Happy 20th, DLP!
It's hard to believe, but the DLP chip turns 20 this month. The inventor, TI employee Larry Hornbeck, will be inducted to the National Academy of Engineering this month in recognition of his contributions. DLP has faced significant competition in the HDTV market from LCD, plasma and LCoS, but it totally owns the big screen where the technology is used in 99% of the worldwide digital cinemas. Looking forward, DLP keeps improving. Perhaps more exciting, are applications in 3D imaging, which might not take off for comsumerapplications, but get oohs and ahhs from the data visualization crowd. Hornbeck must be proud of his invention indeed; quite a turnaround for a physicist who at one point felt "resigned to drive a cab!"
