Wider screen: Projection technology extends tv

Las Vegas – Microsoft attracted a lot of attention at the 2013 International CES when it unveiled IllumiRoom, a system that projects visuals beyond a television screen onto the surrounding surfaces.

The company remains tight-lipped about the mechanics of the technology, but Microsoft said it used a Kinect and a projector to adapt the visuals to the contours of a given room ‘without any need to custom pre-process the graphics’.

With the field of view extended far beyond a television screen, IllumiRoom can help to create a sense of motion and a more immersive experience. The technology in some ways mirrors normal visual perception, with one area in sharp focus and peripheral areas less clear.

Microsoft will reveal more about IllumiRoom in Paris at the forthcoming CHI 2013 conference on human-computer interaction.

See our Shows section for a two-part review of the 2013 International CES show.