Video Projectors With No Lamps Coming to a Home Theater Near You

Video projectors have created quite a stir in the consumer market in recent years, as they have increased performance dramatically and have become much more affordable. A decent 1080p video projector can now be had for $3,000 or less, with 720p video projectors selling for as little as $999. However, as exciting as these products are, there is still one drawback: Lamp Replacement. Just as with old film projectors, video projectors employ lamps that need to be replaced after a few thousand viewing hours, often at a cost of several hundred dollars.

However, this weakness of video projection technology may be history as LED light-source technology, dubbed PhlatLight, was demonstrated for video projector application at the most recent Infocomm trade show by a group of companies, spearheaded by Texas Instruments. Not only does this technology eliminate the need for the traditional projector lamp, but it does not need periodic replacment, runs cooler, and is more compact, which may shrink the size of even high-end video projectors.

For more details on how Phlatlight technology works and how it will affect the video projection market, check out the official announcements from Texas Instruments and Luminus Devices, as well as report from Digitimes. Also, check out another report from Electronic House on how PhlatLight Technology is currently employed in rear-projection DLP Televisions. Photos (c) Texas Instruments and Luminus Devices.