Laser Television Makes a Crisp, Clear Debut in Germany : Technology: The new projection system, which began development in the former East Germany, works equally well no matter the screen size.

In the back corner of a small laser laboratory tucked away in a little-known eastern Germany town, the “future of television” was born.

The proud father, Christhard Deter, is eager to show off his brainchild, which he says is the first laser television system.

“Laser projection has been discussed in patent documents and scientific literature for a long time,” Deter says. “But laser display television is something completely new.”

With a nod to a group of white-shirted technicians, Deter prepares to reveal what tomorrow’s television and cinema will look like--at least if his employer Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG and its partner Daimler-Benz AG have their way.

The lights are dimmed, and a huge white screen in the back of the room suddenly comes to life. The images of young dancers are crisp and no ghosts or shadows follow their elegant movements.

It’s like being at the movies, only no flickering and no bits of scratched film flitting by. Except for the way the colors are muted with greenish overtones, it is an exceptional picture.

Deter says the green is a temporary problem caused by the old gas laser technology that will be replaced in the coming weeks.

They key to the system is laser light. In a process developed by Deter, light from three lasers--one red, one blue and one green--is projected onto the screen with the aid of finely cut lenses and mirrors, made by another German firm, Zeiss.

A laser point draws the picture without an afterglow, racing across the screen at about 90 kilometers a second. The completed picture exists only in the human brain, which combines the super-fast moving laser points into an overall impression.

Deter worked on laser research under the old regime in communist East Germany. After German reunification in 1990, Schneider Rundfunkwerke, which has no connection to French electronics giant Schneider SA, hired Deter and funded his research. The company patented the laser display technology a year ago.

At a press conference Aug. 3, Schneider demonstrated two versions of the laser display.

One version is a forward projector that projects the laser beams onto a screen in front of it at any distance, much like the standard movie projector.

The other version is rear projection, projecting the image from behind onto a television-like screen.

The prototype TV model has a screen that measures about 6 1/2 feet diagonally and sticks out only 23 1/2 inches in back. Most standard televisions this size are as deep as the screen is wide. Smaller laser screens would have proportionally smaller depth.

The prototype laser display projector ably does everything else it has been promised to do. To demonstrate its key advantage over other projection systems, Deter motions for his assistants to roll a smaller screen between the forward laser projector and the giant screen in the back of the room.

Without any focusing or adjusting, the dancers shrink to fit their new venue. When an occasional arm or leg beams over onto the larger screen behind, though larger, the image is just as crisp.

“There are no limits to the size of the picture,” Deter says.

The laser technology also automatically adapts to any television system, so the same set can be used in any country, as long as it is adapted for different electrical systems.

“These are new dimensions in technology and in visual communication without limits and across borders,” explains Schneider Chief Executive Hans-Juergen Thaus.

Lasers also are capable of creating more color varieties than standard television systems, he says.

Initially, the joint venture between Schneider and Daimler--called Laser Display Technologie GmbH--will market the television sets as up-market “home theater systems.”

Later they plan to develop smaller versions that will enable them to capture up to 10% of the world television market, which they estimate will reach $41.2 billion by 2000.

When the units go on sale next year for commercial and professional applications, the asking price will be about $7,000, he said. Thaus said he expects prices to come down to between about $1,350 to $2,000 marks when consumer versions come out in the next two to three years.

Daimler’s role in the venture is to bring its size and expertise to the development of smaller, lower-cost components and apply its know-how when it comes time for mass production, targeted for 2003.

Daimler’s Temic unit has been developing laser technology and other microelectronic components for many years and wants to be the main supplier of components to Schneider.

Daimler doesn’t want to enter the consumer market for electronics, though, and there will be no “S-Class laser television,” said Temic Chief Executive Frank Dieter Maier, referring to the top-of-the-line model from Daimler’s luxury car maker, Mercedes-Benz AG.

There will be Schneider laser televisions, though. Thaus said he hopes other television makers will adopt the Laser Display standard, which could then replace current television standards.

Licenses for laser display technology will be sold to other consumer electronics firms to help boost acceptance, Maier said. “Otherwise it wouldn’t have a chance of becoming a world standard,” he said.