Sony, the leader in native 4K projectors for the home theater market – by far – is tired of people calling the new Texas Instruments “4K chip” a “4K chip.”
“Full 4K is 8 million pixels,” says Andre Floyd, Sony product marketing manager for home theater projectors. “The TI imager only has 4 million pixels.”
Sony today really is the only manufacturer of consumer-oriented projectors with native 4K resolution because the company owns the 8-megapixel SXRD imaging technology that makes them tick. It’s the same technology that drives Sony projectors in tens of thousands of movie theaters.
On the other hand, the 4-megapixel TI solution can only display half the resolution – for a single color – at any point in time.
“They have to flash that imager on the screen twice for each color channel, including the ‘white’ channel,” Floyd says. “That amounts to eight separate flashes on the screen for each individual frame, which the viewer’s brain must integrate into a single image.”
The new TI solution, announced last year, will be demonstrated this week at CEDIA 2016 in new 4K projectors from Sim2 and Digital Projection.
While they might not meet Sony’s definition of 4K, the new TI-powered projectors will indeed deliver the requisite number of pixels or lines of resolution to fit the generally accepted definition of 4K or UHD.
That’s not the case for 4K-labeled projectors in the home cinema market today, Floyd explains.
The elegant tricks these other projectors play are known by such names (epithets to some) as wobulation or pixel-shifting, with brand names such as e-shift (JVC) and 4K Enhancement (4Ke, Epson).
While the end results of their manipulations may seem impressive, says Floyd, “What they do first and foremost is throw away literally half the pixels.”
He explains that JVC’s and Epson’s current line of “4K” projectors can never get to full UHD because they start with an HD imager (1920×1080) that has only 2 million pixels.
“Even when they flash the imager twice per frame,” according to Floyd, “They are only able to put about 4 million pixels on the screen, or about half the requisite resolution for 4K/UHD.”
NEXT: The State of 4K UHD Projectors at CEDIA
Does it really matter? Non-native 4K (or faux K) projectors get some pretty good reviews.
It “absolutely” matters according to Sony.
Floyd likens the faux-nomenon to the early days of high-def: “People they thought they had HD because the TV was 16:9. On the projector side, people are buying products they think are 4K and they’re not.”
Pros can see the difference for themselves at CEDIA 2016, where Sony will provide side-by-side demos of its own native 4K projectors vs. 4K-labeld products from JVC and Epson. (TI-based products are still in prototype mode, so they aren’t part of the shootout this year. Ditto for JVC’s forthcoming BluEscent DLA-Z1 projector and Barco’s Loki, both of which are touted as full 4K.)
Floyd says there will be no video trickery in the shootout: “We always invite others to set up their own projectors. We’re not trying to fool anyone.”
Projector Shootout at CEDIA
The demos are part of two 90-minute Sony training sessions at the show, Sony Electronics: Home Projector Solutions from Full HD to 4K HDR – See the Difference
Experience Sony’s complete home theater projector lineup and learn why Sony projectors are great solutions for your clients. From entry-level HD to state-of-the-art 4K HDR, Sony projectors offer easy installation and easy maintenance with pristine picture quality. We’ll demonstrate how each feature delivers a competitive advantage. Then, see for yourself how Sony’s latest lineup of Projectors compare against key competitors in a live shoot-out.
Omni Dallas Hotel, Dallas Ballroom D
- Friday, September 16, 11:00 AM – 12:30
- Friday, September 16, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Visit Sony, booth 2710 at CEDIA 2016.
