Pro's And Con's Of The Different Movie Projector Lamps Technology

By: Joanne Dorin


Choosing the right movie projector lamps can be a bit overwhelming. After all there are dozens of manufacturers and hundreds of projector lamps on the market. Find out the pros and cons of the different movie projector lamps technology.

First thing you need to realize is that not all projectors are created equal. There are two main projector technologies - DLP which is digital light processing and LCD which is liquid crystal display. Almost all the movie projectors on the market use one of these technologies.

There is however one other technology called liquid crystal on silicone or LCOS that is growing in popularity and becoming an alternative for either LCD or DLP. So what are the pros and cons

LCD technology has been around the longest and is the most used of the three. It uses three glass panels inside the projector that separate the color spectrum into blue, green, and red. The light passes through the panels creating the image on the screen.

LCD projectors usually have better color saturation so the colors are deeper and much more vibrant. Even with the improvements DLP color has seen LCD is still far better. The images are also much more detailed with LCD and if brightness is important LCD is your best choice. LCD projectors range from 3000 to 6000 lumens where DLP is around the 3000 range. And a high lumen LCD projector is far less expensive than an equivalent DLP would be.

DLP technology is newer and has gained good market share in the past few years. Developed by Texas Instruments it is a proprietary technology that takes the light from the lamp, reflects it off thousands of tiny mirrors that are spinning and through a color wheel which produces the image.

DLP has less visible pixilation which is one of the reasons it's popular with movie projectors. Current LCD has better pixilation but DLP is still far superior. DLP has also produced a better contrast ratio but LCD is quickly closing the gap. DLP also have portable projectors that are a lot smaller than a similar LCD. That's because the DLP light engine has a single chip rather than 3 LCD panels so it can be a lot more compact. In fact usually under 4 pounds.

LCOS technology is very new and is what would be called a DLP LCD hybrid. It is a reflective technology which uses liquid crystals that are applied to a reflective mirror substrate. The liquid crystals open and close reflecting the light from the mirror below or it is blocked creating the image.

LCOS has 3 chips to modulate the red, green, and blue channels and project light to the screen simultaneously. It's very high resolution at 1365x1024 and even higher which means they aren't cheap but they sure are good! There are no visible pixels because of the extremely high resolution and the color is rich and saturated. There is no rainbow effect so you don't have to worry about headaches. There however is a lack of contrast. In fact the contrast is far inferior to the DLP lamps. The lamps also have a shorter life expectancy around 1000 hours.

So which movie projector lamps are the best choice? Well that depends on the size of your pocket book at what you personal needs are. But now that you've got the reviews you can decide for yourself.

Joanne is an author of Decorz.com. If you're looking for more lighting decor ideas for your home visit http://www.decorz.com.