"2024 will be the first year of 4K entry projectors!" Industry experts pointed out that with the full advancement of DLP's new generation of 4K light valves, the entry-level engineering projection market is accelerating into the "4K ultra HD" era. This will further boost the high-quality development of the domestic creative display and meta-universe industry, including cultural tourism.
4K engineering projection comes to a small climax
Since the beginning of 2024, the release of 4K project projectors has ushered in a small climax. Including Europe, America, Japan and Taiwan brands have strengthened the corresponding new product layout.
For example, in May, Boxlight launched several engineering projectors, including the Beverly series' universal DLP 4K laser engineering projector BV6H, which delivers 6,000+ lumens of high brightness. The laser light source of the Beverly Series DLP 4K laser engineering projectors features a new modular design with higher integration, better volume control, and a lightweight body that can be adapted to more applications.
At Barco's new product launch in April, the new 4K UHD single-chip DLP laser projector model I600 was introduced. The I600 has a lighter size, brighter image quality, better visualization technology, brightness coverage of 8000-14,000 ISO lumens, and the SuperShift technology for 120Hz@4K ultra high definition low delay image.
In April, Sharp NEC's new engineering projection debuted, and 4K is also an absolute staple. It introduced the SHARP MultiSync Pioneer series 4K laser engineering projectors with brightness coverage of 6000lm-8000lm and a new 0.65-inch HSSI 4K chip with a lightweight design that allows it to weigh only 17KG. The higher brightness level SHARP MultiSync Ocean Series 4K Laser Engineering projectors achieve brightness coverage of 13000lm-18000lm.
4K products, there are also manufacturers focused on differentiated product design. For example, Otto Code introduced the CKL850TST, a short-focus 4K high-light laser engineering machine. The CKL850TST is equipped with a professional-grade, high-quality short-focus lens with a lens parameter of F=2.0-2.1, f=9.69-11.19, a projection ratio of 0.65-0.75, and a minimum projection distance of about 1.4 meters for a 100-inch picture. At the same time, its brightness is up to 8500 lumens.
In March, BenQ launched the main color 4K high restoration engineering projector S7237, using advanced blue core monochrome laser technology, to achieve 100% DCI-P3 color accuracy, native contrast up to 100:1, significantly higher than the mainstream laser engineering machine 600-700:1, which can bring higher picture stereodimensionalization. Coupled with the large size of true 4K clarity, it creates a strong visual impact and lets the audience immerse themselves naturally.
For example, in March, Hisense launched the P60 series, a new member of the fixed installation Laser 4KAI engineering machine family, for 120+ inch high-definition display scenes such as exhibition, medium-sized conferences, higher education and vocational education. The product has a brightness of 6,000 lumens and a mid-mounted interchangeable lens. In particular, it uses the dual-core engine independently designed by Hisense, powerful operation computing power, equipped with 3+32GB storage space, so that the laser engineering machine performance comprehensively breaks through the bottleneck of intelligent application upgrade, and provides a powerful AI algorithm image quality optimization experience.
Recently, Video music also revealed to the projection Times network that it will launch 4K projectors in the HEP800 package in the second half of the year, which will be an upgraded version of the HEP800 package smart color E80 series projectors launched in April, which is equipped with Video Music's original SLPL laser light source, compared to 0.67 "VSP package projectors. 40% improvement in contrast.
In summary, in the new projection of spring 2024, 4K products have become a necessary option, and the specific models are no longer enumerated. Among them, the deployment of 6000-8000 lumens, popular, sales first 4K models have become a new hotspot for manufacturers. This is the inevitable result of the further maturity of 4K display technology and the further growth of the demand for ultra-high-definition experience on the application side.
Explore ultra-high definition opportunities, 4K projection qualitative change points
"4K engineering machine sinking, why is it happening in 2024?" Industry insiders pointed out that this is inseparable from the launch of a new generation of light valves with DLP technology. At present, from a cost perspective, the difference between 4K projection and 2K projectors with the same brightness and light valve size is rapidly narrowing. In particular, double dithering technology allows the cost difference between the two to enter a very small level.
Cost consistency is a prerequisite for 4K to replace 2K. For example, on liquid crystal displays, it is difficult to see 2K displays for products over 50 inches. The reason is that 4K processing chips and 2K prices are basically the same, at the same time, in the ultra-high-definition era 2K display devices are increasingly required to be compatible with 4K signal input processing (but do not need to output 4K signals), the difference in computing power requirements and the whole process 4K products is narrowing; The manufacturing cost of 4K large-size LCD panels is only 2-5 percentage points higher than that of 2K, and this difference is almost negligible on the whole machine.
For projector products, the cost reduction of 4K standard products is also significant. For example, Viewsonic's new home 4K laser projection model LX700-4K Ultra, with 0.65 "DMD large chip, 2500 lumens brightness, three-color laser light source, the first hand is only 9599 yuan. Viewsonic 4K laser home machine LX700-4K, also uses 0.65 inch DLP 4K large chip, brightness up to 3500 lumens, monochrome laser light source 618 certificate after the price is as low as 7499 yuan...
The DLP 4K technology product system such as 0.47/0.65/0.8 has been fully formed, and the cost has been greatly reduced, which has become the main driving force to promote the popularization of 4K product applications from home to engineering. Among them, the big price reduction of 0.65 inch light valve home 4K further confirms that the cost reduction of 4K products has reached the conclusion that it can be popularized in the entry engineering market.
In addition to changes on the supply side, the demand side's "desire" for 4K is also a key factor for manufacturers to increase the supply of 4K project projection. According to the China Business Industry Research Institute data show that by the end of 2022, China's ultra-high-definition video industry scale of about 3 trillion yuan, 2023, reached 4 trillion yuan, 2025 will further increase to 5 trillion yuan. That is, the output value increment of almost one trillion a year, which is the epitome of the accelerated growth of the ultra-high-definition industry.
At present, the ultra-high-definition industry has built four beams and eight buildings for future display in terms of display, transmission, signal processing and application. Among them, the deep integration and innovation of ultra-high-definition video and 5G, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and other new generation information technologies has become a key breakthrough direction for industries including education, cultural tourism, and security.
The gradual maturity and expansion of ultra-high definition production chain and application will inevitably require the engineering projection market to support it. Especially in the low and medium brightness market below 8000 lumens, the iteration of 2K to 4K is realized, so that the popular market and the sinking market, which occupy more than 80% of the demand for engineering projection, enter the ultra-high-definition era, becoming the task of industry development and the main battlefield for future market share competition. Since 2024, the project projection brand has accelerated the layout of low-brightness 4K models, which is the active adaptation of changes in the demand side, and is a sign of the high-quality development of the industry.
4K brings sinking market changes and needs to be positioned well
4K is one direction of upgrading the engineering projection industry, but it is not the only direction. Others include maximizing brightness performance, color performance, lens flexibility, lightweight and intelligence. Among them, brightness outside of resolution is still the more important "performance experience indicator".
In fact, the industry has pointed out that the core of engineering applications is still "brightness is king." On the one hand, 4K models must have a high brightness in order to truly reflect the advantage of the "ultra-high definition" effect, or based on the superposition of brightness and resolution, replace the display effect of multiple models with one model. On the other hand, under the limited budget, is to choose a higher resolution or choose a higher brightness, will be some projects to face the choice. This requires the supply side to give better scheme design and effect description.
In addition, overall cost economics remains a necessary factor for the popularity of 4K engineering projection. For example, the fusion splicing of four 3000 lumen 2K models and the independent projection of a 10,000 lumen 4K model may have the same effect, but who is better in cost and maintainability? What is the difference in effect and cost between an 8000 lumen 4K model using anamorphic lens and the horizontal fusion splicing of two 3500 lumen models? This problem is particularly significant in today's context where the cost of converged processors has fallen dramatically.
That is, in engineering projection, 4K and other high standard display does not necessarily need to be achieved with 4K independent models. This involves the design of image supply scheme and the construction of product system.
In addition, from the application point of view, ultra HD must be matched with a larger picture to make sense. That is, in terms of viewing distance, the consistency of human eye resolution and screen PPI pixel density determines whether the upgrade of parameters can get a real effect. This in turn determines that 4K models often need "higher brightness" to project a larger picture. The higher brightness of the model price is inevitably higher, the market competitiveness is reduced.
In short, with the increasing popularity of 4K projection technology today, a large number of 4K projectors, especially entry-level models, are emerging. This will provide a more powerful weapon for the engineering display market. However, more engineering practice is needed to know "what kind of move" the new weapon is most lethal. Now, the content needs of 4K are more clear, and the projection display equipment has been prepared, and the baton to promote the development of project projection 4K display applications is being handed over to the creative application design link. This is the next step of the industry to focus on thinking and solving the problem.
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