Did Covid Kill Projectors?

I would've thought that with everybody stuck at home all year long and decently large stimulus checks sent to everyone that the projection industry would have done pretty well last year.

Snausy said:

I would've thought that with everybody stuck at home all year long and decently large stimulus checks sent to everyone that the projection industry would have done pretty well last year.

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Commercial cinema, business and educational sales took a real beating,because of Covid closures, work from home, and school at home.

It has been fading for years

blee0120 said:

It has been fading for years

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need to replace the bulb

Terrible interview, if they hadn't mentioned covid I would have thought I was watching some hastily put together Zoom meeting from several years ago regarding some of the statements the interviewer and the panel made.
Yeah, Fading comes to mind, but not about the hardware.

DunMunro said:

Commercial cinema, business and educational sales took a real beating,because of Covid closures, work from home, and school at home.

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Thanks for clearing up what I wasn't considering in my first impression. Admittedly I didn't watch the clip...but I still wonder if HOME pj sales went up a little. Not enough to make up for the downswing on the commercial front but I bought a new pj last year and I am sure I wasn't the only one.

Is the profit margin much bigger on the commercial projectors?

as long as the younger generations find it really fun to watch crap on a phone.. I would have to guess that the future is that of a knockoff lamp after 600 hours..

I haven't watched the whole clip but I would believe that COVID will have had an end impact on home theater projectors. While I think that home theater projectors probably sold well over the past year (the Sharp/NEC guy said they had interest in that area but don't target it), I think that business sales are what really keeps the R&D money going which will obviously trickle over to HT.

Also, the three guys from manufacturers in this talk are 2 from business-focused companies and the lead B2B guy for Sony. Not the most relevant for what we care about here.

People bought more HT stuff this year than any years for awhile.

I'm pretty sure many HT companies made a good profit these last 2 years or so.

Most home projector brands don't also make cinema projectors, so I don't think the closing of cinemas would have much effect on home theater stuff, it would only increase it as people look for substitutes to the commercial cinema.

I take back a bit of what I said. Both the ViewSonic guy and Sony guy said HT/living room/outdoor projector/golf sim projection use all went up and had really high demand. So the talk is kinda relevant. Most of the talk is about business sales though. The more I listen to the talk seems set up to answer the question with a "No, it's just different"

Snausy said:

Thanks for clearing up what I wasn't considering in my first impression. Admittedly I didn't watch the clip...but I still wonder if HOME pj sales went up a little. Not enough to make up for the downswing on the commercial front but I bought a new pj last year and I am sure I wasn't the only one.

Is the profit margin much bigger on the commercial projectors?

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I think the general consensus was that home theater projector sales were up but this didn't nearly compensate for the loss of sales in the other areas. OTOH sales in the business and education sectors seems to be rebounding.

HT demand was up but I also thought that sales didn't fully reflect that because of supply constraints.

DunMunro said:

Rob Sabin and industry Execs discuss the effect of Covid on projectors:

Projection Expo Industry Panel 2021

Did the projection industry survive Covid?

www.projectorcentral.com

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I doubt it.

JVC sold out.
Epson sold out.

During COVID, the launch of big name commercial brands such as Samsung & LG with projectors in multiple form factors.

Its just a simple parts shortage.

Not until LED walls become affordable.

Even 85" TV pale in immersion compared to a decent projector on at 130"+ screen which I recon most people are using.

I do believe once we hit affordable 110"-120" TV's most people will go for TV's.

I am looking for a new projector this season to fill my 15" wide screen but would have preferred an LED wall.

clausdk said:

Not until LED walls become affordable.

Even 85" TV pale in immersion compared to a decent projector on at 130"+ screen which I recon most people are using.

I do believe once we hit affordable 110"-120" TV's most people will go for TV's.

I am looking for a new projector this season to fill my 15" wide screen but would have preferred an LED wall.

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I have a very hard time envisioning 110-120" TVs in most living rooms as it will destroy the aesthetics of the room which is more important to many.

DavidHir said:

I have a very hard time envisioning 110-120" TVs in most living rooms as it will destroy the aesthetics of the room which is more important to many.

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Yes, and a lot of people don't have such a large available wall space.

I'm waiting for a large (100"+) rolled OLED that's affordable before replacing the screen and projector in my Home Theater. At 66 now, I don't have a good feeling about it coming out in my lifetime.

My RS500 with HTPC madVR TM is still going strong. If JVC comes out with something that improves on the NX line in black floor, I might upgrade, but no rush really.

DavidHir said:

I have a very hard time envisioning 110-120" TVs in most living rooms as it will destroy the aesthetics of the room which is more important to many.

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As opposed to giant projector screens?

squared80 said:

As opposed to giant projector screens?

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No problem, retractable screen.