The Story of DLP® Projection—and Why Barco Stands Alone

  1. A Short History of DLP

2. How a DLP Projector Works

1. DMD Chip – Millions of microscopic aluminium mirrors (one per pixel) tilt ±12–17° at up to 10,000 times per second, steering light through the lens or into a light-dump.
2. Light Source – Historically a UHP lamp plus spinning colour wheel; today, high-end units (e.g., Barco Heimdall) use direct RGB laser diodes, eliminating colour wheels and boosting gamut.
3. Image Processing – The projector’s ASIC (Barco uses the Pulse platform) modulates mirror tilt timing to generate greyscale, colour, geometry correction and high-frame-rate output in a single processing step.

Result: razor-sharp pixels, minimal latency, and perfect convergence (because all colour shares one chip).

Here is a short video on how the DLP technology works:

3. Benefits of DLP over Other Technologies  

4. Who Makes the Best DLP Chips?

Texas Instruments is the sole inventor and manufacturer of commercial DMDs. Every DLP projector—whether a $700 classroom unit or a $700 000 IMAX laser—relies on TI silicon. Over 30 years of iteration, TI’s cinema-class DC4K (0.98-″) and DC4K-L (1.38-″) DMDs remain the highest-resolution, highest-contrast devices available—reserved for a handful of strategic partners under NDA.

5. Why Barco Is the Only Brand Offering a Native-4K, Single-Chip DLP Projector for Homes

1. Exclusive Chip Access – TI’s 0.9 and 0.98-inch native-4K DMD (4096 × 2160, 7.6 µm pitch) is classified as a DLP Cinema® component. Only long-standing cinema partners—Barco, Christie, NEC—may buy it. Consumer brands must use 0.47- or 0.66-inch “XPR” chips that shift pixels. TI E2E
2. Residential Adaptation – Barco Residential engineered the Heimdall series around this cinema chip, sealing the optics and integrating Pulse processing for 4K/120 Hz HDR. No other home-theatre manufacturer currently offers a true 4096 × 2160 single-chip DLP. BarcoProjectorCentral
3. Commercial DNA – With >40 % of the world’s movie screens running Barco projectors, their optical, thermal, and software know-how flows directly into residential models—something smaller consumer brands can’t replicate.

6. Takeaways for Home-Cinema Builders

• If you want uncompromised clarity—no pixel-shift artifacts—native 4K DLP is the gold standard.
• Only Barco presently translates TI’s cinema-grade chips into residential chassis.
• RGB-laser + DLP yields reference HDR colour (Rec. 2020), silent sealed optics, and 25 000-hour light sources—ideal for luxury theatres.

Experience Barco’s Native-4K DLP at BMC Audio Visual

As Australia’s authorised Barco Residential showroom, BMC Audio Visual invites you to witness Barco's mirror-perfect imagery in person. Compare pixel-shift 4K to true native DLP, explore lens options, and learn how our design team integrates Barco into reference-grade audio, automation, and acoustic packages.

Book your private demo today—see why 90 years of Barco projection heritage and Texas Instruments’ finest DMD converge to create the most precise home-cinema picture available anywhere.