Cheraina Vick
Worldwide Advertising
Manager for Digital Imaging

Visit the Worldwide DLP site
http://www.ti.com/dlp

European Business Centers
- Applications Specific Products
- Mixed Signal and Logic Products
- Materials & Controls

Manufacturing Sites
- Freising, Germany
- Almelo, Holland

Sales Offices
- Brussels, Belgium
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- Helsinki, Finland
- Hannover, Germany
- Madrid, Spain
- Milan, Italy
- Stockholm, Sweden
- Paris Velizy, France
- Zurich, Switzerland

• What is DLP
  At the heart of TI’s Digital Light Processing (DLP) technology is the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD). Mounted on the surface of an SRAM cell, the DMD comprises a rectangular array of microscopic (16 microns square) mirrors. Each mirror is hinged, allowing it to tilt ten degrees in either direction. Each mirror is equal to one pixel in the projected image. When the mirror is tilted ‘on’, light from a lamp is reflected out through the lens and on to the screen, where a white pixel appears. Turning the mirror ‘off’ causes a black pixel to appear. Because it has only these two states, the DMD is a truly digital device.

Each mirror is capable of switching on and off thousands of times per second, and varying the proportion of time it is ‘on’ or ‘off’ causes the human eye to see any one of up to 1,024 shades of gray. Coloured pixels are produced by placing either a colour filter wheel, prisms or a combination of both between the lamp and the surface of the DMD: up to 64 million shades can be accurately and repeatedly reproduced.

‘Digital Light Processing’ or ‘DLP’ is used to describe the immediately surrounding technology – signal processing, formatting etc. – which supports the DMD.

 

• DLP Markets
  Digital Imaging sells DLP technology – in the form of DLP subsystems – to companies ("OEMs") who are involved in the design, manufacture and marketing of projectors and other image display devices. These manufacturers in turn typically sell into the following markets:

 

Mobile
Ultraportable (+/-10lbs or less) projectors for use by salespeople, trainers, marketing people – anyone who needs to be able to deliver a PC-based presentation in a variety of locations, and to whom light weight and small size are important attributes in a projector.

Conference Room
This is the classical market for projectors, and includes such fixed locations as boardrooms, training facilities, meeting rooms etc. Typically heavier than ultraportable projectors, these systems can usually deliver brighter images.

 

Video Walls
There are many image display applications where a large image is required but it is impracticable to install a conventional front- or rear-projection system. In such cases, a single large image can be created through the use of multiple smaller, tightly-adjoining screens. Typical applications are in retail, leisure/entertainment and information display.

 

H/ Theatre
Primarily used for projecting video, home theatre systems are used for domestic leisure/entertainment applications.

Large Venue
Characterised by very high brightness and astonishing image quality, projectors targeted at this sector of the market are used in applications where the room is very large, where there is high ambient lighting and where delivering optimum quality images is a key requirement. Typically used in ‘rental/staging’ applications as well as in fixed locations.

• Competitive Advantages
  There are a number of competitive projection/display technologies, including LCD (liquid crystal display), CRT (cathode ray tube) and plasma – together with other emerging technologies.
  The primary competitor – because it has been by far the dominant projection technology in the majority of applications – for DLP is LCD. DLP offers a number of competitive advantages vs. LCD:

- Digital, not analog, so more faithful reproduction
- 'Seamless’ images with virtually no perceptible pixellation
- Superior video reproduction through faster pixel switching
- More efficient: capable of delivering more lumens per watt
- More compact: enables development of smaller, lighter-weight projectors
- Better heat resistance: allows use of higher power lamps = brighter images

CRT – the technology of the television and computer monitor – has also been extensively used in video wall and high brightness applications. DLP’s advantages here include:

- Smaller/lighter – so easier to install
- ‘Pre-converged’, so no need for continual readjustment
- Low cost of ownership
- Ease of maintenance
- Lower power consumption
- Quicker to set up

• The European Team

The European team is charged with :

a) managing all aspects – sales, marketing, technical, operations - of TI’s relationships with our European-headquartered customers
b) supporting our US-based and Japan-based colleagues in managing relation-ships with the European offices of
c) developing awareness of DLP technology among European projector users such that will prefer to buy DLP-based solutions

 

• The European Business

Orders from European customers comprise around 30% of Digital Imaging’s worldwide business. European customers are as follows:

 

ASK
Headquartered in Norway, ASK recently acquired Proxima, one of the best-known names in the audio-visual industry. This should allow ASK to establish a significantly greater presence in the USA. Specialises in boardroom projectors, and develops both DLP-based and LCD-based solutions.
www.ask.no

 

Davis
Davis – whose product range for conference room and ultraportable applications is based almost exclusively on DLP technology – were the first company to bring an XGA resolution DLP ultraportable projector to market.
Headquartered in Drammen, Norway.
www.davisna.com

 

Digital Projection
TI’s longest-established customer for DLP technology, Digital Projection was a co-winner with TI of the Emmy award. All products – a range of seven high brightness, high image quality projectors for use in large auditoria, leisure and entertainment – are DLP-based. Digital Projection are headquartered in Manchester, England.
www.digitalprojection.com

Dr. Seufert
Now a subsidiary of BARCO, one of the world’s leading projector manufacturers, and headquartered in Germany, Dr. Seufert develops video wall solutions using a range of technologies including DLP.
www.barco.com

 

Electrosonic
One of the best-known brand names in video walls, Electrosonic are headquartered in Dartford, England and have just brought to market their first DLP-based video wall.
www.electrosonic.com

Liesegang
One of the world’s longest-established projector manufacturers, Liesegang develop systems primarily for board room/conference room applications using both LCD and DLP technology. Head office in Duesseldorf, Germany.
www.liesegang.com

SIM2
Under the brand name Seleco, SIM2 – who are based in Pordenone, Italy - have built a substantial market share in supplying projectors for sports bars, pubs and similar leisure/entertainment applications. Have developed high brightness projectors using DLP.
www.sim2.it

 

Synelec
Based in St. Sernin, France, Synelec were the first company to adopt DLP technology for video wall applications. Now our biggest DLP video wall customer with prestige installations around the world.
www.synelec.com

 

Vidikron
Using the styling expertise of Pininfarina, this Italian company has developed an eye-catching home theater system using DLP technology. Recently announced an agreement for the company to be acquired by Projectavision of New York.

 

DLP OEMs who are headquartered outside Europe but who have European offices include AmPro, Clarity, Electrohome, In Focus, Mitsubishi, NEC, PLUS, Sony and Toshiba,

More about DLP ? Download the latest issue of ReflecTIons (PDF format)

Visit the Worldwide DLP site :
http://www.ti.com/dlp