HP Photon uses multiple inexpensive projectors to create cinema-quality 3D display

Now that high-end sound systems are the norm in home theater setups, the biggest remaining attraction to an actual theater experience is the stunning visual quality: large-screen 3D and ultra-high-resolution images. HP is changing all that with its new Photon Engine, which allows users to combine several inexpensive projectors into one “super scalar” version, capable of providing either very-high-resolution 2D images or precisely aligned 3D images.

For those with enough wall space, or a huge screen, Photon allows you to set up all the projectors you can scrounge in a roughly aligned array — and then will use a camera and software running on a specially tricked out HP 800 Workstation to automatically align, keystone correct, and color match the displays — creating one very-high-resolution monster video experience.

Once configured, the system provides accuracy down to 1/2 pixel resolution between projectors, making very high-quality, high-resolution display options a reality, as well as allowing for crisp and realistic 3D images. All the workstation horsepower isn’t spent entirely on the video quality, though. The Photon system can also help presenters blend various data sources and physically move them around on the screen — somewhat like the now famous “video walls” used by newscasters on election night.

Fashion house Marchesa used a Photon system to launch its Spring 2012 collection in a 3D theater experience for fashion moguls — putting on a virtual fashion show for them. Marchesa co-founder Keren Craig was blown away. “The clarity of the images is absolutely stunning and it brings a whole new dimension to the retail shopping experience,” she gushed.

HP is expecting Photon to be a hit at universities, looking for low cost ways to provide big impacts in their lecture halls, as well as with gamers and movie buffs. If you don’t want to hunt down a raft of inexpensive projectors full-time, the system is quick enough to deploy that it would be useful for a friendly movie or gaming night. A high-end PC can align half a do en projectors in five minutes, according to HP. With upcoming new, faster graphics chips like the Nvidia Tegra 3 coupled with the Photon display engine, immersive multi-player 3D gaming may become a reality.

Unfortunately there is a catch. All the projectors need to be attached to the same machine — currently speced out as a dedicated high-end HP workstation. That’s still a small price to pay for those determined to have an extravagant theater experience in their home, classroom, office, or retail store, but will definitely restrict the technology’s appeal to those who are serious about their video — at least until HP starts to make Photon more broadly available.

HP Photon uses multiple inexpensive projectors to create cinema-quality 3D display