LG’s HS101 pocket projector with LED technology has lower brightness than what’s to come from Luminus and Texas Instruments.
You may have already read about PhlatLight LED technology making its way into our televisions and thought, “Wow, now there’s a good idea!” Perhaps you were also wondering if the technology would transfer over to the world of video projectors so you could have it in your dedicated home theaters.
It looks like later this year we’ll be seeing lamp-free home theater projectors with Luminus Devices’ PhlatLight in bright DLP applications. The company announced this week at the InfoComm show a collaboration with Texas Instruments DLP Products to combine for high-quality, long-lasting solid-state illumination in mainstream projection.
The brightness of PhlatLight LED projection has been limited, with usage in portable pocket projectors. With TI and Luminus working together, the PhlatLight LED-based DLP projectors will see instant start-up, stable brightness and color over the lifespan of the projector, without any need for lamp replacement, according to Luminus vice president Christian Hoepfner.
Hoepfner added that the PhlatLight LEDs enhance the broader color gamut, accuracy and saturation, with higher contrast and deeper black levels.
Luminus notes that several leading projection manufacturers will debut such projectors later this year, and DLP projectors for corporate and education markets powered by PhlatLight LEDs next year.
Did I miss where they said anything about longevity? The instant-on feature will be very cool—and the ability to game without killing bulb time is just exactly what I’ve been hoping for…
YAY!! I really hate spending $150 U.S. on a new bulb every 9 months. Hopefully it will be bright enough.
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Longevity is discussed… it is for the life of the prjoector. Realistically, it would be measured in the tens of thousands of hours, at least. Instant on (or as close as we can get with HDMI in the pipeline) is great, but the more important benefits are:
1. No colorwheel, and therefore no colorwheel whine and no rainbows.
2. Far less heat, and therefore no fan noise, and less ambient heat in your theater to deal with
3. Higher contrast ratio/ better blacks. Perhaps now DLP can retake the digital black-level crown, or at least tie with the JVC RS-1.
4. Greater color depth and perfect alignment, making this new crop of projectors better than 3 chip DLPs for all but very large screens or screens needing quite a bit more lumens than the average dedicated home theater.
This crop of projectors is what I have been waiting for and the reason that I have held off on upgrading to 1080p. I am most excited to see this announcement. Let the specuation begin.