Small package has $70,000 price tag
JAPANESE computer maker Epson is making a valiant effort to break into people's living rooms and their offices with its recently launched EMP-3000 multimedia projector.
Epson, long famous as the king of the dot-matrix printer, has made a projector that can easily be plugged into a personal computer, a video cassette recorder (VCR) or laser disc player.
In its role as a computer peripheral, the EMP-3000 works well in multimedia presentations. Users can be as creative as they like and convey the same creativity to a captive audience, as a result of the projector's ability to handle 16.8 million colours in 640?480 video graphics adaptor resolution.
Whatever appears on the computer screen will be projected on to an overhead screen made from recently developed 1.3-inch polysilicon active matrix liquid crystal display panel technology. The panel provides image density and resolution of 920,000 pixels that, when combined with its other imaging features, makes for excellent graphics viewing.
Epson sees a big future for the EMP-3000 in a work environment. However, the company believes the 7.7-kilogram projector will fit nicely into a home entertainment centre setting.
The EMP-3000 is compatible with the NTSC, PAL and SECAM television formats and can automatically distinguish between them. It can be plugged directly into laser disc players or VCRs to allow users to watch movies in a range of sizes from 21 inches to 40 inches.
Computer freaks who do not want to leave their PCs and Macs alone at home, need not despair. The EMP-3000's ability to plug into computers on both platforms will allow them to get an all new visual kick out of playing games or viewing multimedia CD-ROM products in an unprecedented wide format.
According to Epson, two years of work went into the development of the features and technology necessary to make the EMP-3000 the smallest package in its class - a fact about which the company expresses considerable pride.
The EMP-3000 sells for $70,000.
Epson maintains the price is reasonable considering the projector's many features and potential uses.
