UST (Ultra Short Throw) projectors have become a popular alternative to large flat panel TVs and traditional projectors due to their reasonable prices and relatively simple installation. Hisense was one of the first companies to offer consumer UST projectors and has been advancing the technology every year. At CES this week, the company unveiled one of the first UST projectors to offer full Ultra HD 8K resolution: the Hisense 120LX.
8K resolution (7680 x 4320 pixels) features 33 million individual pixels: that’s four times the resolution of a 4K display and 16 times the resolution of a Full HD 1080p display. Of course, there is virtually no 8K content yet, but having all these pixels means this Hisense projector will be able to upconvert HD and 4K signals to 8K resolution in order to improve the perceived detail. Pixels are only one part of the equation when it comes to image quality, so Hisense intends to up its game in the contrast and color rendition departments as well in order to create a true state of the art cinematic experience at home.
There are not a lot of details to be found yet on this limited edition projector but here’s what we know so far.
Hisense LX120 Features and Specifications:
- Full 8K Resolution (7680 x 4320 pixels)
- 120-Inch Screen Included
- TriChroma Triple Color Laser Light Source
- Reproduction of 107% of the BT.2020 Color Space
- Built-in Sound by Harman Kardon
- Dolby Atmos, DTS Virtual:X audio on board
- IMAX Enhanced certification
- Dolby Vision and HDR10 High Dynamic Range Support
- Google TV and NextGen TV streaming including Netflix built-in
- WiFi 6e high speed wireless networking
- Apple Airplay 2 support
- HDMI 2.1 inputs with support for HDCP 2.3
- ATSC 3.0 Next gen OTA Tuner Built-in
As to how they will generate native 8K resolution, we believe Hisense will be using a new 0.94″ 4K native resolution DLP DMD device and will be pixel shifting this image 4 times in order to get 8K resolution. Pixel shifting technology is used by most current DLP projectors (including Hisense projectors) in order to deliver 4K resolution using standard 1080p DMD devices, but 8K resolution will definitely need a higher resolution native imaging device.
Neither Texas Instruments nor Hisense has confirmed the existence or details of such a DMD chip. So this is mostly speculation at this point. There was a Hisense press release last month about a 0.94″ chip being used, but no details provided as to its resolution. We will update this article with details as they become available.
Pricing and availability of the 120LX has not yet been announced. But as the first of its kind, we expect it to be expensive.
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