You’ll find DLP™ technology in large screen TVs, and in the kind of projectors used in home cinema and home theater.

Large screen TVs – we’re talking a screen size greater than 50” – are available from Hitachi, Mitsubishi and Panasonic, and they’re ideal for not only watching high definition broadcasts, but also as a screen for your PC.  You haven’t surfed the web or played PC games until you’ve done it on a screen this size and this sharp!  The set from Panasonic won a ‘Best In Class’ award at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

So far as front projectors are concerned, there’s a huge number of manufacturers featuring DLP™ technology in their offerings for the consumer, including most of the best-known names in the industry.  Some of these manufacturers also won awards at CES for their DLP™-based projectors.  Like the large screen TVs, you can use these front projectors for watching movies, or for playing games.

2. What is it about DLP™ technology that you think makes it better for home entertainment than other technologies?

There are a number of reasons, but I’ll concentrate on two.

The first is that you get outstanding image quality – sharp, bright and realistic.  This is a function of a number of things, but a key attribute of DLP™ technology is that, unlike most other projection and display technologies, it’s digital – not analog.  This means it’s more accurate in the way it reproduces images – and that it will reproduce images accurately time after time after time.  Another advantage of using a digital technology is that, with the right kind of set-up – for example, a DVD player or a digital tuner digitally connected to the TV or projector – you get 100% faithful reproduction, because the signal doesn’t have to be converted to the analog format.

The second is that DLP™ technology is unique in how small and lightweight it is - which means projector and TV manufacturers can develop products which are small, light weight and, perhaps most importantly, elegant and attractive.  The large screen TVs I talked about earlier have a much smaller ‘footprint’ – their front-to-back measurement is considerably less than you’d typically expect on a large screen TV.  They’re also lighter – so if you ever need to move the TV to another room, you won’t need a hoist to do it!  Best of all, they don’t overpower a room the way most large screen TVs do.

The same advantages apply to front projectors based on DLP™ technology.  They’re great for what you might call a ‘fixed installation’ because they’re small and unobtrusive – but they’re also great if you want the flexibility to move them from room to room, because they’re so light weight.  The kids could take one to their bedroom and use the wall as a screen for playing PC games on – or you could take it on vacation with you and watch your home movies every evening.  Or you might put it in the yard and entertain the neighbors!  The smallest, lightest (weighing less than three pounds) projectors in the world all feature DLP™ technology.

3. How does it work?

Digital Light Processing™ technology is based on the Digital Micromirror Device™ optical switch semiconductor developed by Texas Instruments. The DMD™ comprises a standard memory cell on top if which is mounted a rectangular array of around one million hinged, microscopic mirrors, each of which corresponds to a single pixel in the projected image. Red, green and blue light is shone alternately onto the mirrors which switch on and off – at around 5,000 times per second – in response to a video signal being fed into the underlying memory chip. The light reflected by the mirrors is directed through a lens and onto the screen, creating an image.

4. Has it been successful?

Very!  Although the first products featuring DLP™ technology didn’t come to market until 1996, we’ve now shipped over 500,000 of them – and we may well pass 1,000,000 this year.  DLP™ technology has won numerous awards – including an Emmy – and products featuring DLP™ technology have also won just about every award the industry has to offer.  It’s been a real success story.  Until recently, products featuring DLP™ technology have mostly been targeted at business users – but now, increasing numbers of manufacturers are targeting DLP™-based products at the home user.

5. Is DLP™ technology involved at all in digital cinema?

Yes, it is.  The idea of digital cinema is that, in future, instead of shipping enormous canisters of film around the world, movie distributors will be able to send movies to theaters electronically – on disks, via the Internet or using a satellite.  Potentially, that has advantages for everyone involved – not least the audience, who will see an image on the screen that’s unblemished by the scratches, pops and jumps which are characteristic of film towards the end of a run.

To do this will require a new kind of projector for movie theaters, and Texas Instruments has taken the lead in developing one.  It’s based on DLP™ technology, but because it’s specially adapted for movie theaters, we call it DLP Cinema™ technology.  Right now, over thirty movie theaters around the world are equipped with these projectors and, by the end of this year, we expect that number to be in the hundreds.  Major motion pictures that have been made available on DLP Cinema™ projectors have included ‘Star Wars Episode 1’, Toy Story 2’, ‘The Perfect Storm’ and ‘102 Dalmatians’.  To find a digital movie theater near you, visit http://www.DLP.com/DLP/cinema/where.asp .

6. What kind of products will feature DLP™ technology in the future?

There’s almost no limit to the kind of projection and display products that can use DLP™ technology.  One company, for example, is using it to create a ‘virtual dashboard’ for its cars of the future:  you’ll be able to select the dashboard style you want – and the instruments or gauges you want to see!  Another automotive company has developed ‘intelligent headlamps’ using DLP™ technology:  instead of shining straight ahead, these headlamps will ‘steer’ the light in the direction you’re going.  They’ll even sense an oncoming vehicle and automatically deflect the beam away from the other driver’s eyes so as not to dazzle him.  Somewhere else you’ll see DLP™ technology in the future is when you go to get your photographs processed:  manufacturers are now using the technology to print your pictures on photographic paper at very high speeds and with astonishing clarity.  And those are just a few examples!

7. Are there products available with DLP™ technology today? If so where can I see them ... if not when will the first products be available?

Yes, there are available right now.  Today, there are well over fifty products featuring DLP™ technology available from over thirty manufacturers.  You’ll find them at specialist audio-visual stores, at computer distributors and dealers and, in the future – we hope – in stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.

8. Where can I find more information about DLP™?

Visit www.DLP.com or, alternatively, call 1-888-DLP™-BY-TI.