Wolf Cinema DLD-380FD User Manual

DLD-380FD

Laser-Illuminated

Home Theater Projection System

Technology White Paper

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Table of Contents

The Advantage of Solid State Illumination ........................................................................................... 3

The BLU-Escent Laser Illumination Technology .................................................................................... 4

Ideally Suited for Home Theater Installations ...................................................................................... 5

High Reliability .................................................................................................................................... 6

V4K™ 3840 x 2160 Resolution .............................................................................................................. 7

High Contrast and Dynamic Range ....................................................................................................... 8

Stable, Long-Term Imaging Brightness ................................................................................................. 8

Stable Color Gamut ............................................................................................................................. 9

Safety and Lamp Disposal Concerns ..................................................................................................... 9

Outboard ProScaler MK III ................................................................................................................... 9

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 10

DLD-350FD Projector Specifications ................................................................................................... 11

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The Advantage of Solid State Illumination

Home cinema projectors have historically been illuminated by lamps, providing the required

brightness to light up large home theater screens. However, such lamps must be replaced over

time, and come with moderate-to-high replacement costs [including subsequent system re-

calibration costs]. Projector lamps will diminish in output levels over time, and as they decay they

cannot be further modulated to deliver constant peak white and contrast level performances.

New and exciting solid state illumination technologies are here today, and provide many

benefits for home theater enthusiasts. Projectors with solid state light sources are designed

around four different architectures:

1) All laser – uses red, green and blue lasers [generally used in Cineplex installations]

2) Laser Phosphor – uses blue lasers and a phosphor wheel to create white or yellow light

3) LED [Light Emitting Diodes] – uses red, green and blue LEDs

4) Hybrid – uses a combination of LED and lasers

Each of these approaches has its strengths and weaknesses – and each comes with certain

design variations that further differentiate the products and how they may best fit a specific

application. For example, Wolf Cinema has released three LED-based projection systems over the

last 5 years, two of which remain available in the company’s current assortment. These LED

solutions are terrific imagers in their own right, with extended color gamut and excellent contrast

performance. The only limitation with LED systems is in peak white performance, typically around

1000 ANSI [post calibration].

In this paper, we will focus on Wolf Cinema’s implementation of the new BLU-Escent™

laser illumination technologies, as originally developed by our OEM partner JVC Kenwood. The

DLD-380FD projection system boasts a sixth-generation, three-chip D-ILA™ light engine core,

powered by the BLU-Escent laser phosphor illumination technology, mated with our outboard

ProScaler MK III video processor, and features numerous other imaging enhancements to deliver

bright, colorful and high contrast images over very long system life.

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The BLU-Escent Laser Illumination Technology

The DLD-380FD projector – while physically and cosmetically similar to Wolf Cinema’s lamp-

based D-ILA projectors – uses a solid state illumination module consisting of a laser block and a

phosphor wheel (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Elements of the BLU-Escent Light Source

The laser block consists of 16 high powered blue lasers. These are extremely reliable and

stable for tens of thousands of hours. The blue laser light excites the phosphors along the edge of the

wheel, which creates yellow light. The yellow light is further separated into red and green

components – which, along with the blue laser light, provide for the R-G-B illumination needed for

the imaging block in the projector.

The DLD-380FD projector’s illumination system is further differentiated by its unique design

architecture. The BLU-Escent engine uses a reflective phosphor wheel, rather than a transmissive

one as may be used in other systems. As shown in Figure 2, this reflective approach reduces optical

loss and boosts luminance efficiency. The result is significantly higher contrast, excellent peak white

performance and increased system reliability.

Figure 2: Reflective vs. Transmissive Laser Phosphor Wheel Designs