Consumer Electronics Show 2005: AT's Coverage

1080p DLPs Coming in April

Texas Instruments was quite eager to showcase all of the DLP based rear projection TVs that use their DLP chips.

Panasonic's 720p DLP

The most exciting thing at the TI booth however were the handful of displays that used TI's new xHD3 DLP - their first 1080p (1920 x 1080 progressive) DLP solution.

A 1080p image

A 70" 1080p DLP

LGE's 1080p display

Samsung's 67" 1080p DLP priced at over $6000 and available in April

Samsung will also offer a 61" 1080p DLP

Samsung's 56" 1080p DLP also due out in April

TI also gave us a rundown of their current DLP lineup to clear up any confusion there may be over the cost/features of various TI solutions in DLPs today:

HD2 - TI's older DLP measures 0.8" diagonally and is a rectangular grid 720p DLP.

HD2+ - A higher contrast version of the HD2. The higher contrast was made possible through process improvements allowing for closer positioning of the individual mirrors, smaller mirrors and darker coatings to help absorb unwanted light inside the DLP.

HD3 - A 0.55" diagonal die not on a rectangular grid using half the mirrors of the HD2/HD2+ but still a 720p solution. Using mirrors that can move and stabilize at twice the speed of the HD2+ solution, TI was able to use each mirror for two pixels in the HD3 chip by shifting each individual mirror very slightly and very quickly to paint two pixels (think of it as a serial DDR approach to DLPs). The benefit of using half the mirrors is that it drives down the size of the DLP (0.55" vs. 0.8") and thus reduces the price of the TVs. The DLP also somewhat overlaps the two pixels it paints using a single mirror to get rid of pixelization, to provide for a smoother, more film-like image (which some may or may not prefer). TI calls this 2 pixels per mirror technology their Smooth Picture Technology, so whenever you see that phrase used it means that the TI DLP is only using half the necessary mirrors and using each mirror to drive 2 pixels.

xHD3 - A larger chip with a 0.85" die, the xHD3 is basically a HD3 that does 1080p. It also features Smooth Picture Technology.

Samsung displays based on the xHD3 DLP will be out in April, and available in sizes ranging from 56" up to 67".