Traditional projection systems use a high-power light source and amplitude (attenuating) light modulators (for example, DMD, LCD, or LCoS) to form an image by blocking light where it is not needed. This approach works well for images with limited dynamic range, but does not efficiently scale to applications that require high peak luminance and dark black levels, such as high-dynamic-range (HDR) content. Image statistics for HDR in the cinema suggest that the average picture level (APL) is typically about 5-10% of the peak luminance.

At SIGGRAPH 2014, this development team showed a monochromatic, low-power proof-of-principle projector and demonstrated that light that would otherwise be blocked in image formation can be used effectively to create very bright highlights. The demonstration was very well-received, but there were very obvious image artifacts, and it was unclear at the time how well the proposed technology would scale to the higher power required by larger screens or brighter ambient conditions for practical applications such as cinema, home theater, simulation, theme parks, and advertising.

A newly designed custom light source plus, an optimized system architecture, and improved image processing were combined to create the new prototype, which is now full color, 1000 lumens, and largely artifact-free (haloes, sharpness, uniformity, speckle, rendering). While this research prototype is still in an early stage of development, it shows that the technology has the potential to move beyond the research lab and affect our everyday lives.