Sony's Black Projector screen, where is it?

[Claymonkey]

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php?ID=9984

Info came out for it back in June but as of yet no new info.

Basically, it's a black projector screen which doesn't reflect ambient light. The only light it will reflect is the straight blue, green and red that make up the pictures of a projected image. Based on the article it doesn't seem that you will need a proprietary projector either.

Now a good screen is already pricey and since this is Sony it is bound to have a premium. But if you don't have to use their projector and you can say get one for $1k(USD) and then buy a $1-2K projector you could have a 80 inch screen for $2-3K. Most current projectors are already in the HDTV rez too. Now a big screen plasma or LCD TV here in the US can run anywhere from $3K to $14K and still will take up more space than this.

At my last job (just had a major layoff where they got rid of 40 of us) I ran the help desk and when I had my staff store all our unused equipment in the basement storage area. We then took our portable projector, displayed it straight on a wall and hooked up cheap logitech surround sound speakers to the setup. I have to tell you watching Movies during lunch and after work on that 90" screen was heaven. We even had a gaming night when Halo2 came out and dear lord it looked awesome. I actually left my gamecube at the office for three months because i just didn't want to play it at home anymore.

Anyway, a little off topic but does anyone have any news on these screens? Though of course just talking about the coolness of this is cool too

[Jon P. Inghram]

The theater where my brother works (well, I work there too now, but I havn't gotten any hours. ) has a full size projection screen in the sports-bar, they could really use that new screen to improve contrast with all the lighting in the room.

[Claymonkey]

Sports bars would be the perfect place for this. I've only been to two of them but both of them used plasma screens, usually in four different panels per screen and you can REALLY see the deterioration of the screens. When one is blueish, the next greenish and one pinkish.. it makes it really hard for me to focus. That and you can project to the same size of those four plasmas and not have those annoying lines seperating them.

[VJ]

My brother has a projection screen for rear projection. It is in the window of his pharmacy to show advertisements and information.

It is quite weird though: a solid sheet of plastic, suspended on the ceiling, hanging just a few centimetres away from the window. The screen is translucent but you can't see though it. Any projection on it is very sharp when viewed from the other side of the screen, but quite blurry when viewed on the projection side.
(weird though: if you reverse the screen, it is sharp on the projection side, but blurry on the opposite side )

Still, it gives a very cool and modern look...
(and if he wants to view a movie in the evening, he takes the projector with him )


A friend of mine projected 3D animations on techno parties, and it was very obvious the projection screen had a huge influence on the image quality.
(we were a bit suprised by how much this influence was)


Jörg

[KvHagedorn]

This really smacks of an April Fool's joke.

[VJ]

KvH: I don't entirely agree. At first, it might seem so, but if you consider a very well lit room, one will see the screen is white with no means of projecting black (or even dark). On a black screen, with a powerfull enough projector, you can project white...

Still, I would be amazed that projectors bright enough to pull this off would exist...


Jörg

[Claymonkey]

I have to disagree as well.. I have an art degree so I'll pull the superior color theory card (might as well say my degree is worth something right?)

Black by its nature is just a surface's inability to reflect light. Black is the absence of light, while white is actually all three colors of the spectrum reflecting equally. Now in paint/crayon whatever the colors are red, blue and yellow. While in actual light it's red, blue and green. I'll admit that I still don't understand THAT distinction well but again I'm off track.

Now take a CRT monitor. It basically is a black surface with different cells that light up with a charge from its proper gun (red, green, blue). Is it that hard to believe that there might not be a similar tech on the projector screen, or at least where it only reflects that color? I have NO idea how they'd manage to line up the projector properly to the screen.. but it seems feasible.. if a pain in the arse.

[KvHagedorn]

You seem to think there is some sort of tech that can overcome anything, including the laws of physics.

[VJ]

Well, I have noticed (with those projections on techno parties) that the material you project on is very important. Project on a white sheet, and you'll see virtually nothing, project on some walls, and the image is clear. In these two cases, the colour is the same, but the reflection is very different. This has thought me that the colour of the projection screen isn't everything.

So I do think it should be possible to have a black coloured panel but with some specific texture or coating that would provide a decent projection image.

Found these links:

Technology explanation:

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/images/sony_blackscreen.jpg

Demo setup:

http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/better-picture-of-sonys-black-backed-projection-screen-016964.php

Mention in popular science:

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown/2004/homeentertainment/article/0,22221,767801,00.html

Launch info on Sony news:

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:HZd_r9u1te4J:news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/5516+sony+black+projection+screen&hl=en

(Sony News seems down, this is the cache of google)


Jörg

[Claymonkey]

Originally posted by KvHagedorn
You seem to think there is some sort of tech that can overcome anything, including the laws of physics.

Could this require overcoming physics? Possibly, but I doubt it. We are talking about redirection of light, not something like perpetual motion. Just because it LOOKS black doesn't mean it IS black.

Oh and VJ makes a good point about color not necessarily being everything. Why is a painted wall better than a white sheet? Yet an expensive white screen is better than both? It's because of how that 'white' screen reflects the projection.

[Claymonkey]

Thanks for the links VJ.. this only makes me want one of these more if/when they come out.

Lookes like you DO need a special projector for this

The new screen will be available this spring for about $2,000, and the VPL-HS51 projector is now available for about $3,500.

Still... I still think a 80" hdtv for $5.5k isn't terrible....

[KvHagedorn]

I installed a VPL-HS51 last week. There's nothing really special about it. Basic cheap LCD front projector. And, yes, we used a white screen with it.

[Dr Mordrid]

What laws of physics? Given quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle most anything's possible, just unlikely unless you set up the proper conditions.

"Never" is what they thought about backwards time travel until the idea of using laser induced spacetime vortices came into the mix. Now things aren't so certain.

Such a strongly warped rotating spacetime vortex would allow a particle/ship/traveller to exceed the worlds speed of light even while it/they are sub-luminal in the "local" spacetime within the vortex.

Oopsie.

Dr. Mordrid

[DGhost]

Originally posted by dparadis
I have to disagree as well.. I have an art degree so I'll pull the superior color theory card (might as well say my degree is worth something right?)

Black by its nature is just a surface's inability to reflect light. Black is the absence of light, while white is actually all three colors of the spectrum reflecting equally. Now in paint/crayon whatever the colors are red, blue and yellow. While in actual light it's red, blue and green. I'll admit that I still don't understand THAT distinction well but again I'm off track.

Now take a CRT monitor. It basically is a black surface with different cells that light up with a charge from its proper gun (red, green, blue). Is it that hard to believe that there might not be a similar tech on the projector screen, or at least where it only reflects that color? I have NO idea how they'd manage to line up the projector properly to the screen.. but it seems feasible.. if a pain in the arse.

perhaps a more absorbant/less reflective screen that uses "cells" of color reflective spots (like inside a CRT) would enable it to better filter out ambiant non-focused light.

the laws of physics only describe the current level of understanding, not what is acctually achievable.

[Claymonkey]

Originally posted by DGhost
the laws of physics only describe the current level of understanding, not what is acctually achievable.

agreed