Luminus Devices, Inc. (Woburn, Massachusetts; www.luminus.com) is the 4-year-old company that is threatening to remake the rear-projection microdisplay TV map by supplying LEDs, called PhlatLights, which are bright enough to replace UHP projection lamps. Half a dozen manufacturers showed prototypes at CES in January and Samsung promised to have a model for sale in June. Luminus will also be at Projection Summit to update attendees on its plans.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor
of MDTV Retailer

But does an R&D company spun out of MIT in 2002 with the seeds of a potentially transformational technology called the "photonic lattice" have the wherewithal to maintain a reliable supply line for the likes of a Samsung? As of this month, the answer is $38M closer to being "yes."

On May 1, Luminus announced it had closed approximately $38M in new venture financing. Participants in the round include Luminus’ current investors Battery Venture Partners, Argonaut Private Equity, Stata Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ-New England and Eastward Capital, plus several new investors. Luminus, sensibly, will use the investment to expand capacity and its PhlatLight product line.

Udi Meirav, CEO of Luminus Devices said, "We are tremendously encouraged by the level of interest in our PhlatLight technology and the opportunity this investment has afforded us to meet our customers’ demand. This puts Luminus in a superb position to begin capturing the value we have been working to create since our inception."

Using LEDs as the light source in an MDTV have several important advantages over the currently used UHP lamp. First, they expand the range of displayable colors substantially, so intense reds can look as intense as they really are, and a wider range of greens and purer greens can be shown. Second, LEDs have long lifetimes. Using them eliminates the single biggest problem for owners of MDTVs, which is changing the UHP lamp every 3-6K hours at a cost of $250 or more - sometimes much more.

Until Luminous changed the calculus at CES, LEDs just weren’t bright enough for mainstream projection applications. Photonic lattice technology changes that. When a precisely dimensioned lattice is place on the emitting surface of an LED, it directs far more of the emitted light in the forward direction, where it can be collected by the optical system and ultimately find it’s way to the screen on the MDTV set. The difference is substantial - and enough to make LED MDTVs viable as mainstream products for the first time.

Will the resulting consumer products simply delay the transition to flat-panel TVs in the 40-inch-plus segment, or will PhlatLight MDTVs be such attractive products that they halt - or even reverse - that trend?

Those questions will be the subject of ongoing coverage in Insight Media’s monthly newsletters Projection Monthly and HDTV Retailer and at the Projection Summit.