|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
Illuminating LEDs for Projection
Using LEDs as a form of light for front projection displays is an interesting
concept that has been tossed around for quite a long time. A few years back,
rear screen televisions that were illuminated by LEDs hit the market. Customers
loved these new televisions because the lamp could last for tens of thousands of
hours, the television turned on immediately, and when compared to other lamp
sources, the LED television produced more stable color space. The LED
illuminated rear screen televisions have prompted people to discuss whether or
not this light source would be bright enough for a front projection display,
such as a video projector. If you need to rent a projector at an affordable
price, check out AA Computer Rental (http://aa-rental.com/).
Digital Projection International revealed their LED illuminated single-chip
projector back in 2009 at the Custom Home Theater Installation Contractors Expo.
Although it was only a prototype, it took advantage of a new LED concept that is
known as Phlatlight. The prototype featured LED lights that were tightly
packaged together and are capable of using just 360 watts of illumination power
to produce thousands of lumens. In the past, all projectors needed a color
wheel, but the LEDs have such a fast switching time that the prototype no longer
needed a color wheel.
Although the single-chip projector prototype was not yet on the same level as a
3-chip system, it still produced a quality color gamut without the need for a
color wheel. The prototype was able to do that because the illumination system
allows for the red, green, and blue LEDs to be precisely defined. The LEDs could
also be implemented in a manner that would allow the single-chip projector to
match CRT black levels.
However, there are some drawbacks to LED illuminated single-chip projectors. The
prototype was only able to produce 480 lumens. Digital Projection International
hopes to increase the output to around 700 to 800 lumens. When you look at a
basic digital projector that comes with a color wheel, the unit can easily
produce 1,500 lumens. Advanced digital projectors can output 6,000 plus lumens
by using a dual color wheel. If you are trying to project high resolution
images, you need the thousands of lumens that a digital projector produces to
maintain the quality of the images.
Given those aforementioned drawbacks, the practicality of using LED illuminated
single-chip projectors is still up in the air. While these projectors would be
great in a small, darkly lit room, they are unable to produce the lumens that
are needed to project high resolution images in a large home theatre or
conference room. It is a known fact that most single-chip projectors are used in
rooms that have an amount of ambient light, which is where the LED projectors
cannot be used. However, given the rate that technology evolves at, it would not
come as a surprise to anyone if the LED illuminated single-chip projectors
become the most common type of projector in the future.