Industry expert Pete Putman, writing in Display Daily points out back in the early to mid-1990s, Sharp was a powerhouse in LCD projector sales. Yes, right up there with InFocus, Epson, and NEC.
Today, the company’s projector market share is…well, frankly…projectors are obviously not their priority.
Putman finds a bright note in their 2011 launch of super-sized 70" and 80" Aquos LCD TVs - and their subsequent surprising adoption by commercial AV systems integrators.
He points out “every projector installation is also a candidate for a big LCD screen, especially now that Sharp is producing both consumer and professional versions of its 80-inch displays.”
Today a 2-piece projector/screen solution requires ambient light control and an architectural design to hide the screen (not to mention lamp replacements and filter changes. Compare that to a self-contained, bright and contrast display (that works under any ambient room lighting, doesn’t need to be hidden when not in use, and will run a long time before it hits half-brightness).
Putman expects Sharp to bring a 90” and maybe even a 100” LCD TV/monitor to market soon.
An 80” LCD screen clearly falls in what Putman calls the projector killer class at the low end, while a 90” display is “sitting right in the sweet spot.”
That 90” diagonal 16×9 image is about 80” wide (give or take), and 80” is a very common screen size for classrooms and conference rooms.
Putman laments the “very little discussion of this trend in the pro AV industry, let alone among display analysts.” In fact, some of the projector sales forecasts I’ve seen recently appear to be in denial, let alone overly optimistic.
“Can you say, ‘Projector killer? It’s easy, once you understand the concept…” ends Putnam.
He’s right, of course. That’s why he’s an expert. But this is only one part of the projector market. This market is growing on the low end with pico…in the middle with edge-blending… and on the high end (and in cinema).
So while there are Projector Killers to watch out for, there are also Projector Saviors to remember. A small but important point that needed to be made…