Sony G90 - Manual (Page 16)

to recreate the theater experience in the home.
The dominant display technology today for home-theater
screens larger than 40” diagonal is CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
projection. It is used in almost every rear-projection TV and
most HDTVs just recently introduced. But it is an old technol-
ogy near its limit and its days are numbered. The display
industry, driven by the desire of business professionals to
make presentations in fully lit rooms, has been hard at work
replacing CRT projection with brighter and friendlier alterna-
tives. These alternatives are Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) pro-
jection and Digital Light Processing (DLP), the latter invented
by Texas Instruments. Both of these technologies use discrete
pixels to form images and both use a lamp as the source of the
light projected on the screen. These considerations have
made it possible to design small, portable projectors with
much higher light output than a CRT projector – just the thing
for the mobile presenter. Most of the projectors at Infocomm
were of this type. One of the standouts in light output per unit
weight was the U2-1080 from PLUS Corp. Based on DLP tech-
nology, this small, ultra-portable projector weighs less than 6
pounds yet puts out 800 ANSI lumens of light - three to five
times as much as a CRT projector can provide. (I will explain
the meaning of “ANSI” below.) The native resolution of the
image is also relatively high – 1024 x 768 (XGA format). Unfor-
tunately, there are trade-offs for the small size of ultra-
portable projectors. Input connection options and features
are usually more limited than with larger models. Also, in
some cases performance may have been compromised to
minimize the projector’s size and weight.
Although light-output ratings for small LCD and DLP pro-
jectors are usually much higher than for CRT projectors, they
do not always appear as bright as you might think from the
numbers. When displaying video images, which typically have
a much lower average picture level (APL) than graphics
images, a CRT projector can put more of its energy into high-
lights of the image – an ability indicated by its “peak lumen”
rating. This makes the image appear brighter than you would
expect from the projector’s ANSI lumen number, which rep-
resents the brightness achievable with a full-white image.
Nevertheless, an LCD or DLP projector rated at 1000 ANSI
lumens – a number that is now quite common – looks brighter
on video images than a typical 9” CRT projector.
One area where CRT projectors still have the edge is
black level. Despite years of steady improvement, neither
LCD nor DLP has yet managed to achieve, on small screens,
the deep blacks achievable with CRT. That is reason enough
for some to choose a CRT projector for their home theater. A
promising new choice introduced at the show was the HD
2000 from Chromalux. Like DWIN’s HDP-500, this 7” CRT pro-
jector has no fans – the projector’s metal chassis serves as a
heat-sink. Designed by Arthur R. Tucker – one of the pioneers
of the projection industry – it includes a built-in line doubler.
Chromalux claims peak and ANSI light outputs of 1100 and
800 lumens, respectively. Since the projector was not shown
operating, I could not confirm these numbers. Eight hundred
ANSI lumens would be an astounding output from any CRT
projector, much less one using 7” tubes. In a bid to improve
domestic harmony, the projector’s plastic cover is available in
custom colors to match any décor.
Despite late arrivals like the HD 2000, it is clear that the
total replacement of CRT-projection by LCD and DLP, even
for home theater, is close at hand. The quality of images from
LCD and DLP projectors at the show this year was dramati-
cally better than last year. Colors were more saturated, whites
were more accurate, blacks were deeper (although not yet
quite
good enough), and overall uniformity was improved.
The final nail in the projection-CRT coffin may be this: Texas
Instruments showed a prototype of a rear-projection HDTV
Notable New Display Products at INFOCOMM ‘99
Manufacturer Model No. Price Technology Light Output Pixel Format
(ANSI lumens) (H x V)
Barco BarcoReality $20,995 LCD projection 2,000 1280 x 1024
6300DLC (w/o lens)
Chromalux HD 2000 N/A 7” CRT projection 800 Not applicable
Davis DL X10 N/A DLP projection 1000 1024 x 768
Epson PowerLite 9000i N/A LCD projection 1,600 1280 x 1024
JVC Professional DLA-G15 $20,000 est. LCD projection 1,500 1365 x 1024
NEC PlasmaSync $22,995 Plasma, N/A 1365 x 768
5000W 16.9, 50” diagonal
PLUS Corp. U2-1080 N/A DLP projection 800 1024 x 768
Princeton AF3.0HD $4,100 CRT, 30” diagonal N/A Not applicable
Revox E-542 $17,000 est. Plasma, N/A 848 x 480
16.9, 42” diagonal
Sanyo PLC-EF10N $23,995 LCD projection 2,300 1280 x 1024
Toshiba TLP-770 $9,995 LCD projection 1,800 1024 x 768
Project ors in a given cat ego-
ry were f ed ident ical signals
f or display on ident ical side-