nView MediaPro Color LCD Projection Panel Overhead Projector VGA S-Video

nView MediaPro Color LCD Projection Panel Overhead Projector VGA S-Video

The nView MediaPro is a color LCD projection panel designed to be placed on top of an overhead projector to display computer or video output to a large screen audience. Rather than replacing the overhead projector, the panel sits on its glass stage and uses its lamp and optics to project whatever the LCD displays — turning a standard overhead into a computer or video presentation system. This unit was manufactured by nView Corporation of Newport News, Virginia, and bears a copyright date of 1991.

Specifications & What's Included

• Manufacturer: nView Corporation, Newport News, Virginia, USA
• Model: MediaPro Color LCD Projection Panel
• US Patent #4,763,993
• Copyright: 1991
• Display type: Active color LCD panel
• Video inputs: Composite (BNC), Y/C S-Video
• RGB inputs: BNC connectors (R, G, B) — Source 1 and Source 2
• Computer input: Digital computer (DB-15), Analog computer (DB-15) — Source 4
• Optional Computer Monitor port (rear panel)
• Accessories port and additional rear-panel connectors visible on unit
• Side ventilation fan for active cooling
• Includes: locking hard-shell foam-lined carrying case with keys
• Includes: two VGA/DB-15 cables
• No AC adapter included

Applications

LCD projection panels like the nView MediaPro were a major presentation technology of the late 1980s and early 1990s, bridging the gap between the then-ubiquitous overhead projector and the emerging need to display computer output in conference rooms, classrooms, and lecture halls. The panel sits flat on the overhead projector's glass stage; the projector's internal lamp shines up through the LCD, and the optics throw the image onto a screen just as with a transparency. The MediaPro's wide range of inputs — composite video, S-Video, RGB BNC, and both digital and analog VGA — made it compatible with the PCs, Macintosh computers, and video equipment common in that era. These panels were used heavily in corporate training, education, and sales presentations through the early 1990s before dedicated LCD projectors became affordable and took over the market. Today they are primarily of interest to collectors of vintage computing and AV equipment, or to those maintaining period-correct presentation setups.