Three Chip DLP ??? (1 Viewer)

[SeanA]

I thought I read that DLP rear projection sets with a separate red, green, blue chip would be coming out soon. Was I imagining this ? If not, does this creature already exist ? The Mustang HD2+ engine is still only a single chip, right ? I want to go DLP sometime in the near future, but my main reservation is the "rainbow effect", or should I say "rainbow defect".

 

[Dmitry]

There were 3-chip DLP projectors from the time the first DLP projectors came out, but they cost a pretty penny (tens of thousands of dollars).

 

[ChrisWiggles]

I don't follow RPTVs too closely, but I imagine just like 3-chip FPs, they would cost you quite a crapload of money.

3-chip FP are about $30K. Yes they eliminate rainbow artifacts, and they look incredible, but I don't know that they are worth sooo much more than single chip versions. And they do some things, like near-blacks, a little worse than some 1-chip DLPs.

 

[SeanA]

Thanks for the info fellas !!! I must have misinterpreted whatever I read, or perhaps what I read was referencing "front" projectors.

I actually started thinking about a three chip rear projection set again because of an ad for a $29,999 InFocus DLP front projector I recently saw in "Sound & Vision". I thought for sure that someone had placed one too many "9's" in the price !?!? I am shocked that adding two more chips would make these projectors so expensive, but perhaps there is a lot of extra expense in integrating the three chips.

 

[Dmitry]

The one I was refering to was actually an FP housed in a mirrored cabinet to turn it into an RP. The cabinet was designed for a two-chip FP but I've been told that the three-chip version would work in it, too.

 

[Leo Kerr]

For $30 grand, you can get a really nice 3-chip front projector. And once you get past about $10,000, I'd look away from the 'common' names like InFocus and Epson and start looking for the pro-line units - Christie Digital, Digital Projections, Panasonic, and JVC are the ones I'd point to, just to name a few.

There's more than just adding a few more chips...

Light from source goes into 'integrator.' This smooths the light out; inconsistancies in color and brightness coming from the lamp/reflector itself.

In the integrator are three 'take-outs' (for lack of a better name,) pulling the light for the RGB color seperation. I'm not positive, but it'd make sense to me to filter the colors here, using dichroic filters, but I don't know where that really happens.

The three streams of light strike their respective DLP chips, are modulated, and then sent to the prism block.

Prism block takes the modulated streams, folds them into the single stream, and shoots them out the lens.

Okay, sounds expensive, right?

Take a look at almost any common LCD projector. It's doing essentially the same thing, but using a transmissive LCD instead of a reflective DLP. Everything else is, more or less, the same.

I, too, would like to know the real reason why three-chippers cost so much more...

Leo

 

[Scott L]

Maybe because Texas Instruments won't budge on price?

 

[Peter Overduin]

I had one day basically to decide what to buy and settled for the Sony 60 inch Wega. Two reasons popped up very quickly ot go that route instead of DLP.

First, a regular cable signal looked noticeably better on the Wega than a Samsung DLP. The one area where DLP seemed to do better was in the blacks.

Second, the Sony Wega has a 3-chip processor. Not totally sure what it all means, but in limited understanding and lack of time to research it; this seemed to be the way to go.

Good luck.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Least expensive 3 chip units are in the $24K range ...

Regards