In an industry that’s already progressing at breakneck speed, it’s hard to stand out from the competitive crowd of “me-too” Laser TVs. As the standards continue to rise (with multiple lasers, increased lumens, and ever expanding projection sizes) sometimes you really need to take a leap in a field of step-up competition. That’s what AWOL Vision did this week at CES with the introduction of it’s Vanish Laser TV. For those of you unfamiliar, CES is the largest and most influential conference in the consumer electronics industry, held annually this time of year in Las Vegas. This is the conference when all the biggest companies come to display it’s most innovative new products in the consumer technology space. For a small player like Awol Vision to make a splash in the busy news cycle of CES says a lot. So what exactly is the Vanish TV? Let’s take a look
On the surface, the Vanish TV is a sleek, minimalist media stand with a built in laser TV projector and hidden motorized screen, which can be automatically displayed and retracted remotely. It’s a clever and sexy design that’s available for both 100 inch and 120 inch screen sizes. But what about the technical specs, is it an actual quality laser projector? Actually, on a spec-by-spec basis, it’s competes among the best on the consumer market. That’s because what’s actually inside the media player is Awol Vision’s LTV-3500 model, 4K 3D laser tv. It’s a beast of a machine with 3500 lumens and a max projection of 150″, which is actually larger the limits of the built in screen on the Vanish Laser TV. The motorized screen isn’t new to Awol Vision either, as they already sell a co-branded Vividstorm motorized floor rising screen. But when you customize all three components – the media stand, motorized screen, and laser TV – into a sleek, single device with a clever name like Vanish, you’re bound to make some waves as Awol Vision has done here.
With a retail price starting at $14,999 for the 100″ screen, this laser TV set is not for the everyday buyer, but I can see where it would add value in certain settings. The Vanish Laser TV is probably ideal for large open-plan homes where furniture naturally acts as a border to section-off separate living spaces. It could also be really useful, where the only natural place for a projection would be a wall of windows. With the retractable screen, you can make both a great viewing area for the screen while preserving a natural view.
