What began as an exotic work-place tool is becoming a fixture in many homes, as prices of digital projectors close in on $1,000 and DVD technology outpaces video.

Sales of consumer projectors are expected to nearly double this year and next from 28,000 in 2002 in the United States and 148,000 worldwide, according to Pacific Media Associates, a Menlo Park, California-based research company specializing in large-format televisions and monitors.

The technology is hottest among Europeans and Asians who want big pictures but often cannot fit huge TVs in their small apartments, said Pacific Media analyst Bill Coggshall.

The projectors feature two different technologies. One shoots light onto the screen through tiny liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, the same technology used on watch faces and flat-panel computer monitors, which turn off and on.

A second, called DLP, uses a microchip with more than a million tiny mirrors developed by Texas Instruments Inc. The mirrors reflect light from the projector bulb through a color wheel and into the lens, creating a picture.

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