Sony Produces New LCD for Projectors

Sony has refined an existing liquid crystal display technology to come up with a display that it says will give projectors a crisper picture.

The Tokyo company said the display panels, which are based on High-Temperature Polysilicon LCD technology, offer a five-fold improvement in contrast ratio at around 2000:1 and 10 percent better light transmittance compared to panels currently used in most of Sony's front projectors. Front projectors are used to project an image onto the front of a wall or white screen.

The LCD panels are able to deliver a picture of quality roughly between that available from standard projectors and that from Sony's high-end Qualia 004 projector, which uses Sony's proprietary SXRD display panel technology, said David Yang, a Sony spokesman in Tokyo.

Better Look, Longer Life

A large part of this image improvement is due to the use of an inorganic material for two alignment layers inside the panel. Current panels use an organic material which is less resistant to light and so not able to deliver as high a brightness or contrast ratio, Yang said. This layer also contributes to a lifespan of roughly four times that of current panels, he said.

Mass production of the panels, which will be branded "Bi:NA 6," will begin about one year from now. Unlike the SXRD panels, which come at a considerable price premium over conventional panels, the new panels are likely to be priced competivity with conventional panels, Yang said.