Have the lamp projector lights been turned off??

Panasonic has opted for laser technology for its range of high-brightness projectors. In this column Thomas Vertommen, European product director of the company, explains the advantages that this equipment offers and why it is increasingly used in the rental and staging sector.

Panasonic has announced that its entire range of high-brightness projectors will move from lamp models to laser models. It seems like the end of an era.

Some of the most memorable projection mapping shows in the industry have been performed using model lamps, such as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2012 held in London, the gigantic projection mappings created to celebrate the 555th anniversary of Bucharest, in which they were used 104 projectors 20.000 lumens to illuminate the Parliament Palace, or the 142 units used in the Circle of Lights festival held last year 2015 in Moscow and which represented a new Guinness world record.

When we introduced our flagship model PT-DZ21K seven years ago, Panasonic's market share in the sector reached 80%, a figure that we have maintained until today. But the laser platform offers obvious advantages in terms of total reliability and reduced maintenance requirements., so it is an appropriate time to close a stage.

In our opinion, The move to laser technology will allow the market to expand. This statement is based on market data showing that last year the estimated market value of laser projectors was 4.570 million dollars, while it is expected that the year 2023 reach the 10.530 million.

As technology develops and prices begin to fall, we are likely to see fewer and fewer traditional lamp projectors. The myriad reasons why lamp-based projectors have no place in the rental and staging industry range from the time required to reach maximum brightness, to the practice of stacking two projectors for redundancy, passing through the lack of consistency in brightness and the impossibility of aligning the projectors laterally.

If we are honest with ourselves at the industry level, There is no reason to use lamp models over laser models other than the desire to maximize revenue from replacement lamps or doubling stack sizes in the rental industry..

According to the Panasonic study, a growth is observed in the demand for events based on projections and experimental samples. Projection mapping is increasingly used instead of fireworks to celebrate events. It, together with technological advances such as real-time monitoring, has made projection an ideal option for concerts, live performances and public presentations.

Panasonic laser projectors were used to illuminate the Eiffel Tower at the festival Japonisms 2018, in which they were held 160 years of Franco-Japanese friendship, as well as in the show Universal Judgment. Michelangelo and the secrets of the Sistine Chapel, in which our projectors allowed the public to enjoy a recreation of 270 degrees of the Sistine Chapel, where the artist's most famous works were shown. This year at ISE, We collaborated with projection designer Bart Kresa to show his new projection mapping work to more than 100.000 people during the show.

Sviatovs, a five meter high projection sculpture, It is the successor to the emblematic Shogyo Mujo, that could be seen at the Burning Man Festival held in 2014 in the black rock desert, in the American state of Nevada. The new sculpture was fully illuminated in True 4K resolution using four Panasonic PT-RQ32 4K laser projectors. 30.000 lumens.

Kresa believes that tracking technologies associated with high-powered media servers can play an important role in the development of creative art. “For Universal Studios Osaka, We created an Optimus Prime mobile robot and then mapped it live using tracking technology and seven Panasonic projectors.”.

“In the audiovisual sector, mapping is considered a consolidated technology., but many people are seeing it for the first time and, therefore, we're really just getting started. I think that in the future we will see more presentations with permanent mappings, to attract people to city centers. The number of requests we are receiving to make signage or to highlight architectural elements is growing by leaps and bounds.”.

We live in a time in which consumers increasingly want to enjoy new experiences and in which organizations, from museums to commercial spaces, are using increasingly complex projections for which, definitely, the laser is the best possible platform. Hermetically sealed laser modules allow, For example, PT-RZ21K from Panasonic can offer uninterrupted projection of up to 20.000 hours. This achieves greater reliability and color uniformity for rental companies, reducing the need for maintenance and total cost of ownership.

Laser technology has the potential to enable further market expansion, with an increasing number of semi-permanent and permanent mappings that will become commercially viable thanks to the improved performance of laser projectors. And this seems like a better business plan than having to rely on replacement lamps!!