VPJ-700

Epson developed the technology for the world's first compact, full-color liquid crystal video projector, and then released to market in 1989 the first Epson brand projector, the VPJ-700, using the same revolutionary technology. The projector used liquid crystal panels instead of the traditional cathode-ray tube to present a picture, thus showing the world a new application for liquid crystal displays.

Perfected by using polysilicon TFT technology to integrate the driver circuits onto a glass substrate and by using independently developed optical technology, the VPJ-700 was a compact, lightweight, projection optical system that synthesized colors by combining red, green, and blue beams of light. The body of the projector was successfully reduced to the size of a stereo tuner. One of the features enabling this level of compactness was the light source: a small but powerful halogen lamp that was both easy to replace and inexpensive.

With the release of the VPJ-700, Epson became a company to watch in the visual instruments field. The company went on to establish itself as a projection industry leader, by combining its liquid crystal panel and optical technologies to develop new products and markets, most notably the data projector market, where projectors are used in conjunction with PCs to make multimedia presentations in business settings.