Projectors have come a long way from huge multi-filament power sucking tungsten bulbs 50 years ago in mechanical movie projectors that weighed the same as a small car.
The waste infrared heat from these bulbs would fry a modern projector. These projectors often had secondary bulbs to read the sound track and power sucking vacuum tubes to interpret the analog sound track image from the film.
Then came digital projectors that shoot light from really expansive exotic bulbs through LCD panels. The bulbs are expensive because they are very precise, have rare materials, and it's a great revenue stream. Replacing the bulb is almost as expensive as the projector and they last about 2000 hours.
Texas Instruments is marketing DLP® picture technology. With millions of tiny mirrors on a single chip, DLP®.
Think LED, cool running, 10,000 hour bulbs with little color decay over the lifespan, and lower power consumption.
A video produced by Texas instruments about the technology, that includes a presentation DLP® projector that can fit in your hand.
Dell began marketing a tiny Texas Instruments DLP® projector, the MS109s, for $499. Which if the bulb lasts $10,000 hours, it would basically be a disposable projector.
The 50 ANSI lumens (maximum) rating seems low when 1,000 lumens is a minimum for leaving the lights up in a small meeting room.
Here is a list of other manufacturers
Maybe someone will buy one and report back to us.
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