SCREEN TEST

from Essential Install April 2021

ESSENTIAL CASE STUDY

Chris Mullins, Product Manager Home Cinema, Simulation & Entertainment at Sony, answers some of the key questions facing the projector and screen markets.

Consumer choice is going to start driving the shape of the home cinema market more strongly

Still the best way to get an impressive large image, or are other technologies catching up?

For a truly immersive experience, whether this be in your home cinema, games room or at the local art gallery (or planetarium), projectors offer the best large-format edge-to-edge experience. Of course, there are other technologies which offer exceptional quality while being large image formats, for example; we recently announced our 100in BRAVIA TV, as well as new products within our Crystal LED line up. There are different technologies for every case depending on the setting, requirements and budget. When it comes to cost effectiveness and practicality of getting an image of 100in+ - the projector is best positioned to bring this immersive large-format image for a cinema-quality experience right in the home.

Is acceptance of these products in the home growing?

Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant period of growth for the residential market. With us spending more time at home than ever before and cinemas closing their doors, this is hardly surprising. Subsequently, we’ve been investing a lot more to upgrade our home entertainment set-ups, utilising our latest processing power across the range. With that in mind, and with a lot of major sporting events set to return in 2021, we think the demand will continue to grow throughout the year.

One benefit of using a projector in the home is that it can be designed for discrete installation. The projector can be hidden in a lift, a roller screen can be rolled away. When you combine this with discrete speaker installation, your impressive large screen display can be there only when you need it, so it needn’t be a huge design burden in the sleek, modern home.

Is the revelation in enhanced imaging (4K HRD etc) helping the sector?

Image quality is key when it comes to customers choosing a projector, and for integrator and custom installation partners choosing which products to offer their clients. So yes - being able to bring the quality of projection up to that which we find with TV screens is propelling this sector into new realms. More than just movies? What changes in trends are we seeing in the use of projectors and screens; general viewing, streaming content, special events, social media, gaming, display of artwork, is what these systems are used for changing?

It’s possible that we’ll see more investment particularly in multipurpose applications for gaming or golf/driving simulators with users bringing these immersive experiences into their own homes. With improved input reduction lag technology, more and more gamers are starting to view projectors as a great option for bigscreen gameplay, too.

As we see entertainment and culture venues reopening after the pandemic forced their doors shut, planetariums, museums and art galleries will be looking to offer the public the very best in rich and immersive experiences – something which the latest cutting-edge projectors can certainly deliver on.