The Bigger Picture

Do you remember those clunky overhead projectors? Perhaps you had one at your school, or maybe you've been to a church where one was used to project hymn lyrics on to the wall - like some sort of spiritual karaoke (seeing as both tend to take place in the wee hours of Sunday morning).

I liked the way the teacher had to always (ironically) project over the sound of the machine's fan, which was desperately attempting to keep itself cool. And on a cold day, you always wanted to be the one whose desk was used to support it, as it meant having hot air blowing into your face as those around you froze.

So imagine going back in time and showing your teacher this:
It's the SHOWWX™ - and it just won the online vote for Best Product in the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Sadly, after a brief look at its specs online, it's only marginally better from its already established competitors.

Most of these products boast the same qualities:

• Watch all your iPod crap on-the-go!
• Do business presentations on-the-go!
• Use it... to... do... other things - on-the-go!

Oh and apparently people who buy these mostly use them for watching snow-boarding clips:




And you can use them to play the Wii - see?

What's wrong with the above image? I'll give you a few seconds... Correct! You need to stand in front of the TV to play a Wii. And what happens if you stand in front of a projector? That's right! You block the screen! So if playing a Wii doesn't make you look mental enough, you can try awkwardly standing to the side like these guys. Even the dog's too embarrassed to watch them.

I took the liberty of borrowing the V10 Pocket Cinema - a similar product to the SHOWWX™ - in November last year, for a test run.

The first time I used it, it definitely did everything it says on the label - after strict video converting (which meant a loss of quality) and the realisation that to plug it into most devices, a separate lead needs to be purchased.

I put it to the ultimate test - sure it can be used to watch small clips - but can it be used in a more professional environment? To find out, I swapped the usual large, heavy duty and expensive projector I tend to borrow for the V10 Pocket Cinema while performing a version of my show, "If You Can Read This, My Cape Fell Off," in London.

The first major issue (aside from the smaller resolution) was the fact that this doesn't have any type of skew-control, meaning you can't project from any angle - you MUST have the projector directly in front of the screen in order for any of it to appear straight.

The second problem was that this tiny gadget has a tendency to overheat and not the greatest battery life, which meant it needed turning on every time there was a cue for a video. This resulted in awkward pauses as we waited for it to reload - each time with an annoying start-up sound.

You know what? I could keep listing these problems, but they're going to get boring, so let's just cut to the chase - yes it's a good idea in theory - but given it had so many drawbacks, you would only really want to use it in a novelty sense - and even then it's a pretty expensive novelty.

The SHOWWX™ tries its best to combat these problems (it has an expanded battery life and can be connected directly to your laptop - wait, what's that? The connection is available to purchase separately? Of course), but it doesn't really do enough to make it worth the dosh. It may have been quick to impress CES's fans, but its faults will be revealed just as fast.

My advice? Stick to normal home projectors and don't throw away that awkward overhead (if not, just for nostalgia's sake). At least until portable projectors can match those features of current home cinema projectors. Heck - I'm waiting out for when good quality portable projectors are built into netbooks. Yes please!