Digital video display technology that uses a vast array of tiny mirrors (around 500,000) that pivot on or off to reflect or not reflect red, green and blue light. The square mirrors, only 16 microns wide and tall, are contained on a small microchip called a DMD (Digital Micromirror Device). Each mirror represents one pixel or picture element. hen a video signal enters a DLP-based video projector, it first is digitized and goes through several digital signal processing steps to prepare it for display. Light is output from a powerful bulb (typically 500 watts or more). As the light hits the mirrors, they turn on or off very rapidly (up to 1,000 times per second). They may be completely off for an area of darkness, or they may switch on and off very rapidly to display varying amounts of light. For instance, the mirror could be fully on for a single field of information (1/60 second) displaying a full light output. Conversely, it may be fully off for a single field of information displaying no light output. To display an intermediate amount of light (something more than no output but less than full output), the mirrors turn on and off several times during the 1/60 of a second a field is presented. For a bright but not full output signal, the mirror may turn on 70 times and off 30 times resulting in an aggregate or average light output that is fairly high but not equal to the mirror being on the entire time. This process occurs for each of the three additive primary colors (red, green and blue) to display a full color image. LP projectors may use one, two or three DMD chips (the microchips that hold and switch the mirrors). Three chip designs split the three additive primary colors so that each chip reflects only one color of light. Three chip designs are the most costly but also output the most light with the highest quality. ne-chip designs use a single mirror for all three colors of light. Between the light source (the bulb) and the mirrors is a quickly rotating disc with red, green and blue light filters. At any given time, the filter only allows one color of light to pass through. The mirrors are synchronized to the timing of the spinning disc and the three filters on it so that as blue light is passed through the filter, the mirrors are processing the blue signal and so on. This process results in a good picture but one that is not as bright or detailed as a three-chip design. wo chip designs fall in between the one and three chip varieties. A rotating disc with only two filters, yellow and magenta, allows all red light to pass while blocking blue and green light half the time. The red light is directed to its own mirror while the green and blue lights are directed to a shared mirror. A special bulb is used that outputs less red light than blue and green light. With its own set of mirrors, the red light is output at full power while the blue and green lights are output at half power (since they are each on half the time). The red deficiency of the bulb used (the light source) equalizes with the higher pass-through of red light creating an even amount of red, green and blue light projected onto the screen. This two-chip process results in higher light output than a single chip design while not being as costly as a three-chip design (three-chip designs have the highest light output). igital light processing systems are capable of displaying 16.7 million colors or true color. Based on digital technology, they can accept and project signals from computers and traditional video sources (DVD, laserdisc, etc.) with the effect of serving as a data grade projector. Compared to cathode ray tube and LCD projection systems, DLP systems offer much higher light output (particularly the three-chip designs). This is based on the fact that the mirrors used in the system reflect back light at nearly its full intensity losing very little light compared to a LCD design and using a higher output light source compared to CRT systems. LP systems also largely overcome a major shortcoming of LCD projectors, the “screen door” effect that makes individual pixels visible in many cases. In any LCD projector, when you approach the screen (and many times from a proper seated position), you can make out thin black lines separating the individual pixels (square dots making up the picture). DLP projectors also use individual pixel elements based on the use of individual mirrors, but the mirrors in a DLP system are very close to one another (separated by a mere one micron). The result is that the mirrors in a DLP system occupy 90 percent of the projected image (the remaining 10 percent being accounted for by the spaces between mirrors). By contrast, LCD projectors feature liquid crystals occupying at most 70 percent of the image (thus making the spaces between crystals larger and more visible in the image). With the same resolution picture, DLP systems project an image with a perceived higher resolution than that of a LCD projector because of the tightly packed mirrors versus the more spaced out liquid crystals. he DLP system was developed and is licensed by Texas Instruments with DLP projectors being manufactured around the Texas Instruments system by traditional projector manufacturers such as Vidikron and Ampro.