Pico Projectors – What’s in a Name?
Pico, Tiny, Micro. It all means the same thing but these terms are not usually associated with digital video projectors. Well now that technology has advanced so far we are seeing projectors not much bigger than a cigarette packet producing stunning images up to 80 inches in term Pico is defined as ‘one trillionth’ of something which is pretty small. So Tiny and Micro probably cover it. So too does very small and that is exactly what these projectors are. But the real definition of a pico projector is one that fit’s into a persons pocket. They really are that small!
These amazing digital projectors use an LED to project their image instead of the conventional lamp that is found in most other digital projectors. LED technology has come along in leaps and bounds in the last 2 years with a number of television and projector manufacturers offering sets with this technology inside. Some newer pico projector models are using a laser as their light source to project images. For most devices, the lamp life is 10,000 to 30,000 hours which is a considerable amount of time.
These amazing devices usually have a built in power source in a battery which can power the unit for up to an hour. These batteries can then be recharged and the device reused. They also come with at least a composite input to allow laptops, PCs, game consoles and pretty much any device that can output video, to send an image through them. Most also come with the higher resolution VGA input’s to allow an even pettier image quality to be displayed.
Some new devices coming out onto the market come with SD card slots that lets the user add movies straight onto the card and play it back without having to plug a source device into the pico projector.
These devices are so small and lightweight that they can be used in any situation. You never have to worry about carrying around a big, heavy bag with power cords and a projector in it. Just whip one of these Pico Projectors out of your pocket and start projecting in a matter of minutes.
It will be interesting to see how far technology can go with these devices. Who knows, one day they may replace the larger home theatre projectors that we use in our home cinemas now. Wouldn’t that be nice.