Projection Monthly - June 2005

Dear Readers,

The June issue of Projection Monthly is now in the hands of our readers and at 151 pages, our normal coverage this month is augmented by coverage of the SID international symposium, business seminar and exhibition with almost 50 pages dedicated to this premiere display technology event.

Insight Media sent five analysts to the show to attend the keynotes, seminars and comb the exhibitor isles, uncovering some exciting technology that made its way to Boston this year. Below we describe the hottest trend from SID. In our next email, we will award the winners of the SID 2005 Best Buzz Awards.

Perhaps the hottest trend observed at SID 2005 was the delivery on the promise of expanded color gamut displays. While 4, 5 and even 6 color systems have been shown in the past and expanded color gamut systems have been shown at SID before, this year marked broad embracement and commercialization of these technologies. A number of manufacturers demonstrated products or prototypes of systems where the technology was actually designed to improve the system colorimetry.

For example, LG.Philips showed a 47-inch full HD LCD panel with an LED backlight that increased the color gamut to 110% of the SEMPTE-C color standard (commonly referred to as the NTSC color gamut). A lower cost version will be available to LG.Philips panel customers by the end of the year with a gamut of approximately 105%.

Samsung’s Electronics Visual Display Division showed a Multi Spectral Display (MSD) DLP rear-projection system with five primary colors: red, gold, green, cyan and blue. It claimed five primary colors expanded the color gamut by 30% compared to a standard three-color DLP system, plus increased the optical efficiency by 20%.

The company also showed its own version of an LED-backlit LCD panel (originally shown at CES). The claimed advantages included a color gamut of 105%, eco-friendly mercury-free backlight, instant on and 2M-hour illumination lifetime. It also showed a QVGA module intended for portable applications that increased the color gamut from the 45% normally encountered in these systems to 86%. Even the pocket projector it demonstrated had a color gamut of >100%.

Samsung SDI also showed a Wise View direct-view LCD with a CCFL lamp that had been specially designed to increase the color gamut of the display from 72% to 92%. Samsung also presented a paper (31.1) claiming a six-color display has a color gamut of 99% of NTSC and an optical efficiency 15% higher than a conventional LCD-TV display.

Philips Research demonstrated a spectrum-sequential backlight system for LCD panels with a color gamut of 130% of EBU. This system used two different types of HCFLs to provide a six-primary-color display by modulating the power. This system gave two different red, green and blue primary colors, and the phosphors in the lamps were chosen so at least one of each color was very saturated. The improved saturation came from the spectra of the backlights using normal LCD color filters.

Osram was on the show floor with 82-inch mercury-free and lead-free LED backlight module capable of generating a color gamut that exceeds NTSC requirements by 50%. The 10,000 nit unit used 1120 (280 red, 560 green and 280 blue) next-generation, OSRAM Golden DRAGON LEDs, was 40mm deep consuming 1,100 watts W operating at a temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees.

Other examples of Colorimetry improvements at the SID show included Lumileds pocket projector with LED illumination, Mitsubishi/NEC six-color 23-inch WXGA LCD monitor using LEDs as backlights instead of a HCFL array (no device shown but paper submitted); Genoa Color Technologies demonstrated a four-HTPS LCD projection system with an expanded color gamut and increased efficiency compared to the original projector; Philips and Genoa also presented two joint papers on a color sequential single-panel LCOS projector with five primary colors.

Even component makers showed interest in displays with expanded color gamut. ColorLink showed a diagram of a ColorQuad designed for a four-panel LCOS system, and Brookham showed its dichroic filters for projection systems allowing a significant improvement of the red primary color in any system using a UHP lamp.

Beyond the SID coverage, this month’s Projection Monthly is packed with display industry news, component announcements, market trends and analysis, new device introductions and comprehensive business and strategic and company financial performance details.

All these stories are organized into over 30 sub-sections for easy review and reference. And, if you are a subscriber, you can build a library of past issues that is key word searchable – a very valuable business intelligence reference tool.

Projection Monthly is a subscription-based newsletter that covers the entire big-screen display industry, including all technologies, markets and applications – from the supply chain through the distribution channel. If you would like to evaluate a sample copy of Projection Monthly, please contact:

Until next time…

Steve Sechrist
Insight Media
steve@insightmedia.info

About Insight Media

Insight Media (www.insightmedia.info) provides a full array of market research, news, analysis and consulting services for the microdisplay industry, with special attention to projection and near-to-eye products. Tracking the complete supply chain from finished products and distribution to components, microdisplay-based products, technologies, trends and analysis is delivered through newsletters, technology reports, forecasts, conferences and custom consulting activities. Insight Media has developed a world-class team of industry analysts and associates to provide the most comprehensive coverage and analysis of the microdisplay industry has to offer.

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