Epson Town makes projector applications come alive

Epson Singapore, the No. 1 projector brand in the world for 16 consecutive years, believes that projectors are important communication tools that can be used to engage audiences in new ways. Toshimitsu Tanaka, MD, Epson Singapore and Southeast Asia said that projectors are ideal not only for basic communications, but also for digital signage and outdoor projection mapping. “Epson pioneered the 3LCD technology in the 1980s. In 1989, we launched our first 3LCD projector, the VPJ-700. Since then, Epson continues its commitment to offering projectors that lead the world in technology, innovation and quality.

Tanaka-san spoke of Epson's market leadership in projectors. 

"Today, we continue to hold the dominant market leadership position as the leading projector brand for 16 years and running that takes care of the little details using the most innovative technology in the world. In Southeast Asia, our market share is at 37.7% as of FYQ117, according to FutureSource Consulting and we pride ourselves on bringing exceptional value to our customers.”

Tan talked about Epson's focus on details as a differentiating factor. It's in the Details is the tagline for the

new Epson pan-Asia B2B brand campaign. "To achieve enduring success we take pride in our attention to details and innovation. Details are what turns ideas, dreams and the future into reality," she said. "The proposition in our campaign (is that) innovation always works better when you are able to control the details. We're able to do that through our vertically integrated model."

In addition, the company said that innovation works best when attention is paid to the details. Tan May Lin, GM (Sales, Marketing and Customer Service division) of Epson Singapore said, “When it comes to developing new technologies and innovations, we believe that it’s our attention to detail that makes a fundamental difference and sets us apart from our competitors. These details come from listening to what our customers want from our products, and satisfying their needs by designing products that exceed their expectations.

"In terms of Epson’s projection innovation, every component in our projectors is created with the same obsessive attention to detail to ensure spectacular performance that will stun even the biggest crowd.”

From left, Joseph Mak, Sales Manager Asia Pacific, Milestone AV Technologies, Daniel Poh, Asia Sales Director, Extron Electronics Asia, Amy Kwa, Head of Department SEA, Visual Products Department, Epson Singapore, Adrian Tan, Technical Sales Account Manager (ASEAN countries), SOTI, and emcee Charlene. Epson’s Projection Conference & Showcase is supported by Extron Electronics Asia, SOTI, and Milestone AV Technologies. Technologies from all three partners were part of the integrated solutions at Epson Town. The display onstage, seen behind the panelists, is from the world's brightest 3LCD laser projector, installed at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. The EB-L25000U laser projector is low-maintenance and capable of displaying images at 25,000 lumens. 

Amy Kwa, Head of Department SEA, Visual Products Department, Epson Singapore said that projectors are very versatile display solutions as they can be used in almost any space. "You just have to find the right projector," she said.

She also pointed out that projectors can be used for digital signage and are able to turn any type of surface into a screen, so that physical signage - which is time-consuming to create and set up, and permanent - is no longer required. "The projections are distortion-free," she said. "It can be very immersive and transforms the whole event experience. You can (bring) your imagination to life. That's what the public wants today."

Projectors can also turn existing surfaces such as tables and walls into interactive touchscreens, which is ideal for students who have grown up with touch technology, she added. "(We have) cost-effective solutions for schools that want to look into an interactive experience. (They have) the flexibility and the scalability in terms of image size."

Reliability and durability are the two key customer requirements for projectors today, she added. One of Epson's value propositions is longer-lasting components with its laser projector family, so that lamps only need to be replaced after two years or 20,000 hours, whichever comes first. "Laser projector solutions are for end users who really want a projector that can save them the hassle," she said.

Source: Epson Singapore. Epson Town has a museum, cafe, a school, offices and a home.

Epson built an entire town to showcase 3LCD and laser projection innovations that transform everyday life as part of the Epson Projection Conference & Showcase 2017, which was themed From Pixel to Physical. Delegates experienced live demonstrations of projector applications in areas such as education, corporate, home, retail, as well as public settings for businesses and consumers at Epson Town.

The Epson EB-696Ui, EB-695Wi and EB-W41 projectors were used at Epson Institute to create classroom scenarios.

A demonstration of a projected 65" screen to show how readable the text is at this size. The 4-6-8
 rule is often used to define optimal viewing distance, ie the height of the display should be 4x the maximum distance from the display to the participants for analytical viewing, and 6x for basic viewing, said booth representative Brian. An 8x height is best for passive viewing, as in playing movies or videos. LCD panels conforming to the rule may not offer the same experience as a projection.

A visualiser device sends an image of two apples to two different projectors, a competitor's single-chip digital light processor (DLP) projector on the left, and to an Epson 3LCD projector on the right. Single-chip DLP projectors display a single primary colour at a time, resulting in less vibrant images, whereas 3LCD projectors display all the colours at once for up to 3x brighter colours. The stripe effect only shows up through the camera; in real life the colours for the image on the left merely looked duller.

Placing a projector on one side of a folding table allows students to crowd round and interact with the screen. Watch the Instavideo of the table being used as a tablet.

At Epson Institute, an academic setting, Epson showed how interactive ultra-short throw projector technology can accommodate larger screen sizes with more readable details. The interactive support means that the screen is effectively a large tablet.

A recent study in the US by Radius Global Market Research found that 58% of students in an average classroom are unable to read content displayed on a 70" flat panel display. While displays are limited by their size, projected images are not restricted to a specific size and can go up to as much as 100". In addition, students and teachers can interact together with such projectors using gestures or pens, without having to power up a PC.

Daniel Poh, Asia Sales Director, Extron Electronics Asia, said that his company is focused on user-friendly, robust and reliable products. The solution at Epson Institute makes use of Extron collaboration technology that connects up to 50 devices to ensure that students can collaborate. The collaboration platform controls all the devices and switches the image source from one device to another. Access is with a keycard for security. "Any cable that you plug into the teacher's laptop will (trigger a) switchover automatically," Poh said.

Joseph Mak, Sales Manager Asia Pacific, Milestone AV Technologies, said the Da-Lite IDEA projection screen at Epson Institute is ideal for educational use. It works as a conventional whiteboard problem that is erasable and magnetic, but unlike a whiteboard does not have "hotspots", or reflective areas, when it is used as a projection surface.

In the videoconferencing scenario, an Epson interactive projector is used with a Da-Lite screen as the projection surface. A Vaddio conferenceSHOT AV device in front of the booth representative transmits the video for videoconferencing. Both the screen and the device are from Epson partner Milestone AV Technologies. Watch the Instavideo at Epson Tower.

Interactive projection systems allow annotation on shared screens sent from other devices, like a laptop.

Epson Tower featured two offices videoconferencing each other. The interactive projection system, starring the Epson EB-1460Ui projector, acts as a smart collaboration platform for sharing and co-authoring with others, and supports screens shared from PCs and mobile devices. The scenario featured a 94" projection onto a Da-Lite IDEA screen that could be annotated. Up to 50 screens' worth of data can be saved, emailed or printed.

An Epson projector brings the cinema experience into the living room.

The Epson Residence delivered a high-quality cinematic experience with the EH-TW8300W, projecting a movie onto a 120" screen. The high dynamic contrast ratio provides superior and bright Full HD image quality for an immersive home theatre experience. Ambient light is rejected, so light from nearby windows will not affect the projection. A TV of similar size would cost a lot more than the projector, which is more versatile as it can project at different sizes.

The EB-G7905U projector controls the signage projected onto a wall, including onto a 3D mug shape, while football games are projected onto another wall by the projector on the left, the EB-2265U. There is no need to dim the lights if the projector can display images with a high number of lumens. Watch the Instavideo of images being projected onto the mug shape.

Epson Cafe showcased new retail concepts to attract customers. Epson’s ultra-short throw projectors enable retailers to project a large screen within a compact area to create a specific ambience, and can project images on walls, ceilings and floors or 3D objects. Digital signage does not have to be reprinted and reinstalled, the booth representative said. The EB-G7905U mapped animated images onto a 3D surface for signage, and the EB-2265U was used for broadcasting football games.

The Epson Museum offered a timeline of milestones in projection innovations.

Three Epson projectors were used in the museum scenario, the EB-L1405U and two units of the EB-L1100U, to 'clothe' the penguin statues in tandem with animation displayed on a screen behind them.

The penguin statues when there are no images mapped onto them.

The Epson Museum scenario demonstrated how Epson’s high brightness projectors facilitate interactive digital storytelling. Designed for installation in large venues such as at concerts and museums, the projectors can project any shape on any type of surface.

The Moverio BT-300 Smart Glasses were also used to show how museum experiences can incorporate augmented reality. Smart glasses are a new way of delivering experiences to museum visitors. "It makes it more personal and it is hands-free," said booth representative Melissa.

SOTI MobiControl, an enterprise mobility management solution that secures and manages iOS, Android, and Windows devices, was also used to show how it can track a fleet of smart glasses, manage applications and content displayed by the glasses, and keep both devices and data secure. Battery and connectivity status, access control, remote deployment of apps and remote support are some of the capabilities enabled with SOTI MobiControl in the museum showcase. "We give the customer total visibility over the entire fleet of smart glasses," said Adrian Tan, Technical Sales Account Manager (ASEAN countries), SOTI. 

Explore:

A discussion on challenges for readability and projection, and the DISCAS standard

Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about Epson's B2B focus and the new Moverio BT-300 Smart Glasses