Projector technology has improved a lot since its invention thirty years ago.

How projectors work depend on what type of projector you’re looking at.

Before you understand how projectors work, you should first know there are different types of projectors.

Types of Projectors

There are three types of projectors used today: LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), DLP (Digital Light Processing), and LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicone).

1 – LCD Projectors

LCD projectors use three liquid crystal panels (a lamp, filters, and, a prism) to create images that they project to the screen.

The lamp gives off white light that passes through the filter where it is polarized.

The filter accepts light that passes through on the same plane. They block the other lights.

Then the light goes through to a series of dichroic mirrors. The dichroic mirrors separate the light into green, red, and blue.

It reflects only three light colors. Others just pass through.

2 – DLP Projectors

A lamp releases light that passes through a spinning color wheel.

The light then bounces off of a single DMD chip. Microscopic tilting mirrors cover a DMD chip’s surface.

The reflected light passes through the lens and projects the image to the screen.

DMD Explained

The DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) chip is the most essential part of a DLP projector.

Each DMD chip has one or two million micromirrors. Every pixel is a reflective mirror.

The micromirrors tilt quickly when the video image source is displayed.

The image comes out in grayscale. Colors are added as light passes through a spinning color wheel.

The micromirrors reflect off the images.

The micromirrors tilt towards or away from the light source and the color wheel. This makes the colors of the images.

The light passes through a lens and the lens projects the image to the screen.

3 – LCoS Projectors

LCoS projectors are a mix of LCD and DLP projectors.

They work using liquid crystal chips with a mirrored backing.

The mirrors reflect the images through them like in a DLP projector. But uses liquid crystal to block light like in an LCD projector.

An LCoS chip is made up of a transparent thin film transistor, a liquid crystal layer, and a semiconductor made of silicon.

The light hits the transparent layer then goes to the liquid crystal layer.

The liquid crystal layer manages the amount of light that enters the semiconductor’s surface depending on the image that will be projected.

Then the semiconductor layer reflects the light.

There are three LCoS chips. A prism combines light from each chip. This creates the final image. The screen projects the image to the screen through the lens.

LCD Versus DLP Versus LCoS

Contrast Ratio

LCoS is the winner when it comes to contrast ratio, followed by LCD projectors.

LCoS projectors have higher native contrast ratio. This enables LCoS projectors to display bright images bright and dark images, dark.

Brightness

LCos Projectors are not very good when it comes to brightness.  LCD and DLP projectors do a better job when it comes to light output.

Color

When it comes to color, all three types of projectors have the potential to project images with good colors.

It may differ depending on the brand. Check reviews from other users to see which brand is best.