Sony just launched two small products that could have a big impact on the future of portable projection and crucially, the accessibility of 4K performance.
The two technologies are pitched at the high-end market and target bringing both HD capabilities and reduced distortion when using a portable projector, even on curved surfaces.
First up, the "world's smallest" full HD reflective liquid crystal display device. The ‘SXRD’ deploys Sony fine pixel pitch technology to give a full HD resolution on a 0.37-type chip and works with light shielding layers to support the best pixel structure (and most significantly, lessen blur from light leakage).
This has been paired with a new field-sequential colour technique to control RGB light sources to offer an overall better performance when it comes to resolution, in addition to contrast and brightness.
The other launch is a HD signal processing drive introduced to maximise SXRD's functions. Sony say it can correct an image project onto a curved surface thanks to geometric compensation and edge-blending, and even goes so far to say it can stitch together multiple images when more than one projector is being used.
Sony says its market research shows that the demand portable projectors is on the rise, and both higher resolution and smaller sizes are on the cards in the near future.