Japanese projector manufacturer NEC Display Solutions introduced their first New Era projector, the L50W. The new personal standalone projector uses LEDs and a DLP imager to produce 500 lumens at WXGA (1,280×800) resolution with 2,500:1 contrast ratio. The L50W features a built-in 1GB personal media player for displaying images, video, PDF and other common office documents from its on-board SD card slot. Inputs include HDMI, VGA and composite video. In what may be firsts for the New Era projector segment, the L50W offers built-in wall color correction presets and a carbon savings meter that calculates the effects of running in ECO ModeT energy savings mode. TheL50W carries a 2 year limited warranty and will be available in October 2011 at an estimated street price of US$799.

PMA’s projector market research has seen the introduction of New Era models by mainstream projector makers like NEC over the past several years. Advances in light source and imager technologies seem to be accelerating this trend.

NEC Display Solutions