Barco

The road from lamp to laser has been a long and arduous one. After decades of lamenting the high cost and maintenance associated with lamp-based projection, the market urged the industry to develop solid state illumination alternatives, such as LED and LASER light sources. The drive toward a laser light source that was safe, economical and even more brilliant originated in the digital cinema market. With its long history in advanced visualization, Barco succeeded and debuted the first prototype laser-illuminated digital cinema projector at Moody Gardens, Texas more than four years ago. Audiences were amazed by the image quality!

Three years later, Barco formally launched the first commercial Flagship Laser projector for cinema at Cinemacon 2015, closely followed by the launch of laser phosphor models for movie theaters at CineAsia 2015.  Since then, Barco has played a significant role in fueling the evolution from lamp-based to laser-powered projection, releasing models for live events, simulation, control rooms, and business meeting rooms and classrooms to address numerous applications in these markets.

Defining the laser projection value proposition
What is that “something special” that’s enabled Barco to lead the industry in laser projection? It’s our unique approach to solid state laser projection – harnessing more than 20 years of R&D, market expertise and in-depth technical experience in advanced visualization – that creates the brightest, highest performing projectors for the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). Central to this premise is the operational efficiency that Barco has designed into every model, enabling owners to realize a high return on investment from our solutions.

The anatomy of laser projection – Flagship vs. Laser Phosphor
The benefits of laser-illuminated projection are numerous in both versions of the technology: Flagship Laser and laser phosphor. Both offer improved operational efficiency compared to their lamp-based counterparts. Laser-light engines are much more “green,” using far less energy than lamps. And, with no need for lamp changes, both maintenance time and costs are also dramatically reduced. Finally, laser projectors boast a significantly longer lifetime than lamp-based models.

However, each laser projection platform technology offers its own distinct attributes and benefits, and is therefore suited to different applications.

Flagship Laser – Barco’s Flagship Laser projectors radically improve the viewing experience: ultra-high brightness, superior contrast levels, enriched colors, all at a very attractive TCO. In cinema, they have proven to create a differentiating premium movie experience that generates a strong return on investment.

Barco’s unique Flagship Laser illumination technology is based on a completely integrated “direct coupled” RGB design, with all lasers housed within the projector to increase optical efficiency, performance and safety.  This approach differs from others’ external “fiber optic” delivery, which requires more lasers, generates more heat, and consumes more power. The resulting difference is that Barco’s Flagship Laser truly saves energy, delivering unprecedented performance for a lower operating cost. Flagship Laser is the ideal choice for giant screen applications where high resolution image presentation is a must (4K or beyond, i.e. video walls).

Laser Phosphor - With its advanced cooling design, Barco’s laser phosphor technology is highly energy efficient, with projectors boasting a long lifetime, beyond 30,000 hours. Laser phosphor illumination features blue laser diodes as the solid state light source.  Laser phosphor projectors are ideal for cinema, as well as high-use environments such as boardrooms and classrooms, public venues like museums and amusement park attractions, and large-screen, lumen-intensive simulation applications.

In cinemas, Barco’s laser phosphor projectors deliver 2-3 times more brightness than other brands. Again, because there are no lamp or filter replacements necessary, users enjoy less maintenance (both downtime and costs!) and simpler operation. As a result, Barco’s laser phosphor projectors are achieving strong traction in the market, with Santikos Entertainment the first customer to switch its entire installed base to both laser phosphor and Flagship Laser projectors.

Laser, laser everywhere
Having optimized both technology platforms to produce extremely high-quality, laser-illuminated projectors that feature high operational efficiency, Barco has been rapidly rolling out laser projectors in every area of our business to enable all of our customers to reap the many fantastic rewards of laser projection.

Corporate/Education
We’ve introduced several laser phosphor projectors for the Corporate and Education markets: for smaller venues, the PGWU-62L and PGWX-62L, and for mid-size meeting rooms and auditoriums, the F90 Series. All offer the perfect blend of high image quality, flexible installation and unprecedented business value.

Live Events & Venues/Attractions
A powerful workhorse for rental and fixed installs, our large venue HDF-W30LP FLEX laser phosphor projector, the brightest in the industry, offers vibrant and distinct color performance while reducing operating costs more than 50 percent thanks to its efficient light source and advanced cooling design.  The F90 Series projectors are also a great fit for high-profile fixed installations, for everything from museums, to houses of worship, to theme park attractions.

24/7 Control Rooms
Our brand new Flagship Laser for 24/7 Control Rooms offers unprecedented brightness levels – 2x vs. conventional LED-lit video walls – and boasts a lifetime of 11 years at the smallest ecological footprint, making it ideal for 24/7 critical infrastructure environments. As a pioneer and global market leader in advanced collaborative visualization solutions, Barco has helped operators of control rooms in mission-critical environments for decades to enhance situational awareness to promote effective incident response and smooth operations.