2011年6月29日 星期三

Favi E1-LED-Pico

The Favi E1-LED-Pico ($200 street) projector is the consumer counterpart to the Favi B1-LED-Pico business-oriented pico projector ($280 street, 3.5 stars). Geared mainly for projecting video and photos, the E1 can be used most anywhere, as it can run off AA batteries when it's not plugged into its included power adapter. It's equally at home in a family room, a hotel room, or on a camping trip (provided you have a makeshift or portable screen). Though not the brightest or most full-featured model in town, it does a good job for a projector at this price.

The matte-black E1 measures 1 by 4.5 by 2.4 inches (HWD) and weighs 4 ounces, excluding batteries. The 12-lumen, RGB LED-based lamp—using LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) display technology—is rated to last up to 20,000 hours, so it should last the life of the projector. The E1 has a native VGA (640 by
The focus wheel is positioned in the front of the projector, just above the lens, and is best turned by an index finger. Focusing isn't as smooth as with the lever control in the Favi B1. It's also easy to get one's finger in the way of the projected image while trying to focus. The E1 includes a tiny tripod with bendable legs. If the projector should topple (between the lightweight tripod and the projector usually being tugged at by at least one cable, that's bound to happen sooner or later), the focus wheel can pop out, as I discovered while doing video testing. Be careful not to lose the wheel, as the projector can't be focused without it.

The E1 has 1GB of internal memory, and a slot for an SD card, hidden behind the door that also houses the 4 AA batteries that power the E1 when it's not connected to a wall adapter. Favi claims that the battery life should be 4-6 hours. I tested battery life with Duracells; they lasted about 4 hours, although the image started to fade after about 3 hours. Although a rechargeable internal battery would have been preferable, a set of batteries will get you through a long movie, and you could always use rechargeable NiMh or NiCad AA cells.

In addition to the power adapter and tripod, accessories that come with the projector include a mini USB cable for transferring files, a composite video cable, a carrying pouch, a remote control, and a set of international power-plug adapters.

The E1's small remote lets you access the menu system as well as control basic video functions (play, pause, fast-forward, rewind, increase or decrease volume). It lets you choose between internal memory and SD card as the file source. One level down, you can choose between Photo, Video, and Setting. Clicking on Photo will show you the photos and let you access them. Clicking on Video will show the filename name, time, date, and size of video files you have stored.

From Setting, selecting Photo Setup lets you choose between browse mode, slideshow, and thumbnail; select whether you want the images full-screen or cropped; choose a duration of the slideshow (between 5 seconds and 15 minutes), and choose between various slideshow effects. It only plays .mp4 and .avi movie files, as well as files of other formats after being converted into .mm2 files by the ArcSoft Media Converter software that comes with the projector.

From Video Setup, you can choose between full-screen and original size in Display Mode, and whether to play a video once, repeat it, or play videos in random order.

The E1's composite video connector lets you use the projector to show video from, say, a DVD player. I viewed video in a dark room: It could project video up to about a meter wide without it significantly losing detail. The video quality was reasonable, adequate for showing a full-length DVD in darkness. The built-in speakers, however, weren't really up to the task—either for volume and sound quality. You'd want to use either headphones or a powered set of external speakers. On the plus side, the projector has no fan, so you won't be contending with fan noise like you would with the Favi B1-LED-Pico.

Ingram Micro Welcomed to European Projector Lamp Market

Ingram Micro (News - Alert) has launched the company’s own V7-brand projector lamps into Europe and the U.K.; and, according to Britain industry observer Fleur Doidge, established replacement lamp vendors and distributors are pleased.

You’d think that, like in most business fields, more competition is the last thing they want. But according to Doidge, Andy Read, sales and marketing director at replica lamps vendor Diamond Lamps, said new entrants help “increase awareness of alternatives and helps grow its market. We do welcome more competition.”

Read said his company was the first to market with aftermarket lamps from the original manufacturers built into replica cages: ”At the time our aim was to stop the spread of copy lamps by offering a lower cost OEM alternative with equal performance... Our lamps are as good quality as any genuine-inside lamps can get. I don't want to speculate on the quality of theirs."

Earlier this month TMCnet reported that Revolabs, a provider of wireless unified communications products, signed a North American distribution agreement with Ingram Micro to be a distributor of Revolabs Wireless Audio Systems for Unified Communications.

Ingram Micro will offer Revolabs FLX, a line of wireless conference telephones, and the xTag BT (News - Alert) wireless microphone to its North American network of value-added resellers (VARs). Revolab's wireless audio products are based on the company's wireless audio technology.

Simon Kitson, at distributor Just Lamps, told Doidge that competition in the sector may drive prices and margins down in the already well-served market. "However, I welcome that V7 is promoting genuine lamps or from OEM IP, as is the case with us. I'd rather see a new competitor taking this approach than introducing inferior copies.”

2011年6月26日 星期日

City figures in action-fantasy plot

I recently watched the trippy action fantasy, “Sucker Punch,” in Blu-ray on an HDTV.

This was not at my home, of course, where our TV is so old it runs on lamp oil.

No, it was in my friend’s fabulous man cave, where I want to be buried when I die (I haven’t told him yet, but I have been looking at plots).

I am not going to review “Sucker Punch” except to say that I think director Zack Snyder was trying to make a feminist statement, and like a lot of geeky male filmmakers before him, he could envision only one way to go about that: by populating his film with sex kittens, sexual predators, exotic dancers, child-women in peril, and lady assassins whose dress code is predictably impractical.

Would it have killed Snyder to make one of the secret agents a woman in Birkenstocks who doesn’t shave her legs and lectures the other assassins about the social ramifications of wearing perfume?

But I am not going to sit here and try to claim that I am immune to the universal erotic allure of beautiful women in lingerie fighting giant samurai and robot Nazis.

I would describe “Sucker Punch” as a perfect home entertainment option, where you can relax in the comfort of your living room without having to worry about being ejected from the multiplex for having sneaked beer into the theater.

Whatever misgivings I might have had about the film while watching it were entirely dispelled by “Sucker Punch’s” surprising yet inevitable ending.

Now, I am a person who hates revealing too many plot details about movies that some readers may not have seen yet, but I am about to do just that right now.

So if you still plan to see “Sucker Punch,” read no further.

The women of “Sucker Punch” endure a lot of suffering in the film, although it’s not always easy to tell how much of that suffering is real and how much is hallucinated. Which is to say, you never know how sorry you should feel for any of them.

I hallucinate suffering all the time and no one ever feels sorry for me.

I think it’s safe to say that, as an example of non-traditional storytelling, “Sucker Punch” makes “Inception” look like Dr. Seuss’ “Hop on Pop.” However, the ending has unexpected poignancy.

A single survivor of all the cartoonish carnage with the environmentally friendly and nutritionally conscious name of Sweet Pea is given a chance for a new life. She arrives at a bus station with the police hot on her heels.

A magic bus arrives, which is being driven by Scott Glenn, who plays a succession of mystical gurus throughout the film.

Like Obi Wan Kenobi before him, Glenn convinces the weak-minded cops that she is not the Sweet Pea they are looking for. So Sweet Pea boards a bus headed to the only place where she will be safe from the world’s madness: Fort Wayne.

Yes, Fort Wayne.

You may be asking yourself as we did, “Is this a special copy of the disc that was tailored specifically for the Fort Wayne market?”

While Hollywood regularly invests that kind of money in the northeast Indiana market, it does not seem to have been the case with “Sucker Punch.”

A brief Google search reveals that Fort Wayne was Sweet Pea’s destination in every English-language copy of the film, and perhaps some foreign language copies as well (Summit City in German is Gipfel-Stadt).

I assure you that this is presented sincerely in the film not satirically (at no point does Glenn threaten to show her all the places in Fort Wayne where Harry Baals hung out).

I saw this movie a day after MSN Real Estate and Local Market Monitor selected Fort Wayne as one of the top 10 “Best Places for Starting Over.”

Because I am one of those rubes who believes that there are no coincidences in life, I couldn’t help but ask aloud, “What could this mean?” and then sob for 10 minutes like the guy in the double rainbow video.

What does Zack Snyder know about Fort Wayne that I don’t know he knows?

Here’s one thing I do know: Fort Wayne really is a great place to start over.

I once did it myself.

When I arrived 15 years ago here wearing nothing but lingerie torn by robot Nazis, I was not a big fan of this place.

I had lived in Buffalo, N.Y., western Massachusetts and central New Jersey, and Fort Wayne had very few of the features I thought I needed to be happy back then.

A decade and a half later, I am flat-out in love with this place.

Fort Wayne is a great place to start over and a great place to keep going.

I know plenty of far cooler people than myself who feel the same way.

I have introduced you to a few of them in this column and I would love to introduce you to a few more.

But first, I have to pick Sweet Pea up at the bus station.

MPS leaders tout successes, new initiatives

MPS leaders will get an update on the system's financial state this week. WSFA 12 News was first to report that the system is running low on its financial reserves. Despite the tough economic situation, there are some bright spots for MPS.

"We are moving in the right direction," said Charlotte Meadows, School Board President. "We have made great strides this year and for the last several years. We have really been focusing on student achievement."

Speaking during the mayor's weekly news briefing, Meadows cited recent accolades won by Floyd Middle Magnet School and LAMP High school as examples of the system's commitment to excellence.

"Number 13 in the nation is not something to be taken lightly at all," Meadows said. "And certainly the students, the faculty, the administration at Lamp is to be applauded. But we have got so much good going on throughout the entire school system."

Superintendent Barbara Thompson also cited progress with the high school graduation rate.

"Four years ago, the graduation rate was 76 percent," Thompson said. "The next year 77 percent. Last year it was 85 percent. This year it is 89 percent on the same measurement."

And she says the system is launching a renewed effort to focus on its middle schools.

"Because our data shows us that our kids really start to drop off around middle school," Thompson said. "That's when those grades start to drop and everything changes, but we're still trying to capture that energy that we think is so important."

For the first time MPS will host a middle school fair on July 9th at Alabama State University. there parents will get the opportunity to learn more about the curriculum and other aspects of the middle schools.

2011年6月22日 星期三

Sony enters the short throw projector fray

Sony Professional has launched two short throw projectors for classrooms and meeting rooms. The VPL-SX125 and VPL-SW125 have been designed to improve ease of use, and optimise the image quality of presentations used in educational and business environments.

The VPL-SX125 and VPL-SW125 feature a 0.62:1 throw ratioand a contrast ratio of 3,800:1.

The VPL-SX125 and VPL-SW125 projectors offers a 3-system brightness mode to allow users to choose High, Standard and Low brightness levels to suit their specific content and surroundings. The Low brightness mode also helps to save power and boost efficiency, lowering the total cost of ownership and allowing a lamp life of 6,000 hours.

For easy accessibility, a control panel layout is located on top of the unit. Security is provided by password protection, a panel key lock, and a security lock and bar fitted to both projectors.

The VPL-SX125 and VPL-SW125 are available now.

Sanyo Unveils 2 New Projectors

Sanyo has unveiled two LCD projectors, one of them a portable model with an automatic setup process, the other a full sized HD unit with high brightness.

For projecting HD content in venues with large amounts of ambient light, the full sized unit, dubbed the PLC-HP7000L, offers a brightness of 7,000 lumens and a native resolution 1080p (1,920 x 1,080).

The projector uses a short throw lens with a 1.6x optical zoom and a 380-watt lamp to display videos and images in a 100-inch area at distances between 8.3 feet and 13.2 feet.

An active maintenance filter that holds up to ten air filters and automatically swaps them when its sensor detects restricted air flow allows the projector to run for up to 10,000 hours without maintenance.

Additional features include powered zoom, powered focus, Ethernet connectivity, and corner Keystone correction.

AV inputs include HDMI, DVI/DVI-D/DVI-I, 5BNC, analog RGB/component (mini D-sub 15-pin), S-video, composite video, and two sets of stereo RCA jacks. The one AV output port is RGB/component (mini D-sub 15-pin). Peripheral and control ports include RJ-45 LAN, RS-232, USB type B, and a mini jack for wired remote control.

Using a 275-watt lamp and a short throw lens with a 1.6x optical zoom, the portable PLC-WU3800 projects images and video on areas ranging from 40 inches to 300 inches at distances between 3.25 feet and 39.7 feet.

The PLC-WU3800 offers a brightness of 3,800 lumens, a contrast ratio of 500:1, and a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 (WXGA).

To enable quick connections, the projector has an automatic set up function that searches for video inputs and corrects some video distortion by detecting the projectors incline and adjusting vertical Keystone correction in a range of +- 20 degrees.

2011年6月20日 星期一

Wavien, Inc. and AAXA Technologies, Inc. Introduce a 1,000-Lumen Projector Using the

Wavien, Inc. announces today the introduction of a 1,000-lumen projector to be manufactured and sold by AAXA Technologies, Inc. (AAXA).  This new projector, which uses Wavien's proprietary DPR™ light engine, outperforms LED projectors by producing 1,000 lumens of brightness and a lifetime of 25,000 hours at the cost of a conventional desktop projector.

A production prototype unit will be shown at the Wavien booth, #5283, at the InfoComm in Orlando, Florida from June 15th to 17th. Performance, pricing, and delivery details for the new projector are now available from AAXA.

"Wavien's DPR light engine provides a maintenance-free light source for projectors suitable for home theater/gaming applications, classrooms and small conference rooms. It outperforms LED projectors, providing a higher output, smaller footprint and longer lifetime, at a lower cost," stated Dr. Kenneth Li, President and CEO of Wavien, Inc., who is also the inventor of the DPR technology. Dr. Li added: "This unique patented design enables a significant reduction in the cost of projector operation, which is especially important for use at home and classrooms where projector usage is very high and trouble-free operation is essential. We are very excited to work with AAXA, with its proven track record for manufacturing and marketing cutting-edge projectors on a worldwide scale."

"The maintenance-free features of LED and hybrid projectors created expectations in consumers that all state-of-the-art projectors should use those technologies. We have identified a void in the market for affordably priced projectors with a screen brightness of about 1,000 lumens. LED projector outputs are too low, and hybrid projectors are costly," stated Gary Huang, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at AAXA. "We are very fortunate to have identified Wavien's DPR light engine technology, which allows us to fill this void in the market. We believe that there is a great opportunity in this area by combining Wavien's technology with AAXA's manufacturing, sales and marketing capabilities," added Mr. Huang.

About Wavien, Inc.

Wavien, based in Valencia, California, is a technology licensing company developing long-life, high-performance light sources and engine prototypes for the projection and general lighting industries. Wavien currently offers its unique "Dual Paraboloid Reflector" ("DPR") technology using ultra-high-pressure arc lamps for education and business uses, and xenon lamps for cinema projectors. Wavien has also entered the LED illumination market with its recycling and non-imaging optical technology. These technologies improve lamp life, brightness, and efficiency when teamed with applications in the projection display, fiber optics, entertainment, and general lighting markets.