Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have emerged as a solid-state replacement for traditional high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps. LEDs provide a number of distinct operational and performance advantages that solve many of the challenges in projection arrays. This unique, solid-state lighting technology is ideal for display and illumination applications that require high brightness and the efficient harnessing of light from a small point source.
The application of LED illumination to visual displays, in particular, arrayed displays such as control room video walls or simulation and training environments, brings a host of unique and challenging requirements that are simply not addressed by consumer or light commercial-use projection displays. These requirements require purpose-built solutions.
LED offers several benefits, including:
- Solid-state illumination technology
LEDs are solid state with no moving parts. There is no lamp arc to ignite, degrade and maintain over time
- Instant on
Unlike arc lamps, which may take over a minute to turn on and reach full brightness, LEDs turn on instantly
- Extremely long life
The rated lifetime of the LEDs is 60,000 hours (almost seven years)
- No color wheel required
The high-speed on/off capability of LEDs means that for 1-chip DLP systems there is no need for a motorized color wheel. Red, green and blue LEDs can be sequenced at rates many times higher than color wheels, reducing the likelihood of visible sequencing artifacts
- Wider color gamut for more vivid color
The color spectral characteristics and range surpass that provided by traditional color wheel-based systems. LEDs far exceed European Broadcasting Standards minimums and the system allows color performance to be easily manipulated to best match the application
- Better brightness control
LEDs offer a wide range of brightness control, unlike mercury lamps which offer only about 10-25 percent brightness adjustment. In addition, there's no need for mechanical apertures to adjust brightness
- Environmentally responsible
LEDs are an environmentally responsible “green” light source, free of hazardous substances found in conventional lamp technologies
Christie's LED Illuminated solutions
Christie has a proven track record designing and manufacturing purpose-built products tuned to the needs of specific markets, and a history of innovations that provide solutions for the unique challenges of projection arrays. The Christie Matrix StIM™ projection system with InfraScene™ LED technology for night-vision goggle simulation and the Christie Entero™, both feature Christie ArrayLOC™ for intelligent self-adjustment of the array in real time is simply the latest. Christie ArrayLOC™ successfully exploits the advantages inherent in LED technology to provide a scalable-environment, seamless display system that is highly reliable and virtually maintenance-free. This technology revolutionizes the training experience.
Christie MicroTiles™ take display technology to a new frontier. Built on proven DLP® technology and specifically designed for maximum image quality in high-ambient light environments, Christie MicroTiles are ideal for a wide range of demanding applications, including architectural elements, out-of-home advertising, command and control video walls, and event production.
Using the strengths of both rear projection and LED technology, Christie MicroTiles offer substantially brighter images and a much wider color palette than conventional LCD and plasma displays. With no practical limit to the number of tiles in a display, Christie MicroTiles produce a virtually seamless canvas with an unlimited number of super-fine pixels.
Long life, reliability, virtually maintenance-free visual displays
LED illumination revolutionizes visual displays by offering a platform that contains no consumable components, which would otherwise require scheduled replacement and maintenance. With seven to ten years of operating life (depending on the application) and built-in management features that continuously monitor and manage brightness, color control and black levels across the entire display. Christie’s LED-illumination technology platform ensures virtually zero-maintenance operation.