Lamp vs LED vs laser
What generates the light: - lamp: a UHP mercury lamp. - led: RGB LEDs. - laser_phosphor: blue laser exciting a yellow/green phosphor. - laser_rgb: discrete red, green and blue lasers. - hybrid: laser + LED.
- Standard
- ISO/IEC 21118 Table 1 item 6
- ISO 21118
- ISO 21118 required
How to compare it
Light source type
Lamp: cheap, bright per pound, short life, colour drift. LED: long life, modest output, good colour. Laser-phosphor: long life, instant on, stable. RGB laser: widest gamut, but speckle and observer-metamerism issues.
Light source detail
Lamp wattage/type, or laser configuration (e.g. 'blue laser + phosphor', 'RGB triple laser', 'ALPD').
Lets us group engines across rebadged brands.
Standard: ISO/IEC 21118 item 6
Lamp wattage(W)
The nominal lamp power. Required by ISO when the source is a lamp.
Lets you compare running cost and heat between lamp models. It isn't a brightness proxy across designs.
Standard: ISO/IEC 21118 (lamp only)
Laser wavelengths(nm)
The peak wavelength of each laser primary.
Determines the gamut ceiling and speckle character. Rarely published; a spectro reviewer can measure it.
Standard: Vendor / spectroradiometer
Marketing traps
- Light source type: 'Laser' alone doesn't say which kind, and phosphor vs RGB behave very differently. Also, 'laser TV' is a category name, not a technology.
Across the catalogue
Lamp wattage
2 of 24 projectors list it- Optoma UHD35STx240 W
- Epson Home Cinema 2350200 W
Deep cut
Light source type. Notes per source: - UHP lamps are short-arc mercury, ~200–350 W in consumer projectors, with a spiky spectrum that needs filtering for accurate colour. - Phosphor wheels rotate to spread the heat. - RGB-laser primaries are near-monochromatic, typically ~465 / ~525 / ~639 nm class.
Laser wavelengths. Narrow-band primaries amplify *observer metamerism*: two people see a 'calibrated' white differently, because colour-matching functions vary between individuals more at spectral extremes. The CIE 1931 2° observer is known to misrepresent narrow-band displays, which is why some calibrators apply a white-point offset for RGB-laser projectors.
Terms on this page
UHP / mercury lamp
The traditional ultra-high-pressure lamp. Cheap and bright, but warm-up is slow, brightness and color shift over life, and replacements cost money. Life is typically ~4,000–6,000 h in normal mode and ~7,500–15,000 h in eco mode (checked on Epson and BenQ spec sheets). ⚖ light.source = lamp, light.lamp_life_hours_normal, light.lamp_life_hours_eco
Laser phosphor (blue laser + phosphor)
Blue laser diodes excite a yellow phosphor wheel or plate, which produces broadband light that is then filtered, sometimes with a color wheel. This is the most common "laser projector" design. It gives a long, stable life of 20,000–30,000 h, and gamut is usually around Rec.709 to roughly 90% DCI-P3. ⚖ light.source = laser_phosphor
RGB laser / triple laser
Separate red, green and blue lasers. Very wide gamut, often near or above 100% BT.2020 coverage in xy (check the CIE space). Prone to speckle, and some viewers see "RGB laser metamerism" color differences. Common in modern UST and portable models. ⚖ light.source = laser_rgb
Hybrid (laser + LED)
For example, a blue laser plus red/green LEDs, or an LED array plus laser. These go under names such as XGIMI's "Dual Light" and others. ⚖ light.source = hybrid, light.source_detail
LED
RGB LEDs are sequential on DLP, or white LEDs sit behind LCD. They have long life (~20,000–30,000 h) and are compact, but are less bright per watt at high output. "LED lumens" is not a recognised unit (see below). ⚖ light.source = led