The original duratrans film was exposed photographically and developed chemically using a similar silver halide process as conventional lab photography.
Over time, the phrase duratrans has been genericized to apply to various large format backlit graphic substrates, imaged in a variety of ways including photochemical and various types of inkjets.
The most common usage of duratrans is for the backlit graphic film used for promotional advertising displays in shopping malls, airports, casinos, movie theaters, restaurants, retail stores, trade show exhibit halls and any retail establishment that contains any number of backlit display lightboxes in which the printed duratrans graphic films must be inserted and illuminated, in order to gain the advantage of their backlightable property.
There is no other defining difference, except that possibly a fine art duratrans may be processed using higher resolutions, color depths, and/or other fabrication tolerances to effect a higher-precision result, for a more-demanding audience.
Translites for television news sets often contain photographs of city skylines, landscapes, the logos for the station and its network affiliation, control rooms, and abstract designs.