IFC 2024 was officially launched in Beijing on April 17. As the highlight of this exhibition, engineering projection products ushered in an unprecedented "outbreak peak". According to statistics, this year's IFC engineering projection new product release, at least far more than the situation in the past 4 exhibitions. Based on TI's new outsole DMD, the engineering projection industry is entering a new era.
New products are emerging one after another, and big names are full of them
At the IFC2024, Seemile officially launched two products, SEEMILE's flagship smart color E series SML-EU600U/SML-EU700U. This product is the first time that a domestic enterprise adopts a 0.8-inch 16:10 DLP large bottom light valve with HEP package. It has ISO brightness of 6000 and 7000 lumens respectively, with a core brightness of 6500 and 7500 lumens. It is reported that under the 1920*1200 resolution of the new light valve, the area of the optical action surface of each pixel is increased by 190% compared with the 0.47-inch light valve and 122% compared with the 0.67-inch light valve, so the core experience such as clarity, thermal performance, contrast, and red light proportion is fully optimized and improved.
Lianhui Intelligence, a domestic rookie engineering projection brand, also exhibited and released three series of engineering machines covering 8000lm~25000lm with different brightness, as well as some optical machine products. Its biggest feature is also the use of 0.8-inch and other new outsole platforms, which has achieved a comprehensive upgrade from color to brightness.
BARCO, a well-known international top projection brand, also brought three new products: single-chip DLP 4K laser projection I600, QDX three-chip laser, and ENCORE3 image processor. Among them, lightweight 4K laser projection products have comprehensively lowered the entry threshold of engineering projection 4K, and have strong guidance and demonstration significance for the further development of "high-quality display" in the industry.
At the IFC2024, Lixun, which has a Taiwanese background, also showed the new 30,000 lumens product officially released in the second half of the year. The product adopts TI's new generation 0.96-inch light valve platform. It has achieved a comprehensive leap in single-chip, high-brightness, and lightweight, and has refreshed a new brightness record for lightweight large-chip engineering projection. Lixun also debuted its DU8055Z model with the latest Vivid Color color technology and red and blue laser design.
Coincidentally. In the IFC2024 new projection lineup, it also includes Sonnoc Himalaya series of new generation AI intelligent projectors, StarryHub conference all-in-one projection video conferencing all-in-one machine, the new Christie 4K13-HS 1DLP laser projector, KrindaT50 new generation high-resolution infrared night vision training projector, DP is the world's first Satellite series split new light source module and a new generation of single-chip DLP models based on 0.96,0.8-inch chips, Hisense high-brightness laser engineering projection new products...... At the same time, the Japanese projection giant Sharp NEC also held a side press conference, and the three series of Sharp MultiSync Pioneer, Ocean, and Ace were fully unveiled.
It can be seen that during the IFC2024 period, DLP engineering projectors formed a round of concentrated and dense new product layout in the 7000 to 30000 lumens range, single-chip lightweight, 0.8 and 0.96-inch new outsole platforms. The new DLP engineering projection show of domestic and foreign brands comprehensively demonstrates its strong foundation of continuously promoting technological progress and experience upgrading.
The outsole scheme should be popularized to high quality
At the IFC2024 exhibition, the characteristics of new engineering projection products are not only "many", but also include special emphasis on lightweight, high brightness and the characteristics of large bottom light valve. According to the analysis, this represents the general trend of "upgrading" of domestic engineering projection display.
On the one hand, in consumer applications, the market demand for 4K and high-brightness continues to increase. This drove the advent of 0.8 and 0.96 outsole products. The larger valve area is a great help for improving performance metrics such as brightness and 4K. In the new round of product development, it can also be seen that international brands such as Barco, Christie, DP, Sharp NEC, etc. attach great importance to the layout of single-chip high-brightness and low-cost 4K models.
On the other hand, the great development of LED small-pitch display has overlapped competition in many fields, such as cultural tourism, night tours, conferences and other scenes and engineering projections. There are competing products to choose from performance comparisons, and it also has a strong role in promoting engineering projection "to better performance and lower cost". How to win the competition with higher performance is becoming a problem that the engineering projection industry must face.
From the perspective of upstream supplier TI, the global DLP projection sales pressure in 2023 is not small. Not only the two traditional energy markets of business and education have been challenged by LCD interactive large screens, and the market size has continued to decline, but also the emerging consumer market for household has also encountered direct or potential challenges from single-chip LCD, 3LCD, and 3LCOS - as the world's largest DLP home market, domestic DLP smart projection sales have declined for two consecutive years. This makes TI also interested in adjusting the supply pattern of upstream products, promoting the competitiveness of superior products, and attracting more ecological partners.
According to industry insiders, in 2024, there will be more than 5 domestic projection brands alone, and a new generation of 0.8-inch platform products will be deployed. Take the experience of 7000 lumens mainstream applications to the next level.
"The entry product experience is better;High-end high-brightness and 4K lower threshold!" This is the main feature of this round of engineering projection new product release. In addition, it pays attention to intelligent innovation, such as 7000 lumens intelligent engineering projection, pays attention to special function innovation, such as Wincon Yingda infrared night vision projection, StarryHub conference star and other products, and interchangeable lenses are equipped with ultra-short throw as standard, which also represents the development of multiple directions for engineering projection application needs.
Optimistic about the Chinese market demand, the future can be expected
"In 2023, we have seen a huge flow of people economy that we have never seen before!", an industry source pointed out, and the application of engineering projection itself is highly positively correlated with the "cultural short-term mobility rate of the population". In 2023, as the first year of the post-epidemic period, the rapid recovery of the domestic flow economy has allowed the industry to see greater market potential.
As an equipment product in the cultural service industry, the acceleration of engineering projection in 2024 is a "bet" on China, the world's largest engineering display market and the engineering display market with the highest growth. In particular, the 14th Five-Year Plan for the development of cultural tourism was inevitably delayed during the new crown epidemic, and the awareness of seizing the time point in 2024 and 2025 is to seize the market opportunity has been further enhanced. This means that the development of the industry will not be a simple restart after the epidemic, but more likely to be a full-scale outbreak.
"Not only traditional cultural museums, historical sites and natural landscape projects, but also new themes, new scenes, new ways of playing, and new IPs for young people, the silver economic needs of the elderly, and the public creative needs of night scenes for urban cultural construction, etc., will be market opportunities. Industry insiders pointed out that the era of large-scale, high-potential, and diversified engineering projection demand is coming.
Therefore, the outbreak of new products projected by the IFC2024 engineering is not a "target", not a simple supply-side self-congratulation, but a confidence in demand growth, a foreshadowing for the arrival of the era of high-quality popularization, and a consensus that the industry is forming a benign resonance between supply and demand.