LCD Projector Manufacturers
Projector manufacturers have largely shifted from using VGA to HDMI ports. HDMI is the universal connector for video and audio signals that also provides a handshake signal every two seconds between devices.
Dolgoff filed patent applications around the world and started one of the first LCD projector companies, which he took public on Nasdaq in 1990. His technology, now called 3LCD, is marketed by an affiliated organization that licenses it to various manufacturers.
History
Since the 17th century, humans have used visual projection to create a captivating experience. Early projection devices included slide projectors and overhead projectors, while modern digital video projectors use LCD technology to display images on a screen. This type of projection is ideal for events and presentations, providing crisp and clear images that capture audiences’ attention. Audio-visual integration is a key component of any event or presentation, ensuring that all elements work together seamlessly. This includes integrating audio and visual components with a variety of control systems to manage the overall audio-visual experience.
In 1968, New York inventor Gene Dolgoff started working on a prototype of an LCD projector. His goal was to build a projector that would be brighter than the available 3-CRT projectors. His solution was to use a liquid crystal as a light valve, which modulates the intensity of a beam of light and adjusts its color and contrast. He tried many different materials, but it wasn’t until 1984 that he had a digitally-addressable LCD matrix device that could be used in projectors.
Dolgoff’s first projector suffered from major light losses and very noticeable pixels, which he called the “screen-door effect.” Today’s LCD projectors, however, have greatly reduced the appearance of those pixels on most screens. The best models also produce twice as much color lumens as competing DLPs, resulting in vibrant colors that look great on a big screen.
Technology
Despite the fact that LCD TVs have been around for quite some time, and LCD computer monitors for even longer, it wasn’t until 1984 that Gene Dolgoff created the first projector based on LCD technology. Dolgoff had a vision for a brighter lcd projector manufacturer projector, but the technology required to realize that goal – direct driven and matrix-addressed LCDs with high enough resolution to produce video images – wasn’t available.
Today’s projectors use liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS) or digital light processing (DLP) imagers that are optimized to perform well in the specialized environments in which they are used. Typically, these devices are compact and light enough for easy transport and set-up. They also offer exceptional performance in the areas of contrast and brightness compared to traditional analog-based projection systems.
Although metal-halide lamps remain the most popular lamp source for LCD projectors, advanced modern luminaries utilizing LEDs and lasers are becoming increasingly common in modestly priced video projection. These advanced luminaries deliver red, green, and blue light to their respective LCD or LCOS micro-mirror arrays, which combine them into a single full-color image, resulting in superior color accuracy and superbly rich blacks.
Some Epson LCD and JVC LCoS models use a technique called e-Shift to double the number of pixels projected from their native 1080p imagers. This is not true UHD, which requires 8.3 million pixels for each frame, but many respected reviewers have reported that these double-pixel shifted 1080p images are nearly as sharp and clear as true UHD.
Applications
An LCD projector uses a series of liquid-crystal display panels to show video, images or computer data on a screen or other flat surface. It is a modern equivalent of the slide projector or overhead projector. In most models, a metal-halide lamp directs light through a prism or series of dichroic filters that separate the light into red, green and blue components. Each of these is directed to its own LCD panel. As polarized light passes through the panel, individual pixels can be opened to allow the light through or closed to block it.
The result is that each of the three LCD panels can produce a color image. When the red, green and blue outdoor projection tv imagers are combined, the final image is projected onto a screen through the projector’s main lens. Most modern LCD projectors use 1920×1080 (HD) imagers. Higher resolutions are possible, but they tend to be less affordable and not readily available.
Two technologies — micromirrors and LCD imagers — are competing for the market in consumer projectors, with LCDs currently winning out. Both technologies have advantages and disadvantages, but the bottom line is that they both produce very high-quality images for relatively low cost. Compared to other types of projection systems, they are also more portable.
Price
The most popular projectors in the consumer market are LCD models, which use a metal-halide lamp to emit a beam of light that passes through three LCD panels (one for each of the video signal’s red, green, and blue components). Each panel is composed of individual pixels that can be opened or closed to create an image. These types of projectors are relatively inexpensive and offer excellent color reproduction.
In contrast, 3-chip DLP projectors are much more expensive and used mostly for digital cinema and other high-brightness applications. These models, which typically have a native 1080p resolution and a brightness rating of 10,000 American National Standards Institute (ANSI) lumens or higher, are made by a few specialty manufacturers such as Barco, Christie, Digital Projection, and NEC. Some models also feature a native 4K or UHD resolution and a brightness rating of up to 75,000 ANSI lumens.
LCD and DLP are the most common projector technologies, but a third type known as liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) is becoming more popular in some applications. In general, LCoS projectors are more expensive than LCD and DLP models, but they offer a number of advantages such as inherently better contrast and the ability to support native-4K resolution (achieved through pixel-shifting). The home-theater market for LCoS is dominated by two manufacturers, Sony and JVC.