Epson Marketing Spotlight-Style Projectors For Retail Settings
November 7, 2018 by Dave Haynes
Stumbled across this interesting new product being marketed by Epson – a laser projector that’s set up like a ceiling spotlight, but intended to show full visuals, as opposed to simply illuminating an area.
Called LightScene, the $2,500 MSRP projectors look a bit like spotlights, but have 2,000-lumen, 20,000-hour projector engines that can push just a bit more than 720P resolution.
It has been out a few months, but I missed it … until now.
A convergence of lighting and display technology, says Epson, LightScene laser projectors captivate audiences by simultaneously illuminating and projecting on virtually any surface or material, unleashing dynamic, experiential content for digital art, commercial signage and décor applications. Designed to blend in discreetly to any setting — from retail, hospitality and event spaces to showrooms and museums — LightScene EV-100 offers a sleek, white spotlight design, with an array of configuration, mounting and programming options.
Multiple units can be edge-blended to create bigger visuals, and the units ship with supporting software and content templates.
It’s interesting for the form factor (the projectors look like spotlights that might be on lighting tracks. I also think in the right circumstances, with smart content people, compelling things could be done.
However … they’re not all that bright for many retail settings, and even filling a relatively small wall space appears to require edge-blending several units. So a $2,500 idea become a $7,500 or $10,000 execution. Plus. Plus. Plus.
Still, I suspect designers and solutions providers like different, and this is …
Here’s a video of how visual merchandising might look:
Epson gets credit for going at this sector a little differently, coming up with somewhat unique products and developing hardware partnerships with interesting companies, like Lightform.
A couple of readers have helpfully noted that Epson seems to have been “inspired” by the PT-JW130 Space Player – a Panasonic product that’s been out for a few years. They pretty much look separated at birth.
I see this is a “rip off” of the Panasonic PT-JW130 Space Player that has been around for several years now.
Thanks Brian. Have updated the post to note the, ahem, similarities.