Can Laser Technology Improve 3D?
Company says laser technologies could enhance capabilities of 3D projectors.
By Robert Archer
July 14, 2010
Building a case for its technologies, Salem, N.H.-based Laser Light Engines says that through the use of laser lighting, video projectors could someday produce as much as five times the amount of light as a traditional bulb-based projector to better illuminate the sometimes murky 3D movie experience.
Laser Light Engines tells The Boston Globe its technologies are a competitive alternative to LED technologies being used in residential products.
Over the past 18 months, starting with the debut of Luminus’ Phlatlight LED technologies at 2009 CES, the consumer electronics industry has shown increasing interest in moving into the next generation of projector light engines.
Today, Luminus’ LED technologies are used in products from LG, Samsung and SIM2, and the momentum for these LED products is growing as video experts discover the contrast and color spectrum capabilities available through the use of LED technologies.
The case for laser-based lighting is similar to the advantages offered by LED lighting in that both technologies eliminate the need to replace bulbs through longer life spans and energy efficiency, requiring half the power of traditional bulbs.
According to the Globe, the technologies used by Laser Light Engines were first developed for military purposes. But as the technology matures, its lighting capabilities could be used to enhance the grayscale and contrast capabilities of 3D projectors, which currently suffer from image problems due to the demands of displaying 3D content.
“With digital cinema, half of theatrical exhibition got modernized,” Doug Darrow, CEO, Laser Light Engines, tells the Globe. “We replaced film with digital files stored on a server. But digital cinema is still being powered by this inefficient, disposable light source, the xenon bulb.”
Laser light engines appear to have the same limitations as LED technologies: brightness output levels. Laser and LED technologies both currently have limited light output, which precludes their usage in the commercial market where large screens are necessary for commercial theater applications.
That doesn’t mean laser technologies couldn’t be used in the residential market where screen sizes average about 11 feet for a 2.35:1 CinemaScope system.