DLP far from dead
December 12, 2017
There was a time when rear-projection TVs, driven by Texas Instrument’s (TI) marvelous ‘magic mirror’ micromirror systems, were a highly-desirable way of achieving large-screen success. Now that flat-panel displays dominate the showrooms, TI has been looking at additional uses for its Digital Light Processing (DLP) chipsets.
Of course, DLP chipsets are widely available in home and professional large-screen projectors which use TI’s DMD (digital micromirror device), but they are also seen in digital signage, tiny ‘pico’ projectors and education and business environments. Drivers can already find products using micromirror devices supplying ‘head-up’ displays on their vehicle windshields.
In their 4K versions they comprise more than 8 million tiny switchable mirrors. Their smallest unit (DLP470TP) measures just 17mm x 24.5 mm (about the size of a postage stamp) and support brightness levels up to 1,500 lumens. More powerful light performance (more than 1500 lumens) is available from TI’s DLP470TE measures 22m x 32mm, and can handle the heat generated by brightness levels of 4000 lumens. Their DLP 660TE handles projection applications of up to 5000 lumens.
TI says that this new range allows product developers to now design DLP-based 4K UHD technology into a variety of applications such as laser TVs, mobile smart TVs, digital signage displays, smart home displays, pico projectors, business and education projectors, and more. The chipsets span a wide range of power, size, brightness and performance levels to help designers achieve any 4K UHD end-equipment objective with 8.3 million pixels on the screen.
Other posts by Chris Forrester:
- Virgin Galactic in stock split
- Thuraya-3 suffers major problem
- AST SpaceMobile hit by Class Action
- Optimism under threat at SES
- Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
- Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
- SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
- IRIS2 already in trouble?
- Intelsat contemplates next steps