So What's the Difference Between DLP vs. LCD?

Filed in archive HDTV on June 9, 2005

So you've finally broken down and decided to get your rear projection big screen HDTV. So what type of screen do you get? SoundandVisionMag.com has an in-depth article that compares DLP and LCD screens. The article states:

One key similarity between the two sets is the native resolution of their display chips: 1,280 horizontal x 720 vertical pixels. But LCD and DLP RPTVs use very different processes to display pictures. Most DLP (Digital Light Processing) sets have a single chip and a rotating filter that chops white light from a lamp into a sequence of red, green, and blue beams. The beams are reflected from the chip, which contains hundreds of thousands of tiny mirrors. These mirrors pivot thousands of times a second to control the brightness of the pixels and are synchronized to display a red, green, or blue projection that the eye blends into a full-color image.

In an LCD (liquid-crystal display) projection TV, light from a single lamp is directed to a trio of miniature LCD panels that process the red, green, and blue light components separately. The pixels in each panel contain a liquid-crystal material that regulates the amount of light passing through them by twisting and untwisting in response to electrical voltages. After exiting the LCD panels, the three colored beams are combined by a prism and projected onto the screen by a lens.

This is an excellent article you'll want to read before you spend your hard earned money on your HDTV.

Read DLP vs. LCD at SoundandVisionMag.com