Home Theater Projector Advantages
One major advantage of the projector is the fact that it can be set up to display an image on a wall.It doesn’t have the limitations of a screen and therefore gives the owner unique mobility in the home entertainment system. Buying a large screen tv is an option, but there are limitations to that, including fitting in a certain room and limited mobility once it is in there.A projector is small enough to be aimed almost anywhere and is easily adaptable to a room. Read about the Advantages of a Home Theater Projector over your television.
DLP vs. LCD Home Theater Projectors
DLP and LCD projector technologies process light in very different ways and these two techniques determine not only how they are operated, but which projector you may want to purchase. While LCD projectors may display a much brighter image than DLP in many cases - their transmissive design limits the amount of time they may be used in a set period. The light engine design in DLP projectors use a reflective design to create the image from thousands of tiny mirrors. Therefore, the heat from the lamp does not adversely affect any of the components. The DLP units can be in operation continuously with no appreciable loss in performance. The only loss will come from the bulb slowly decaying over time resulting in the reduction of brightness. The bulb or (lamp) may then be replaced in most cases and the DLP projector will return to its original quality state.
Plasma tv panels are an array of tiny cells, known as pixels, which contain phosphors corresponding to the colors red, green and blue. Sandwiched against these cells is a thin layer of gas in a plasma state. Electrical impulses enter the gas, which emits bursts of ultraviolet light at precise locations and intervals. The phosphor cells absorb these signals and then re-radiate the energy as visible light, producing the vivid images that appear on screen.
plasma is better
Higher resolution
Plasma display devices have higher resolution than conventional TV sets, and are capable of displaying full HDTV and DTV signals as well as XGA, SVGA and VGA signals from a computer. For example, you can get plasma displays with a 1024 x 1024 pixel high-resolution that can display images at true 1080i and 720p HDTV resolution, as well as 480i and 480p HD signals.
No scan lines
Conventional CRTs use an electron beam to scan the picture tube from top to bottom at regular intervals, lighting the phosphors to create the image. In the case of standard (NTSC) TV, visible scan lines can be seen.
Most plasma displays include built-in line doubling to further improve image quality when viewing standard analog video sources such as TV broadcasts and VCR tapes.
Exceptional color accuracy
High-end plasma displays are capable of displaying 16.77 million colors -- providing superb color realism with exceptionally subtle gradations between colors.
Widescreen aspect ratio
Plasma display devices have a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, the relationship between the screen's width and height. This is the proper aspect ratio for HDTV, and also allows many DVD-Video movies to be viewed in widescreen format, as originally seen in the theater.
Perfectly flat screen
Plasma display monitors have screens that are perfectly flat, with no curvature whatsoever. This eliminates the edge distortion that can occur in CRT displays.
Uniform screen brightness
Unlike some rear and front projection televisions that suffer from uneven screen brightness -- seen as "hot spots" in the middle of the screen or a darkening near the edges and especially corners -- plasma displays illuminate all pixels evenly across the screen.
Slim, space-saving design
Plasma display monitors are only a few inches thin-providing installation options never before possible. In addition to stand mounting, they can be hung on a wall or from a ceiling, allowing you to enjoy big-screen home theater impact from a component that doesn't dominate floor space. Conventional TVs and front projectors, by comparison take up far more real estate and are much more limited in placement flexibility.
Plasma monitors have an elegant, understated "picture frame" appearance that blends inconspicuously with any decor; with a chassis not much wider than the display screen itself.
Because they eliminate the need for a front projection unit and a projection screen, plasma display monitors are also ideal for use in a wide variety of business and commercial applications where the use of a front projector would not be feasible.
Wide viewing angle
Plasma displays offer a viewing angle of 160 degrees (top to bottom and left to right) -- much better than rear projection TVs and LCD displays. This allows a larger number of viewers to enjoy proper image reproduction from a wider variety of locations throughout the room.
Universal display capability
Most plasma monitors can accept any video format formats. Typically, they will include composite video (NTSC, PAL SECAM) (standard RCA jacks), S-video and component video inputs, plus one or more RGB inputs to accept the video output from a computer.
Whether you want to view a sporting event on HDTV, a DVD-Video movie, a satellite broadcast or even surf the Internet with incredible big screen impact, chances are a plasma monitor will accommodate your needs.
Immunity from magnetic fields
Because plasma displays do not use electron beams, as conventional CRT displays do, they are immune to the effects of magnetic fields. Components such as loudspeakers that contain strong magnets can distort the picture if placed too close a standard TV (which has a CRT). On the other hand, plasma displays can be placed in close proximity to any type of loudspeaker and not experience image distortion.
DLP
DLP ( Digital Light Processing ) is a proprietary technology created by Texas Instruments that uses a reflective surface to produce an image. The DLP chip consists of thousands of minute mirrors that each represents a single pixel. The mirrors on the DLP chip move back and forth, so that light from a lamp can be directed into the lens or away from the lens to remove the image. In order to produce a color image there is a wheel that consists of red, green, blue, and sometimes white filters. As this wheel spins and the tiny chips move different shades of color are created, which will produce an image on your screen.
LCD
LCD ( liquid crystal display ) is a technology that projects an image by streaming light through three LCD glass panels. There are typically three LCD panels, which contain the RGB ( RED, Green, and Blue ) colors and they allow light to either pass or not pass through each pixel. Light strength is adjusted through each LCD color panel, and then the picture is projected onto the screen.
DLP & LCD Comparison
The most common complaint of DLP technology is the "Rainbow Effect" that some viewers claim to see when an image has bright thin lines on dark backgrounds. This fleeting phenomenon "Rainbow Effect" occurs, because of rapidly alternating images on the screen and occasionally the human eye may detect artifacts, but it will disappear as soon as you realize it is there. It is good to know that many people will not even detect this flaw in the technology, but more importantly enhancements in current DLP technology have made it harder to depict this imperfection. The first generation DLP projectors incorporated a color wheel that rotated sixty times per second, which can be designated as 60Hz, or 3600 RPM. So with one red, green, and blue panel in the wheel, updates on each color happened 60 times per second. This baseline 60Hz rotation speed in the first generation products is also known as a "1x" rotation speed. Today, many DLP projectors being built for the home theater market greatly reduce artifacts by incorporating a six-segment color wheel which has two sequences of red, green, and blue. This wheel still spins at 120Hz or 7200 RPM, but because the red, green, and blue are refreshed twice in every rotation rather than once, the industry refers to this as a 4x rotation speed.
The most common complaint of LCD technology is the "Screen Door Effect" which causes the image to appear pixilated. DLP technology has a competitive advantage over LCD in reduced pixilation, because the pixels are much closer together and produce a cleaner image.
