High brightness projection systems and methods

An image projection system comprising:

• a hybrid projector for projecting an output image onto a screen, the hybrid projector comprising a light steering module and an attenuated light source, wherein the hybrid projector is configured to combine a steered light image produced from the light steering module with a base attenuated light image produced by the attenuated light source;
• and
• a controller operative to process image data comprising pixel values defining target illumination levels for the output image to be displayed and to generate control signals for the light steering module and/or the attenuated light source, wherein the processing comprises splitting light output between the steered light image and the base attenuated light image in such a manner that the steered light image includes a portion of the light for each of the pixels of the output image and the attenuated light image makes up a majority of the light for those pixels of the output image for which the target illumination levels is less than a first threshold level,
• wherein the processing of the image data further includes splitting the output image into a light steering image portion for illumination by the steered light image and a light non-steering image portion for illumination by the base attenuated light image, wherein the splitting of the output image is based on a function or look-up table.