[cyberheater]

I'm looking to upgrade my AE200 and I'm seeing threads that basically seem to point to the fact the LCD based machines are suspectible to dust blobs.

Are DPL machines dust blob free.

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

No DLP is not dust blob free. Even the ones that claim to have sealed optical pathways can get contaminants in the optical path. They do seem to be more robust in avoiding this issue though.

Gordon

[cyberheater]

Thanks Gordon. Just the info I was looking for.

[drbob]

Originally Posted by Gordon @ Convergent AV

No DLP is not dust blob free. Even the ones that claim to have sealed optical pathways can get contaminants in the optical path. They do seem to be more robust in avoiding this issue though.

It's due to the different ways dlp and lcd work. DLP has one chip and a spinning colour wheel whilst LCD has three chips (red, green, blue). Three chips means you're 3 time more likely to end up with a dust blob on one of them (given the same level of air filtering). A recent LCD projector, the Sanyo Z3, has 3 ventilation holes you can blow compressed air down to clear any dust blobs, so potential dust is less of an issue with it.

[Daftboy]

Basically the optics are tighter and smaller than LCD, plus generally less air pressure is passed through DLP optics.