Unsure about projection colors, color gamut, or color wheel? This article explains everything

When it comes to DLP home theater projectors, in addition to resolution and brightness, color performance can also make the difference between a flop and a blockbuster. Seen through the human eye, colors can directly affect a person’s mood. For example, blue skies and oceans, lush greens of trees and bushes, subtle pink of cherry blossoms, and vibrant yellow of sunflowers can each evoke special feelings while we appreciate their beauty. When enjoying movies, Iron Man’s red suit, Hulk’s green skin, and Captain America’s unmistakable blue all require accurate color reproduction to fully immerse the audience. So when choosing a projector, color-related specifications, including certifications, color gamut range, and color wheel design are all key characteristics of the utmost importance.

A projector’s certifications include color specifications such as Rec.709 and DCI-P3, used by broadcast and mainstream film industries. And the true key is not in labels or names in the specifications, but in the projector’s ability to reproduce the actual color gamut coverage according to the specifications. This often depends on color wheel segments, and high-end home projectors typically use six-segment RGBRGB color wheels, with color wheel craftsmanship and techniques further affecting color representation. Let’s take a closer look at how we perfect BenQ home theater projectors’ color performance.

Common technical specifications related to DLP projectors include lumen rating, which represents brightness, contrast ratio, which measures dynamic range of brightness and darkness, and color specifications, – which affects color performance. Terms such as “color gamut” and “wide color gamut” may also be commonly used, though the concepts of “wide” or “narrow” projector color gamuts may be less intuitive.

Simply stated, color gamut is the range of colors a display device can show - the wider the color gamut, the more colors it can reproduce. However, the size of the color gamut alone cannot guarantee superior color performance. In addition to meeting international A/V color standards, the display device must also have low Delta E (color difference) values.

In Hollywood films, Rec.709 and DCI-P3 are the standards for theater-quality colors. For home theater use, projectors that conform closest to Rec.709 or DCI-P3 color standards offer superior color gamuts and the best ability to reproduce the authentic color of the film. And projectors with the lowest Delta E values* provide the most accurate colors for audiences to see precisely the colors and message the director intended, as well as the truest colors of the original film for a genuine movie-going experience. Therefore, how closely a projector’s color gamut corresponds to international color standards is significantly more important than the wideness or narrowness of the color gamut for color performance.

✱Delta E values can be found from professional A/V media benchmark reports or from manufacturer color calibration reports.

With color gamut as an index for accurate color reproduction, DLP projectors rely on superior opto-mechanical structures to achieve higher color gamut coverage. Careful light source selection and color wheel design affect the projection quality through the transmissive projector lens for color representation to precisely meet international color standards, with the color wheel as the most critical component. A color wheel is a circular disc comprised of many sets of colors such as RGB, RGBRGB, RGBW, RGBCMY, RGBCWY, etc., and it features a translucent design for the projector’s light source to shine through the color wheel to produce rich colors in the projected films and images.

Because the color wheel plays such a key role, it is important to scrutinize specifications related to the color wheel. Since high-end DLP home theater projectors typically utilize six-segment RGBRGB color wheels, this is a specification to look for. However, a six-segment RGBRGB color wheel still depends on the purity of colors in the six segments to guarantee accuracy and coverage of its color gamut. A color wheel with the purest colors can produce the most accurate colors and enhance color gamut coverage. This is the strong suit of BenQ projectors, as they are crafted by designers dual-certified by international A/V standards organizations THX and ISF to ensure that every BenQ projector delivers unsurpassed color accuracy for grand cinematic experiences.

A projector’s color representation affects every aspect of its performance. The most critical hardware components of the opto-mechanical structure, the color wheel segment design, and the color coating purity are all key factors that contribute to the number of colors reproduced and the color gamut coverage that are required to meet Hollywood’s international color standards. Each of these specifications and technical details are important and only projector models with high color gamut coverage can reproduce colors accurately for viewers to deeply feel the rich vividness of Hollywood movies and the emotions directors convey through colors. In addition to films, even still images with intense colors will be able to reflect BenQ projector’s ability to perfectly present the most beautiful and realistic colors.