Sony's Black Projector screen, where is it?

[Jon P. Inghram]

Hey KvH, read up on Color vision as the Hyperphysics site, there's nothing wierd going on.

[Wombat]

It's easy for me to figure out how it would only display 3 frequencies.

What I can't figure out, is if the emitted/reflected frequencies are Fr, Fg, and Fb, and there is ambient light that's say, Fr+delta, then why wouldn't it emit extra Fr light?

[Sasq]

There might be some sort of polarizing coat - hence specific projector and correct setup angle etc

[DGhost]

Originally posted by Wombat
It's easy for me to figure out how it would only display 3 frequencies.

What I can't figure out, is if the emitted/reflected frequencies are Fr, Fg, and Fb, and there is ambient light that's say, Fr+delta, then why wouldn't it emit extra Fr light?

thats kinda been my big hang up. the only easy solution i can think of is that perhaps it absorbs more light than others. by absorbing a certain level of light, say the amount equal to the individual intensities of the average ambient/diffuse lightwaves, it would cut out a lot of the "washout" effect (read: background noise) that occurs from ambient light. as the projector is inherently brighter than the surrounding ambient light, it might work well. the question would be, would the inherent cut in brightness be compensated for by seeing the picture without the washout effects? My experience is that people tend to turn the brightness up just to compensate for light rooms - would having a darker screen acctually benefit?

wild crazy ideas here.

edit: kinda thinking this could be inline with the "less is more" idea behind using screens and textured walls instead of white sheets.

mebee.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Incandescent lights put out a continuous spectrum. Depending on the type, fluorescent bulbs can have pretty much a continuous spectrum or have more narrow emission bands. A projector uses filters to put out only red, green, and blue light, although the bandwidth of the colors probably varies from model to model and between manufactures.

Your eyes are not only sensitive to "red," "green," and "blue," they are senstive to the entire range of the visible spectrum. Colors can take the form of pure spectral colors (one wavelength) or a wide varity of combinations that need not be RGB (in fact, RGB mixtures can't produce all the visible colors.)

The new Sony screen is somehow filtered to only reflect the same bands of frequencies that projectors output, centered around red, green, and blue.

Assuming a continuous spectrum ambient light:

A screen that evenly reflects all frequencies of light will look white.

A screen that only reflects red, green, and blue will also appear white, but will be dimmer under the same illumination due to the total amount of light reflected being reduced.

In a darkened room with a projector both screens should look the same assuming they both reflect the same in the R,G, and B bands that the projector puts out.

In a well lit room the white screen will lose contrast and saturation because of the ambient reflected light adding to the reflected projector light. Due to the eye's logarithmic response to brightness you would have to significantly increase the projectors output to regain the contrast of the darkened room and probably end up with an uncomforably bright image.

With the Sony screen the total amount of ambient light reflected from the screen would be greatly reduced (but NOT eliminated since the ambient light will have some light that's in the screens bandwidth,) with the amount of reduction depending on the narrowness of the filters. The projected image may also be dimmed if the screen and projector filters don't match, but it should always improve the contrast assuming they're somewhat close.

If the room was, for some odd reason, lit with nothing but red, green, and blue lights the Sony screen would be useless because the ambient lighting would be in the exact frequencies the screen is designed to reflect, plus you'd have weird color problems in the room because of the light not matching the reflectance spectrums of various objects.

[Claymonkey]

Originally posted by Jon P. Inghram
If the room was, for some odd reason, lit with nothing but red, green, and blue lights the Sony screen would be useless because the ambient lighting would be in the exact frequencies the screen is designed to reflect, plus you'd have weird color problems in the room because of the light not matching the reflectance spectrums of various objects.

So this screen would be useless for displaying footage behind a band at a rock concert with colored lighting

[KvHagedorn]

I'm telling you guys, this is a half-baked, farqed up idea borne of unreasonable wants by spoiled people who want Falstaff but want him thin. It's gonna look like shit, but all you techies will get a hardon for it anyhow..

[DGhost]

personally, i usually only get hardons for hot chicks and small mammals.

it seems like a good/interesting idea. it might not quite be ready for mass market consumption, but any technology that could potentially offer reasonable improvements over what we have now is definately worth looking into, and most certainly not something that should be quickly dismissed. anyone who has spent any time in the industry should know this - you always want to look for something better if it exists, because you never know when the next big thing will be. even if it flops, evolutionary and revolutionary technology tends to have a way of coming back at us...

the only forseeable reason to not at least take the "lets see the actual product first" stance would potentially be brand prejudice... been burned by sony recently?

[Wombat]

Originally posted by DGhost
personally, i usually only get hardons for hot chicks and small mammals.

Oh shit, I'm in trouble!

[Claymonkey]

Originally posted by Wombat
Oh shit, I'm in trouble!

what? large mammals?

[Wombat]

<-- screenname

[Claymonkey]

so yes

[DGhost]

LOL

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Wombat
<-- screenname

or was that Waste Of Money, Brains, And Time?