Patent attributes
A light modulating unit includes first and second light modulating sections each of which modulates an illumination light on the basis of a video signal to generate a projection light that is a linearly polarized light, a light path synthesizing section which synthesizes the projection lights generated by the first and second light modulating sections using the nature that directions of polarizations of the projection lights cross at right angles, and a beam shifting section which sets beams of the projection lights synthesized by the light path synthesizing section, in a shifted state or a non-shifted state on the basis of the directions of polarizations of the projection lights, the beam shifting section switching the shifted state and the non-shifted state synchronously with modulation timings for the first and second light modulating sections.