The brighter Showwx+ pico laser projector project

You won't be able to switch the green lasers, the 532nm ones will use a DPSS laser module, whereas the 516/530nm ones will use a direct diode, like the reds and blues. Interesting anyway.

I think my 530nm is a Corning’s G-2000. So i would be swapping my G-2000 530nm (72mW) for my G-1000 532nm (60 mW). (So it should be possible.) The direct greens (516nm) are in the Microvision Gen 2 720p engine and thats in a Pioneer HUD system not a stand alone unit like the previous showwx+. I was just listing those specs because they are the only specs I could find of the odd red and blue lasers wavelength in another microvision product.

-----Edit: Wait..it may be a PL530 OSRAM green 530nm diode instead of a Corning G-2000. Aww hell. Better crack one open and look at the pinout to know for sure. (Corning laser would have 10 pins I think)

Microvision did use the G-1000 laser modules in "some" on their projectors. This includes early shipping units and units shipped outside of the United States. Some of the pico-projectors floating around may have Corning's laser. The remaining projectors are using OSRAM solid state or otherwise.

I have no idea why the exact same model of showWX+ has 2 different RGB laser specs,throw & ratio differences though.

Ok, believe it or not, not all showWX+ models are the same.:thinking:

Here is an overview of the lasers output for all the models

Showwx
Red
AlGalnP laser diode
90 mW
635-645nm

Blue
GaN laser diode
50 mW
440-460nm

Green
Frequency doubled IR laser diode
60 mW
526-537nm

Showwx+ MPN: AA0123600-019
120mw red @ 642nm
72mw green @ 532nm
50mw blue @ 442nm

(Unknown models include MPN:AB0123500011, AB0123500012, and some others with the same varying laser specs above & below)

ShowWX+(Intel version) MPN: CAP01SHOWYXPP
120mw? red @ 638nm
120mw? green @ 530nm
72mw? blue @ 450nm
---Microvision indicates that the resolution is the same, but this ShowWX+ has a higher field of view---

720p Pico P engine in HUD displays
Red 638nm, Green 516nm, Blue 450nm lasers
?mw

your project seems really interesting
I google a bit abt Microvision Picop technology and have some think out of box idea.

from the pic shown above, it can be seen that the combiner optics is used to combine the 3 laser beams of the integrated photonics module together then send the mixed beam to the MEMS.
What if somebody can take off the MEMS of 4 integrated photonics module(IPM), somehow align the output beams so that the output laser beam of 1st IPM can be the input of the connected 2nd IPM, so forth and so on, send the combined laser beam of the 4 IPM to the fifth IPM which have the MEMS on.

I have to say tht I am not an expert in laser. I am just really interested in brighter Pico laser projector. My suggestions maybe totally bullshit.

how about trying this by combining two pico's
with lenses focus the output display of each one equally and run the beams through a broadband PBS to combine them.
If the display output is polarized already then turn one at 90 degrees and modify the input video to be sideways also.. If not polarized then.. would a 1/2 waveplate work equally with all colors? maybe!
Oh, and then defocus the combined video output from the pbs cube..

Idea #2:
find one of them adapters that would divide the video off into four squares and stack 4 projectors next and above each other appropriately.

good luck! I own only one of the first generation pico's and this thread is interesting!

So you guys all had awesome ideas!
Since the Show wx+ is 848x400 resolution... I will take my six pico projectors and a frame splitter (or series of splitters), and get 1696x1200. If I use nine, I can get 2544x1200. Of course, mounting is still going to be a challenge. I will post updates in this thread when I test it out.:thinking:

Why don't you just get a bigger brighter better projector ?

Because all other projectors do not have the color quality that lasers have.

Brightness uniformity is excellent in the Show WX+. It's amazing how precisely the scanning mirror + lasers can be driven. The only exception to this is the geometry, where the image bows on all four sides, however, even this is uniform.

Blacks are as good as it gets. The laser shuts off in total black areas. (Better than any other projector.) The lasers are off on the black area and no light is projected.

Focus-free image, Awesome blacks, the BEST colors, smooth image with no visible pixels. (Because it doesn't have pixels.)

Imagine a home theater projector that produces no light on dark scenes for an infinite on/off contrast, creates a picture with edged laser light that blends together for a film-like image, highly saturated colors, and uses a laser light source that lasts 20,000 + hours!


It also is evenly lit from corner to corner unlike all other projectors that have a 'flashlight effect' with the corners being darker than the center.


Laser TVs cost in the thousands and thousands of dollars range.
I am trying to build a cheaper version using 6 or 9 of the showwx+'s.

IF and only IF the polarization is aligned in the RGB domain (Doubtful with type 2 SHG in the Corning modules resulting in +/- 45 degree polarization) You could get a broadband polymer waveplate from Meadowlark Optics and combine two units using a PBS.

Otherwise overlay is your only choice.

There are other techniques, but the loss would be horrendous.

Steve

Since I have so many showwx+ projectors I think I am going to just dump more raw power into the optics of 1 projector's RGB sled with the other lasers from the projectors and combine the beams with a PBS cube since the lasers have to go through beam shaping optics before the dichros anyway.

The Showwx+ I have uses dichroic mirrors instead of beam splitters for the RGB lasers (with a internal reflectance prism in place of beam splitter to first reflect the light into the mirror and then let it pass out of the projector.) The light throughput for the dichroic mirror based combiner optics including the MEMs mirror is suppose to be about 60%.

(Only about 50% to 65% of the light from the lasers makes it out of one of these things when all is said & done with the optics in the showwx+.)

I will have to combine 2 units just to make up for the light loss through the optical path alone.:wtf: