Pacific Media Associates (PMA) reports the Q3 2011 WW front projector market grows by 13% Q-o-Q and reaches total shipments of 2.4M units, as personal projectors and 3D-ready models drive growth.

The analyst divides the projector market into 3 brightness ranges-- New Era, Mainstream and High-End.

Driving the New Era market are Personal Projectors, highly mobile units powered by "power bricks," with Q3 2011 sales growing by 30% Y-o-Y. The category features models with brightness reaching 500 lumens and covers over 15 brands.

The Mainstream (500-4999 lumens) category shows positive Y-o-Y growth in Q3, despite an uncertain economic climate and austere corporate, government and education budgets hitting most developed markets. PMA reports "upside surprises" in countries such as France, Spain and Switzerland, as well as a sharp rebound across most of E. Europe and strength in BRIC countries.

PMA forecasts 3D projector sales will reach around 2.5M in 2011, as more 3D-ready units enter the market at price points similar to 2D models. Interactive and ultra-short throw models also continue outperforming the over market on both unit and revenue basis.

Finally, High-End (5000+ lumens) projectors also outpace the overall market, with the WW Q3 2011 d-cinema market reaching 60000 installations. Currently the market continues shifting towards Wide XGA and Wide UXGA models, particularly in developed markets.

Go WW Q3 2011 Projector Market Report (PMA)

A professor at the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology proposes a means of projecting 3D floating objects taking up actual "3D" space-- using 10 regular LCD projectors and a smoke machine.

Calling the system a "volumetric projector," Marc Ressl has a video where he steps into and walks around a 3D shape the system projects onto a bank of smoke.

Ressl admits the video serves mostly as a proof-of-concept, using a too-low number of projectors (he says the individual light rays become invisible and the contrast improves if one uses 100+ projectors) and a "not well-suited" fog machine.

He is now using the video and companion blog to find whether anyone sees commercial potential in the prototype-- and get some funding in the process.

Watch 3D Volumetric Projection Prototype

Go Volumetric Projection Blog

AWE Europe announces the availability two Panasonic 3D products ideal for custom installations-- the 65" TH-65VX300 plasma display and the first Panasonic 3D home cinema projector, the PT-AT5000E.

The TH-65VX300 is designed to a reference standard, and carries a 30-bit visual engine producing both 2D and 3D images with "virtually zero" cross talk and motion issues. It features an accurate Colour Gamut feature (allowing accurate reproduction of original movie colours), RS-232, LAN control and web browser access.

Meanwhile the PT-AT5000E is the first Panasonic 3D home cinema projector, using transparent LCD panels driven at 480Hz and a new optical engine producing 300000:1 contrast ratio and 2000 lumens of brightness.

A Waveform Monitor facility allows the adjusting of 3D picture balance, and the 2D-3D conversion system uses x5 different 3D effect models.

Go Panasonic TH65VX300

Go Panasonic PT-AT5000E

ViewSonic unveils its new LED projector line, the PLED-W200 and PLED-W500. Both ultra portable and energy-efficient, the projectors feature miniature form factors (pico projectors) and 20,000-hour long-life LED light source.

They are both 3D-ready with 120Hz frame rates, offer WXGA (1280x800) resolution and 500 lumens (not ANSI) brightness, and include HDMI and VGA ports, plus USB with 1GB of internal memory for computer-less presentations.

Viewsonic is already offering the PLED-W500 in Europe and “watching with interest and evaluating channel response” to the PLED-W200.

Go ViewSonic PLED-W500

Korea's ESPlus announces the Seeser projector at the Korea Electronics Show-- a laser pico projector with an output of up to 25 ANSI lumens at SVGA (800x600) resolution.

Using a laser-based system it requires no focusing, and can produce images of up to 100" in size with projection distance of 20cm to 2m.

Connectivity comes through VGA port and integrated 1seg tuner, and it can also read various file formats from micro SD cards-- with a 1GHz processor running Android 2.2 (Froyo).

Go Seeser

Vivitek launches the H1086-3D at CEDIA 2011-- a home theatre projector converting standard 2D DVD and Blu-ray content into 3D without the need for an external box.

It supports HD video at 50/60Hz and 1080p 24Hz 3D content, with 2000 lumens of brightness, 5000:1 contrast ratio and 2:35:1 widescreen support.

Connectivity comes through HDMI, VGA, S-Video, Composite, RS-232 and 12v trigger, and it features DLP, BrilliantColor and DLP link technologies for brighter digital images and additional 3D support for PCs.

Go Vivitek Introduces H1086-3D