Interviews with Digital Media Thought Leaders

Internet Video in a Lean-Back Viewing Experience

Podcast Audio | Posted by Phil Leigh on December 15, 2008

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While many of us would like to display Internet-Video-on-the-TV, another way to get the lean-back viewing experience might be to use digital video projectors in conjunction with an Internet-connected personal (e.g. laptop) computer.

Our guest today is Chris Chinnock who is the President of Insight Media. His company is a market research firm specializing in the information display industry.

It is increasingly common for executives to carry portable projectors along with them on business trips in order to make presentations to clients and prospects. Typically the presentations are composed of a PowerPoint deck, but the slides sometimes include embedded video. Furthermore, the YouTube culture has permeated the business environment as well, so their presentations might often include a bit of web-surfing and YouTube videos as well.

As with nearly everything electronic, projector technology has been regularly advancing. Device size has been shrinking, performance improving, and cost declining. In this interview we explore whether digital projectors might be used in conjunction with laptop computers to provide a lean-back viewing experience for Internet Video in the home environment. We ask whether TV shows and movies at websites like Hulu can be conveniently watched on a large screen at home with a compact and inexpensive projector attached to our laptops.

The answer is a qualified “Yes”, but there are tradeoffs in terms of cost and viewing experience. For example, inexpensive projectors with LED or solid state laser light sources wont provide a bright enough image in ambient light. To get a good viewing experience the consumer will have to darken the room. Projectors that can provide a good experience in ambient light cost around $1500 to $2000 and use lamps with limited life.