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FrozenGate by Avery

Testing the Microvision SHOWWX and AXAA L1 Laser Pico Projectors

Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

hometon: Thanks for the great post and all the information. I'm a fan of Microvision too at this point and am really looking forward to their future products. I'm going to agree with you and say the image is not interlaced.

A 1/60 sec exposure image from a Digital Rebel XT dSLR camera (full resolution image here) looked like it was showing less than 480 horizontal rows. It turns out that each of these 'rows' are in fact groups of two rows, which means we have the proper resolution.

Sorry for the confusion!
 
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Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

@ hometon - i've been thinkin about gettin a 3d setup with the showwx. I did a practice run with only one pico and it ran perfect.

I made a video as well

YouTube - Microvision ShowWX 3D Polarization Test

hope you like!

btw im using the realD glasses for polarizing lense, and then just setting up the glasses for viewers as normal
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

dsholz said:
hometon: Thanks for the great post and all the information. I'm a fan of Microvision too at this point and am really looking forward to their future products. I'm going to agree with you and say the image is not interlaced.

A 1/60 sec exposure image from a Digital Rebel XT dSLR camera (full resolution image here) clearly showed less than 480 horizontal rows. However, I suspect this is some sort of illusion caused by the mechanical shutter on the camera. If I take a similarly exposed image with a ps3eye camera (with no mechanical shutter), the missing rows disappear.

I'll try to provide a few more pictures to clarify all of this and I'll correct my above write up soon.

Sorry for the confusion!
Click to expand...



Great pictures, dsholz, thanks for the continued reviewing.
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

counterbond said:
@ hometon - i've been thinkin about gettin a 3d setup with the showwx. I did a practice run with only one pico and it ran perfect.

I made a video as well

YouTube - Microvision ShowWX 3D Polarization Test

hope you like!

btw im using the realD glasses for polarizing lense, and then just setting up the glasses for viewers as normal
Click to expand...



Thanks counterbond. I am not an expert on polarization, but I believe that there are different types of polarization used by Microvision - you may be aware of this already.

For combining the 3 different color laser beams, linear polarization is used.

The 3D projector prototype that microvision has demonstrated uses the same type of polarization the the Avatar movie uses - circular polarization - and the glasses for viewing that 3d are different than normal sun glasses that use linear polarization. The circular polarization propagates light in either clockwise or counter-clockwise orientations and the Avatar glasses have one of each type for each eye.
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

What I find interesting is, the green in these -they aren't 532 are they. I don't understand the two listings of 526 and 537 nm for green. (Or the 635|645, and 440|460)

Are there two 'models' that use the different frequencies? Or is that the low and high end of the "possibility" of output, and these are really just 532 dpss?
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

aryntha said:
What I find interesting is, the green in these -they aren't 532 are they. I don't understand the two listings of 526 and 537 nm for green. (Or the 635|645, and 440|460)

Are there two 'models' that use the different frequencies? Or is that the low and high end of the "possibility" of output, and these are really just 532 dpss?
Click to expand...



good question, not sure about the chart's wavelength range is about

I know the lasers have a range of output so that might be the answer - a Corning spec on the g1000 laser has a range of 527 to 533

G1000SS-nonNDA-0510

not sure what the Osram's range is
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

Good review, appreciate this info.

So it's a raster based device, like a CRT monitor.

I seem to recall some projectors based on interference, where they'd reflect the laser beam off a reflective micro-display displaying an interference pattern to project the image. Not certain what happened to these.

So you've got the problems intrinsic to a raster display - flickering and strobing. Interlacing is often employed to lower required bandwidth.

I'm more interested in your subjective opinion of the projector...

Are you happy with it?

How are the colors - Good and saturated?

What's the max distance you can project things before the image is too faded?

Is the speckle annoying to the point where it's an issue?
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

aryntha said:
What I find interesting is, the green in these -they aren't 532 are they. I don't understand the two listings of 526 and 537 nm for green. (Or the 635|645, and 440|460)

Are there two 'models' that use the different frequencies? Or is that the low and high end of the "possibility" of output, and these are really just 532 dpss?
Click to expand...


Those numbers account for the minimum and maximum range of wavelength shift the diodes or green DPPS system might encounter. It is probably a wide range that most will never experience that I refer to as "CYA" :D

The green is a very small DPSS unit
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

It may be 60hz. Are you taking into account blanking?
It can actually be faster then 60hz, with a little delay to make it 60.
I dont know if its LCD or DLP but.. The delay could be for the LCD or mirrors to
move into position. Actually its probably not LCD, the
green being 90deg polarization would make it difficult.
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

It looks like that every time I 'counted' a row in the high resolution images it was really two pixel rows with a single gap in between every pair. This means the vertical resolution is indeed 480 pixels, not interlaced.

Here are some videos to clarify (taken by a ps3eye with a modified lens for macro usage).

Closeup Video at 30 fps - At this speed everything is perfect (the line moving through the image cannot be seen).

Closeup Video at 60 fps - At this speed you can see a little flickering, although it's not very visible to the naked eye, if you look really close you can see some of this effect (the line moving through the image cannot be seen).

Closeup Video at 60 fps (2x Slowed Down) - At this speed we see the slow vertical scan which moves every two rows up and down, filling in any of the black vertical pixel gaps.

flogged to respond to your questions:

"Are you happy with it?"
It's a really neat toy, and I can see myself using it for presentations, science experiments and art. I would not plan on using it as a primary video projection device or as an extra computer screen/monitor. This is mostly due to it's limited resolution and brightness.

"How are the colors - Good and saturated?"
The colors are great, the reds are beautiful. The blue range feels a little bit limited. Navy blue and purple substitute sky blue, but they're still very saturated and nice looking (it's hard to notice this color shift though unless you have a second monitor also displaying the video).

"What's the max distance you can project things before the image is too faded?"
It entirely depends on the lighting of the room and how dark adjusted your eyes are. If your eyes are dark adjusted and there is no ambient light (pitch black room) I see no problems with 150 inch sizes. However, with minor ambient lighting it is probably closer to 30-50 inches or less. It can't be used at all in a day lit room, except at maybe sizes < 10 inches.

"Is the speckle annoying to the point where it's an issue?"
The smaller the size of the image the bigger the speckle grain looks in comparison and the more noticeable it is. At small screen sizes ( < 24 inches ) it is noticeable and a little annoying. At large screen sizes ( > 40 inches) it is unnoticeable.
 
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Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

does anyone have any ideas if these lasers could be cranked up a bit? I think the biggest one to be of concern would be the green corning g1000 laser. Also, the ASIC might be of concern as well. I wonder with some mods if we could get 15 lumens:)
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

Counterbond: I've been told by Microvision that there are a lot of safety mechanisms in case anything goes wrong with the lasers or if the mirror stops working. I would be afraid that opening it and trying to change something would trigger one of these safety mechanisms.
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

hometon said:
good question, not sure about the chart's wavelength range is about
Click to expand...

My CNI green says 501-561nm. It's just an extra margin of error that's unnecessary.
 
Re: Testing the Microvision SHOWWX Laser Pico Projector

Sh-sh-sh... Here is a coupon code to get VGA Dock for free when you buy SHOWWX at the Microvision site (otherwise it's $50!): MVISREF1229. Valid until 9/30/2010
 
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