What They Say
Sharp NEC Display Solutions has updated its ME and MC Series of projectors, intended for education use, to extend the lamp life to 20,000 and to boost brightness to 4,000 to 4,500 lumens.
NEC pointed out that typical classrooms use systems from 5-8 hours per day, five days a week and for around 38 weeks of the year. That would mean a 6.5 year life for the lamp and longer if used in Eco mode.
What We Think
I was surprised to spot this announcement. I don’t think I have seen a 20,000 hour life quoted for a lamp before – usually that’s just for solid state sources such as LED or Laser. I haven’t been keeping close track on projection metrics, but a few years ago the 4,500 lumens from the NP-MC453X would have been a class leader with 20 lumens/watt. At $509, it’s a bargain.
While digging into this story, I came across an announcement of a new red laser diode for laser projection. The HL63623H is a 1.5W device (continuous) and 20K hours life. The firm said that the light extraction efficiency has been improved as well as better heat extraction. (BR)
