On June 9, we published an article describing how the recent FDA ruling on laser-based projectors might impact the market (Laser Phosphor Projector Makers Sell at their Own Risk). This ruling, last February, classified projectors containing lasers (RGB laser, laser phosphor and hybrid using a laser) in a much more restrictive way than the EU IEC ruling. The ramifications of this ruling were visible at Infocomm.
The bottom line is that laser-based projectors with an output only 3,000 lumens are now considered by the FDA to be in the Risk Group 3 category, which means a variance to operate the projector is needed along with height requirements and the potential to have a laser safety officer on-site. The IEC sets this bar at 8,000 lumens, a much more reasonable level. The effect of the FDA ruling is that essentially all laser-phosphor and RGB laser projectors are now Risk Group 3, which will have a very chilling effect on their adoption in the US.
For example, Barco was taking the ruling seriously. In their laser-phosphor retrofit demo, they placed the projector on a tower and made sure the beam was 8’4” above the floor so no one could inadvertently look into the beam. Panasonic is marking their laser-phosphor projectors as class 3R laser products.
On the show floor, there were many other laser phosphor demos, but in almost all cases, the projectors were mounted high, to comply with the ruling.
Noticeably absent for Infocomm were the Chinese brands who are offering laser-phosphor projectors. They apparently did not want to exhibit as they don’t want to sell in the US with such a draconian FDA ruling. A 3,000 lumen laser-phosphor projector placed on a conference room table would now be considered in violation of the FDA ruling. This is the mainstream market so this is a big problem for projector makers.
The US projector market is 30-35% of the world market for projectors and laser-phosphor projectors are hot right now. As a result of the FDA ruling, it would not be surprising to see sales of projectors fall as the hot product carries too many liabilities with it.
