Canon Europe did not launch any new projectors at ISE 2017, although they showed the XEED 4K600STZ publicly for the first time. This projector had been formally launched in November, 2016 with spring 2017 availability. Much of what Canon showed in terms of projection was demonstrations of applications of existing Canon projectors by Canon partners.
The XEED 4K600STZ uses three 0.76″ LCoS panels with greater than normal 4K resolution: 4096 x 2400 pixels. This is full 4K width, not UHD, and the panel height is greater than the normal 4K or UHD 2160 pixels. This provides an aspect ratio of 1.7:1, between 16:9 and 16:10. Canon calls this a 17:10 aspect ratio. The projector uses a 20,000 hour laser-phosphor light source to provide 6000 lumens output with the full sRGB color gamut. The LCoS panels and the optical system combine to provide a native contrast ratio of 4:000:1 and a dynamic contrast of 10,000:1. The dual image engines not only scale input to 4K resolution but they also allow the showing of 4K content at 60Hz. Canon says the projector supports HDR but did not provide any details.
Canon XEED 4K600STZ (Source: Canon)
Of all the Canon partner displays, perhaps the most striking was the Phoenics RD 7 360° display system, which used a single Canon XEED 4K501ST projector to generate the image. This projector uses the same 0.76”, 4096 x 2400 pixel panels as the 4K600STZ but it has a lamp light source. The display was a circular cylinder, used rear projection and the image could be viewed from every direction, like a photograph wrapped around a circular column. With a 4K projector, only a single projector was needed while with 1080p or WUXGA projectors in similar designs, two or three projectors may be needed to provide sufficient resolution. The display looked nice except that the outside surface of the cylindrical rear projection screen was shiny and the ambient reflection off of the display was distracting. –Matthew Brennesholtz
Phoenics RD 7 360° display system in the Canon booth at ISE
