Media Made Easy

DLP Projectors

A projector offers the ability to provide very
large viewing areas. It also offers the
subjective feeling of “theater-like” video
that you’ve come to associate with being
at a movie premiere. One of the
drawbacks is that you can’t just mount a
projector to the wall like you can with a thin
panel display so you’ll need to find a place
to locate the projector in your home theater
layout.

There are two main types of technologies
being used in projectors at this stage (DLP
– see below & LCD). DLP projectors use
thousands of tiny mirrors that represent the
pixels seen through the display. Light is
directed at the mirrors to turn “on” the pixel
or away to turn it “off” – really whether it is
focused toward or away from the projector
lens. LCD projectors use three glass
panels (red, green and blue) to give the
pixels color. Light is directed through the
panels and the pixels are either opened or
closed (like a venetian blind) to allow light
through to the projector lens.

From an observation standpoint LCD
projector pictures generally appear sharper
at the same resolution than the DLP’s.
They also typically have better color
saturation than all but the very expensive
triple-DLP projectors. The drawback to the
LCD is that they don’t offer as high a
contrast as the DLP’s and they don’t offer
as tight a pixel formation which can result
in a “screen door” effect.

The ScreenPlay 5000 uses some very
advanced LCD technology to deliver pretty
good contrast (1200:1) for improved blacks
and good performance in brightly lit rooms.
With the high-definition resolution you will
not see noticeable “screen door” effects
unless you are standing right in front of the
screen.

Plasma Displays

Plasma displays offer ultra-thin footprints
which make them great in smaller home
theater layouts. They give you a
subjective feeling that the picture is very
smooth and the contrast delivers great skin
tones. Some of the drawbacks can be
that most of them aren’t very bright and
they can suffer from glare in brightly lit
rooms. They do work very well when
connected to media servers and display
computer images like web pages sharply.

Plasma displays use tiny fluorescent lights
to illuminate each pixel – there are actually
three lights (red, green and blue) that make
up each pixel.

Gas in the display is electrically charged to
tell the pixels how to “light” up – which
phosphors r,g,b to light and how intensely
to shine. This technology delivers a very
full color spectrum and very wide viewing
angle capabilities (unlike some DLP and
LCD technologies).

The two big drawbacks to plasma has
been the life of the screen and the danger
of image “burn-in”. Panasonic has taken
measures to increase their displays’
phosphor resistance to image burn (left on
the same static picture for a long time until
a permanent ghost image gets “burned”
on) and they have increased the half life of
this display to 60,000 hours.

Rear Projection DLP Displays

Digital light processing (DLP) displays offer
excellent price values when compared
with plasma displays for the same sizes.
With recent advances in technology they
are better suited to home theater
applications. The size of the units has
come way down and the viewing angles
have improved. It wasn’t that long ago
that you might walk in and see a neighbors
big DLP screen and think “huge, grainy
picture that can only be viewed directly in
front of the screen.” Thankfully the picture
quality has advanced significantly and the
viewing angle issue has improved
somewhat.

DLP displays use thousands of tiny mirrors
that represent the pixels seen through the
display. Light is directed at the mirrors to
turn “on” the pixel or away to turn it “off” –
really whether it is focused toward or away
from the screen.

You will notice that DLP displays now offer
deep blacks and nice tight pixels for a
clear resolution even when you stand fairly
close. Some people will notice a “rainbow”
effect where the red, green and blue pixels
become apparent as noise in the picture.
Most people can’t see this effect, but if
you are highly sensitive to it you should
probably look at one of the other display
options.

LCD (LCOS ILA) Displays

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) displays
are a sort of hybrid technology of LCD and
DLP displays. Polarized light shines on a
panel of liquid crystal, which has a mirrored
backing. If the video signal calls for a pixel
on the screen to be dark, the liquid crystal
that corresponds to that pixel twists to
block the light from getting to the mirror.

A second polarizer blocks the light that
each darkened mirror does still reflect on
its way out. The end result is that the pixel
appears dark on the screen.

In an LCD, there are electronic address
elements alongside each pixel (resulting in
the “screen door” effect so common to
LCDs). On an LCOS chip, the address
electronics are positioned behind the
mirrored layer, which allows the pixels to be
closer together. They are closer together
than DLP mirrors. The result is a very clear
picture without noticeable pixels unless
you stand right on top of the display.

You will notice that LCOS displays appear
much brighter than DLP and even brighter
than plasmas. They also have a wider
viewing angle than DLP.

Projector/Display	InFocus Projector	Panasonic Plasma Display	Toshiba Rear Projection Display	JVC LCD Display
Bundle Price Before Shipping	$5,093	$5,640	$4,805	$5,478
Dimensions	11.5" W x 4.0"H x 10.2"L – projector dimensions	40.2” W x 24”H x 3.5”D	58-3/8”W x 35-1/16”H x 15-1/4” D	52"W x 38 1/8"H x 17 3/8"D
Weight	7.5 lbs	70 lbs	85 lbs	92 lbs
Screen Size (Diagonal)	84 inches – projector can go larger	42 inches	52 inches	56 inches
Native Resolution	720p (1280x720)	1024X768	720p (1280x720)	720p (1280x720)

Contrast	1200:1	3000:1; Measured 855:1	Measured 795:1	Measured 929:1
Advantages	Huge viewing area, Great color saturation	Size, Color saturation, Grayscale, Wide viewing angle	Deep blacks, Great Flesh Tones	Bright picture, Wide viewing angle
Disadvantages	Narrow viewing angle, Must locate or ceiling mount unit	Screen life, Burn-in, Lower native resolution	Narrow viewing angle, May have “rainbow effect” noise	ANSI contrast low, Noisier than other displays
Footprint	Requires space for screen and placement of projector on table/stand or must be ceiling mounted	flat panel can be wall mounted	recommend heavy-duty entertainment stand in corner or flat against wall	flat panel can be wall mounted
Other	1100 lumens light rated		Comes with 2 speakers
Product Specifications Sheet	Infocus Screen Sheet	Panasonic	Toshiba	JVC