LAS VEGAS -- The market for pico projectors will shift toward resolutions of 720p and higher within 2-3 years as the cost of adding them plunges, industry executives said at the Projection Summit. While many of the pico projectors including standalone accessories and built-in products offer resolutions of 640x480 and lower, LCoS chip supplier Syndiant expects to have a 0.37-inch 720p-capable display available in 2011, Chief Technology Officer Karl Guttag said. Syndiant partner Astri also demonstrated a 0.44-inch LED-backlit LCoS panel designed for 3D applications with 1,024x600 resolution, 300:1 contrast ration and 20 lumens at 2.3 watts, said Crystal L. M. Fok, project manager for Astri’s Display System Division. Moving to a 1080p display from a 720p version carries a 50 percent premium, but that will change, Fok said.

DirecTV’s launch of ESPN 3D Friday, and later additions of other 3D programming this month, will help differentiate the company from other TV providers as an early adopter of the technology, said Steven Roberts, senior vice president of new media and business development, who’s overseeing the 3D effort for DirecTV. Extensive work with TV manufacturers will allow the company to remain at the forefront of TV technology, as it did with HD, he said. Dish will also begin to offer 3D later this year, but opted not to sign up now for ESPN 3D, said a Dish executive.

LeapFrog expects to return to profitability this year through growth partly from expanding distribution “to other footprints” beyond conventional toy retailers, CEO William Chiasson said Tuesday at the Piper Jaffray Consumer Conference in New York. The expansion includes a greater presence at Best Buy, which is “going to be carrying a lot of our mobile learning electronic devices,” and Barnes & Noble, he said.

Requests to make and sell portable devices capable of getting mobile DTV broadcasts but without analog tuners were backed in all filings on a petition by Dell and LG, and another by Hauppauge Computer Works, in FCC docket 10-111. Commercial and public broadcasters, several CE trade groups and companies like Intel supported the requests for exemption from FCC Part 15 rules that all TV devices include analog and legacy ATSC DTV tuners. That bodes well for quick commission action on the requests, several supporters told us Monday.

Rovi’s TotalGuide will be at the heart of Android-based Google TV, but CE manufacturers implementing it will likely use customized versions, said Corey Ferengul, Rovi executive vice president of product management and marketing.

LAS VEGAS -- Laser-based front projectors are inching their way to market with a goal of grabbing a foothold as a replacement for lamps in large venues and movie theaters by 2012, industry officials said here Monday at the Projection Summit.

LOS ANGELES -- The Sustainability Consortium, a research group of retailers, tech companies and universities, is developing standards for “measuring and reporting consumer product sustainability across various categories,” including TVs and computers, Kevin Dooley, a senior adviser to the consortium, said at the Entertainment Supply Chain Academy’s Edge Conference. Formed in July 1990 at Wal-Mart’s urging and with its funding, the consortium has 60 members, including Best Buy, Disney, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Toshiba, said Dooley, a professor of supply chain management at Arizona State University.

Sonic Solutions’ acquisition of DivX will broaden distribution of the RoxioNow video streaming platform as it leverages DivX’s ties to CE manufacturers, Mark Ely, executive vice president of strategy, told us. With DivX already embedded in digital TVs, Blu-ray players and cellphones, RoxioNow’s video streaming service will become a key component in CE devices as the companies combine technologies, Ely said. Sonic is already providing the RoxioNow platform for the DivX TV service that expected to launch this fall in three LG Electronics’ Blu-ray players via LG’s NetCast service. And with DivX already embedded in select LG, Motorola, Pantech and Samsung cellphones, RoxioNow gets a foothold in mobile technology. RoxioNow-based Blockbuster on Demand is available on an HTC smartphone sold through T-Mobile.

Energy use labels on TVs should indicate clearly that they don’t take into account power consumption for additional functions like integral DVD players of the sets, said a group representing U.S. and Canadian utilities. About 6.2 percent of TVs now have additional features, and failing to note this on the label could cause consumers to “underestimate the total energy use of the product,” the Consortium for Energy Efficiency said in comments to the FTC. The commission has started a rulemaking to extend EnergyGuide labeling requirements to TVs and other consumer electronics.

Sharp will ship 46-, 52- and 60-inch 3D LCD TVs in the U.S. this fall along with a Blu-ray 3D player as it joins a growing field of manufacturers supporting the technology, retailers told us.