WRITTEN BY Mark Jeldi ON November 20, 2008

Optoma PICO PK-101: Palm-Sized 60-inch Pocket Projector

FILED UNDER: Gadgets, Projectors, Technology

Here’s a neat little DLP pocket projector offering from Optoma, which manages to produce a 60-inch projection from a device that fits in the palm of your hand. Called the Optoma PICO PK-101, it can connect with numerous devices including iPods and iPhones via an included adapter, as well as digital cameras and DVD players through their AV Out port.

Despite its diminutive size, the PICO manages to top the competition; besting Aiptek’s PocketCinema V10 by 10-inches of projection size at 480 x 320 pixels.

The PK-101 includes a built-in 0.5-watt speaker which should be enough for impromptu sharing sessions and enables the projection of both photos and movies on any surface, from anywhere between 10-inches to 102-inches away.

Its lithium-ion battery will only get you up to 1.5 hours of playback, so if you’re planning on projecting whole movies – you’ll need to plug in the power adapter. The PICO will be officially released in Japan as soon as December 1st, where it will be available from the Apple Store for ¥49,800 ($535). Stateside, the PK-101 is already up for pre-order on Amazon.com for $400 and should start shipping by December 15th.

Sources:
Optoma and Japan Times
Via: DVICE

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Comments (4 Responses):

portableprojector. says:
November 21st, 2008 at 9:44 am

I like this projector but aiptek v10 better.

jhechotek says:
January 7th, 2009 at 1:11 am

this item was very hard to find in the USA, so I ordered one from Canada. My total cost with shipping was $501. the box arrived two weeks later, even though I paid for Express shipping. The projector was supposed to be the North American version as promised by the seller, Shark Systems. I called them before ordering. I had a prior conversation with Optoma wherein I learned about two versions of this product…one for Europe/Asia and another for North America (US). The US version is supposed to include an iPod cable as well as a volume control cable. My projector arrived without an iPod cable and the volume control was missing too. I phoned Shark Systems and they instructed me to contact Optoma. My emails to Optoma direct me to the seller for the missing parts, even though it was brand new in a sealed box. Hmmm?

I took it out of the box, charged the battery and fired it up. Since the iPod cable was missing, I had to connect my 120GB iPod Classic via the lo-res composite cables (red/white/yellow). I played several minutes of "Goya's Ghost" and "Into The Wild". I chose these two movies because Goyas Ghost has a lot of dark & black scenes while Into The Wild has a lot of bright white scenes. Sadly, it didn't matter because the predominant hues (tints) were a bluish-green caste. I switched the source to a COBY portable DVD player with Dark Knight and Planet Earth via lo-res composite cables included. Again, the whites looked greenish while the blacks looked blue.

The screens that I projected onto were a Da-Lite and also a 30" Nuvi. Then, I tried projecting onto different flat surfaces around the house and the most impressive in terms of color, contrast & sharpness was the side of my white refrigerator. I played Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains The Same" on the side of my refrig and it looked nearly true! Odd…I know..

So, all in all as the first reviewer…I gotta warn, don't waste your money unless you really wanna impress friends/family with "cutting edge" tech. Truly, the image quality was a 2 out of 10 and the customer support was even worse.

One final note, the iPod cable only works for Video iPods that are older like Gen 5, Gen 4…it will not work with 80GB/120GB/160GB Classic! This info is found in the manual, the photos on Optoma's website are misleading. I have placed my PK-101 on eBay for sale…I will continue to use my Cinego D-1000

mystermarque says:
January 7th, 2009 at 11:49 am

Thanks for your review jhechotek. Very informative. I wonder why the picture quality was better on your fridge?

ron hatchett says:
July 28th, 2010 at 6:24 pm

Appreciate your honesty all the best in success getting it sell. It will some will be intrested in testing things out!