OSRAM’s Unishape projection lamp technology promises to deliver a high performance boost to DPL rear and front projection consumer electronics in the near future. Originally released in 2005 at INFOCOMM 2005, Unishape promises to improve the position of rear projection TVs against plasma and LCD technologies and help lower the cost and complexity of DLP projection.

The performance boost to DLP systems incorporating Unishape is advertised by OSRAM as being:

• 40% greater brightness
• 60% less dithering noise
• at least 80% more colors
• up to 100% higher contrast

Other advantages include negating the need for a mechanical aperture (auto-iris), allowing smaller DLP system design and saving the use of more expensive, higher segmented color wheels.Unishape is a package of electronics which varies, on a millisecond time scale, the projection lamp output during each color segment of a DLP’s color wheel. This provides a secondary layer of projection manipulation to a DLP system.

Lets consider three applications:

Variable Plateau

In conventional DLP systems the brightness of the image is reduced due to color correction and dark video enhancement. Unishape can achieve the color correction and dark video enhancement by adjusting the lamp output during each color wheel segment eg. the lamp brightness output is steady but at a different level when shining through the red, blue and green segments of a color wheel.

Low Pulse

If the lamp output during is varied into a series of constant output steps during a color segment it produces more colors and consequently better color gradation (think bigger color gamut) and a reduction of dithering noise.

Dynamic Dimming

With the millisecond control of lamp brightness output available Unishape can dynamically adjust to the overall brightness level of different scenes providing greater contrast and blacker blacks. This is achieving the same result as the commonly used auto-iris system of LCDs and LCoS display engines without requiring one. Importantly, Unishape also doesn’t have the lag of a mechanical system.

OSRAM has worked closely with Texas Instruments, supplier of digital light processing (DLP) systems, on Unishape. Expect to hear about performance improvements in rear projection DLP TVs and projectors in the near future.

OSRAM have a pdf available which has some graphics which explain Unishape in more detail.