news analysis
Vivitek ramps up in education
Vivitek has taken the next step in its plans to become a really significant player in the European projector market. The company has announced an ultra short-throw model to rival those of the current education market leaders. AV News reports.
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n AV News’ ISE report in March we reported Vivitek’s demonstration of a prototype ultra short-throw projector. Not only is the release of the pro- duction model imminent – its official launch is at InfoComm – but the technology under- pinning the product has been given a significant endorse- ment by a deal between Vivitek parent Delta and Promethean. Last month, Promethean announced its mobile ActivBoard 387 Pro interac- tive whiteboard solution which obviously needed an extreme short-throw projector. While Vivitek’s European team are being very discrete about the Delta deal, the design of the projector (known as the D7 in Vivitek guise) it’s not going to take visitors to InfoComm very long to work out the common origins of the projector.
Specifications
The endorsement of the tech- nology by a leading whiteboard will counter some of the objec- tions that UK distributors Rapesco will meet with the D795WT. The unit arguably has the edge over some of its better known competitors in terms of purity of design and it doesn’t look – and nor is it positioned as a cheap alterna-
tive. UK pricing is still to be announced formally, but it’s likely to be around £1,500. For that, customers will get a projector with a throw ratio of 0.19:1. This equates to an image diagonal image size of up to 95 inches from a projector that bolts directly on to the wall. The D795WT is a WXGA (1,280 x 800) model rated at 3,000 lumens.
Some might consider this high but Vivitek says that the D7 will provide a platform for future models designed for the corporate and even consumer markets, where the additional brightness will support daylight operation.
Other features include a contrast ratio of 2,500:1 and support for 3D. The D795WT currently offers HDMI 1.3, but is said to support 3D at 120 Hz for DLP-Link. HDMI v.1.4a will be available by mid-2011, but perhaps the most interest- ing addition early next year will be the interactive capabilities offered by compatibility of Point Blank.
This offers similar capabilities to an interactive whiteboard, but without the requirement for a physical board. We have tipped this as a product category that will see significant growth in the corporate space as the business world moves to flexible work-
spaces (see pages 12/13). The D795WT joins Vivitek’s conventional short-throw range which now includes the SVGA D520ST and XGA D525ST port- ables. Alongside the D795WT, the D5 series and the company’s D8 range all tick the increas- ingly important 3D Ready box on buyers’ checklists.
Road map
In total, Vivitek now has more than 30 models and is working with Rapesco to segment the market in a way that plays to the distributor’s strengths. The approach to the UK market is quite different for Vivitek when compared to other European territories.
In mainland Europe, the com- pany had led with its pro-AV models, and has also achieved some success in the retail chan- nel with its consumer products. The company sold some 8,000 pieces in Europe last year, but expects this year with 3,500 forecast to be sold in the UK alone. Brian Woods of Rapesco and newly appointed Vivitek EMEA sales manager Brian Grogan expect 35% of UK sales come from education, 15% to come from office supplies and the balance from pro-AV. Moving forward, products on the Vivitek roadmap include a
The “ultimate projector platform”? Vivitek’s D795WT will launch at InfoComm.
new 500 lumen palmtop that is scheduled to launch at CES. This will be targeted at the mobile presentations / road warrior market. At the other extreme of the market, Vivitek plans to extend its current range of 6,000 lumen models with 8,000 or even 10,000 lumens, but the decision as to whether these will be available in the UK is yet to be taken. For now, Vivitek describes the D795WT platform as the “ulti-
mate projector platform”. It is ultra-short throw, wall-mounted and is sold with an indicated lamp-life of 6,000 hours from its new Osram lamp, which, for many of its target users, is equiv- alent to the life of the projector. Should this be insufficient, Vivitek is working on and LED lightsource for the D7 series and the company says that it is confident that it can achieve 1,000 lumens but it’s looking for more.
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