Panasonic Snips Cables with Wi-Fi Projector

The similarly equipped LB80 and LB75 feature built-in wireless capability and light weight for setting up business presentations quickly.

Cutting the thick cables that ordinarily tie a projector to its source material, Panasonic announced two new Wi-Fi-capable business projectors on Thursday. The LB80NTU and LB75NTU portable projectors both boast the ability to wirelessly tether to one or multiple PCs and display content from them.

Panasonic’s Wireless Manager ME 5.0 software allows the Wi-Fi-equipped computers to link up with the projector and set up material to project. Besides handling the connection process, the software will also zoom in a portion of the screen that’s been circled, or project thumbnails from up to 16 computers simultaneously.

Light output is the only distinguishing factor between the LB75 and LB80: the LB75 throws 2,600 lumens while the LB80 throws 3,200, making it better able to cope with brightly lit environments. Both machines feature XGA resolution, gapless controls and Micro Cut filters to keep dust out, and Panaosnic’s Daylight View 4 to optimize dark parks of an image in less-than-ideal lighting. They also weigh in at 6.5 pounds, and can produce as little as 29 dB in Eco Mode.

Both projectors are available immediately, with the LB75NTU going for $2,299 and the LB80NTU going for $3,299. Versions of each without Wi-Fi are also available, for $300 less.