Contact usHome Theatre Systems: LCD vs DLP
LCD screens and laptop screens are based on technology that projects light through glass panels to create an image. The light is projected through red, green and blue glass panels. Individual pixels either open or close like a blind to control the colour of the pixel. LCD screens are made up of panels. Each panel has hundreds of thousands of tiny pixels, the higher the resolution the more pixels a LCD screen has. Data input determines whether light is allowed to pass through each filter. One panel has a red filter, one a green, and one a blue filter. The light is then recombined, using a dichroic prism. The combined light, now in full colour, passes through the lens and hits your screen.
DLP technology consists of a chip that is made of thousands of tiny mirrors (each representing a pixel) that reflect to create the final image. In lower end DLP projectors, there is just one DLP chip with a colour wheel to control what colour is being projected. In your high end DLP projectors, there are three separate DLP chips for each of the colours of the vidual light spectrum. These are currently at the top of the market, in terms of performance, whether for business or home theatre/media systems, but as they currently start with prices above $10,000, are not widely used, except in high end home theater, screening rooms, and commercial applications demanding the best performance. Three chip DLP projectors function more like LCD projectors. The light source is split into 3 beams. Light is still reflected off of the DLP chips instead of passing though as is done with LCD panels, however, like with LCD projectors the three beams are recombined into a single beam and pass through the lens.
Both LCD and DLP projectors are capable of bright, crisp colour, depending on the model you choose. However, LCD projectors are known to provide superior colour saturation, appearing somewhat more vibrant than DLP projectors. However, DLP projectors are capable of better contrasts and black levels.
However, both technologies do have their limitations. LCD projectors have a small risk of producing ‘dead pixels’, or pixels which are permanently on or off. Whilst this is not an issue on a small scale, should there be a large number of these it can be an annoyance.
DLP’s major drawback is its ‘Rainbow Effect’. This is due to the fact that at each instant, DLP projectors display the image entirely in red, blue, or green. These colours together become the full range of colours you see usually. However, occasionally people can notice the constant flickering of colours, which can be frustrating.
Essentially, the choice is yours when it comes to projectors. Your eyes will be the final judge of each individual model, whether it be LCD or DLP.
DLP technology consists of a chip that is made of thousands of tiny mirrors (each representing a pixel) that reflect to create the final image. In lower end DLP projectors, there is just one DLP chip with a colour wheel to control what colour is being projected. In your high end DLP projectors, there are three separate DLP chips for each of the colours of the vidual light spectrum. These are currently at the top of the market, in terms of performance, whether for business or home theatre/media systems, but as they currently start with prices above $10,000, are not widely used, except in high end home theater, screening rooms, and commercial applications demanding the best performance. Three chip DLP projectors function more like LCD projectors. The light source is split into 3 beams. Light is still reflected off of the DLP chips instead of passing though as is done with LCD panels, however, like with LCD projectors the three beams are recombined into a single beam and pass through the lens.
Both LCD and DLP projectors are capable of bright, crisp colour, depending on the model you choose. However, LCD projectors are known to provide superior colour saturation, appearing somewhat more vibrant than DLP projectors. However, DLP projectors are capable of better contrasts and black levels.
However, both technologies do have their limitations. LCD projectors have a small risk of producing ‘dead pixels’, or pixels which are permanently on or off. Whilst this is not an issue on a small scale, should there be a large number of these it can be an annoyance.
DLP’s major drawback is its ‘Rainbow Effect’. This is due to the fact that at each instant, DLP projectors display the image entirely in red, blue, or green. These colours together become the full range of colours you see usually. However, occasionally people can notice the constant flickering of colours, which can be frustrating.
Essentially, the choice is yours when it comes to projectors. Your eyes will be the final judge of each individual model, whether it be LCD or DLP.