Laser Projectors Hit Digital Cinema

Lasers have left science fiction movies and just gone to the movies. The Chinese Academy of Science has developed a projector with lasers as the key ingredient. Unlike plasma TVs that display about 50% of the color range visible to the human eye, or Xenon-based 35mm film projectors that display 60% of the color range, this laser digital cinema projector displays 80% of the color range visible to humans.

Previous attempts at using lasers were limited by a "speckling" in the image. But, by using DLP technology and three separate lasers for red, green and blue, the lasers cancel out the speckles created by the other colors.

Keep reading for more advantages to this new development.

Theoretically, the intensity of the lasers could be increased so they could display 90% of the visible color range. Great, and they also use 35% less power than a traditional xenon projector. Prices right now are keeping the lasers in the lab, but hopefully as cinemas see the benefits of the picture quality, they'll catch on. —Leslie Shapiro

The Economist

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