I disagree. Although the arguments above are all sound, I think the effect of just a lower cost (eventually) green is not going to cause an avalanche of changes in the show market. I think this has been going on for some time and the real "nose under the tent" was the introduction of higher power diode lasers and the ability to side step the heavy, power hungry and delicate (and beautiful) ion lasers. I have built, now approaching, many projectors and when you add up all the costs, a 5W/$2,000 DPSS vs a 5W/$800 diode stack (fantasy for now, but eventually), there is not really a significant difference. What might happen is that companies that have charged a healthy sum for components such as scanners and software such as Pangolin may have to reduce their pricing as they become the cost limiting factor in a projector build.
The manufacturers that have had control over the access to green such as Laserwave will have to evolve their market or die. I am working (right now, even today) with Bridge and Eric on this. But, that is free enterprise and this may push them to produce alternatives that they had no need to develop as long as they had the annuity with DPSS. I think that is good.
Andy,
I have a VERY CLEAR memory of the search for the correction optics for the Mitsu diodes. There is no magic here. It is straight forward geometrical optics. You were one of the first that actually tested and ran the diodes with a good combination of collimation and expansion optics. Well done! You frustrated many of us by not reveling the prescription that you were using that led you to your good results despite numerous requests. This caused many of us to have to reproduce your work independently without the benefit of your experience. It was like saying "I heard this fantastic joke, but...well I can't tell you" All I am asking (and that is why the sarcasm) is that you keep us informed so that others can benefit from your results and contribute even more themselves.
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Originally Posted by norty303
