Digital projector achieves maximum contrast

MUNICH, Germany — During the International Planetarium Society meeting in Chicago, Carl Zeiss AG (Jena, Germany) has presented a digital projector that surpasses the contrast offered by existing solutions almost by a factor of 100. The difference has been achieved by innovative optical technologies, Carl Zeiss said without specifying what exactly causes the difference. The projector, dubbed Velvet, is based on Texas Instruments' DLP technology. However, while conventional projectors achieve a contrast ratio of 30.000 : 1, the new instrument features a ratio of 2.500.000 : 1. Designed for and demonstrated in a planetarium application, the projector impressed with the total blackness of the background of its projection instead of the somewhat grayish background typically achieved with available solutions. The impression was... [read full story]