion, when advising customers on their projector requirements, keep the following in mind:
1. Resolution type: XGA, SVGA or SXGA. - XGA for digital, all notebooks today support XGA as native resolution. SVGA is used for standard data/PowerPoint applications.
2. Brightness - the larger the area or room of usage the higher the brightness required.
3. Contrast level - is related to the brightness, the smaller the gap between the brightness and contrast the better for consistent colour and image quality.
4. Weight - micro/portable for sales force, portable/semi-stationary for corporate office/education. Home cinema mass volume 2-3kg is sufficient.
View Acer`s latest range of DLP projectors at: (http://www.acer.co.za/acereuro/page3.do?dau7.oid=366&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam=0&dctx1=23&ctx1=ZA&crc=523252237)
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Acer ranks among the world`s top ten branded PC vendors, designing and marketing easy, dependable IT solutions that empower people to reach their goals and enhance their lives. Acer`s product offering includes desktop and mobile PCs, servers and storage, displays, peripherals, and e-business solutions for business, government, education, and home users. Established in 1976, the pan Acer Group employs 39,000 people supporting dealers and distributors in over 100 countries. Revenues reached US$12.9 billion in 2002. Please visit www.acer.com.
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