Understanding DLP

DLP vs. LCD
DLP™ technology is superior to LCD projection in numerous ways. Digital Light Processing™ technology ensures that every pixel on your projected image gets exactly the same amount of light, there is no fading around the edges of the screen, and colors look sharp. Also, DLP™ consists of one single chip, instead of three bulky LCD panels, resulting in smaller projectors without any loss of image quality. Reduced pixelation is another benefit of DLP™. LCDs were always known for their visible pixel structure, often referred to as the screendoor effect because it appears as though the picture is being viewed through a screendoor. Inherently, DLP™ will always give you the better visual image, and retain its image quality over time for an overall lower cost of ownership.

"DLP technology delivers images in a broad range of projection and display applications including business projectors, home entertainment projectors, large screen tabletop TVs, video walls and projection systems used in commercial entertainment. Its digital nature and thermal characteristics means that its image does not degrade over time, and it does not suffer from the "burn in" that afflicts other technologies and impairs image quality."
Gary Kayye, Kayye Consulting, Knews: Projection/Display Industry Newsletter

The Advantages of DLP™

Brighter: DLP™ projectors are among the brightest available because DLP™ technology brings more light from lamp to screen, resulting in more effective presentations—even when ambient light is difficult to control.

Sharper: DLP™ projection’s unique reflective technology comes closest to producing the exact mirror image of an incoming video or graphic signal, resulting in projection that’s seamless at any resolution.

Versatile: DLP™ technology allows projectors to be small and light, often weighing as little
as 2 lbs - making them versatile enough for use in conference rooms, living rooms and classrooms.

More Reliable: Display systems using DLP™ technology are able to recreate their incoming source material with each projection, ensuring a full-impact projection experience that will not fade over time.

Consistent Picture Quality: A data projector based on DLP™ technology delivers knockout picture quality again and again because, being all-digital, it recreates its image source every time you use it. Unlike competing analog technologies such as LCD, the semiconductor that makes DLP™ projection possible is virtually immune to heat, humidity, vibration and other factors. In a world that puts more emphasis on visual experience every day, that means DLP™ is a display  technology to last us, farther than the eye can see.

How DLP™ Projection Works
DLP™ technology relies on the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD), a thumbnail-sized semiconductor. The DMD device acts as a light switch consisting of up to 1.3 million microscopic mirrors, each of which is able to tilt back and forth (on or off) at up to 5,000 times per second. Incoming video or graphic signals are turned into a digital code of binary data (0s and 1s) that tilts the DMD mirrors accordingly. When the DMD panel is coordinated with a lamp, color wheel and projection lens, these tilting mirrors combine to reflect a seamless digital image onto a presentation wall, movie screen, or television screen.