The recent evolution of front projectors merging with DVD players and speaker systems into one convergent box has led to a new display projector genre that promises to take "movie night" to a whole new level. Simply plug in the box, point it at a blank wall, (up to 10 feet diagonal if you please) insert your favorite DVD and voila, instant theater in your home with emphasis on the big screen effect.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
of Projection Monthly &
Microdisplay Report

The new category is finally showing up on the projection industry radar screen as evidenced by the Menlo Park based Pacific Media Associates (PMA) report, predicting rapid growth for the instant theaters in the triple digits for 2006. Unit growth is slated at almost 260K this year, up from just 44K in 2005. This number is expected to grow to 1.2M units by 2010.

Early units in the new category began appearing around CES-2005 with the first announcements coming from RadioShack (Cinego D-1000), Optoma (MovieTime DV10) and Pixa (DHT-200). They entered the scene with limited fanfare and had an uphill battle educating consumers of the benefits and use of the new projectors.

Since then, others have arrived on the scene including the HP’s Instant Cinema (HP9012), Epson’s MovieMate (TWD1), a hot seller in Japan, and Taiwan based Meiloon series (DHT300 and 400). Toshiba is the most recent manufacturer to enter the market introducing the "et20" at this year’s CeBIT consumer electronics trade show in Hanover, Germany. The unit sports a new industrial design and a high-end Realta video scaling chip. In January 3M announced the DMS 700 front projector with integrated DVD player, that also claims a Realta chip heritage. We won’t have long to wait for this one as the launch date was set at sometime in Q2.

PMA says Epson, Optoma, and Radio Shack have current models that already are contributing "a meaningful portion to sales" of consumer front projectors. Indeed, we ran a story with the headline: "Home projector Sales Booming in Japan" in our January issue of Projection Monthly (p.85) that chronicled the new TWD1 box flying off the shelves at Bic Camera and other Japan outlets when the price dropped to under 150K yen (about $1280). In the Japan market, the TWD1 share quickly grew to 40% according to the Toshiba rep. A salesman at Bic Camera said consumers were choosing this as an alternative to the more expensive large screen flat panel TVs.

One advantage of the instant theater approach is offering the consumer portability. Moving a home theater system from room to room is just not practical unless it’s all in one box, according to Fabia Ochoa, group product manager of home entertainment with Epson America. "Their integrated DVD players and sound systems give users the convenience and flexibility to simply transport an entire movie theater system to other rooms, without any cabling inconvenience," he said. It’s the video boom box model.

Many who own or have used front projectors in the home already know just how impressive watching a 10-foot image on a living room wall can be. We think that with the proliferation of these new instant theaters, and the addition of new image upgrades like moving to HD native resolution and high-end scaling chips, the trend will catch-on giving new meaning to Dinner (at home) and a Movie. -SS