Thoughts on home theater projectors being reviewed, related products, and tips for users

JVC Announces New 3D Projector Models – Press Release


September 23rd, 2010 Art Feierman

Comment by Projector Reviews staff:

JVC has entered the 3D projector market with the introduction of their new models, the DLA-RS60, DLA-RS50 and DLA-RS40 (for the Professional Products Group), and 3 for the Consumer Electronics Division, the DLA-X9, DLA-X7 and DLA-X3. Art says,  “the most important point to emphasize about these new models is the substantial lumen boost (to 1300 lumens).  This is critical for the 3 new RS JVC’s because they are all 3D capable (yep blu-ray…), and with 3D, as most of you know, you lose at least 50% of the brightness.”

PRESS RELEASE FOLLOWS:

JVC INTRODUCES 3D-ENABLED D-ILA HOME THEATER PROJECTORS WITH UP TO 100,000:1 NATIVE CONTRAST RATIO

Six New Models Announced at CEDIA 2010

ATLANTA, September 23, 2010 – JVC U.S.A. today unveiled six new 3D-enabled D-ILA projectors here at CEDIA EXPO 2010. All six host native contrast ratios that are unmatched in the industry, with the top models delivering a 100,000:1 native contrast ratio.

The new projectors are the Reference Series DLA-RS60, DLA-RS50 and DLA-RS40, to be marketed by JVC’s Professional Products Group, and the Procision Series DLA-X9, DLA-X7 and DLA-X3, to be available through JVC’s Consumer Electronics Group.

“3D has recently become a major box office draw. Now, with 3D broadcast channels emerging, and a growing number of 3D Blu-ray titles available, consumers want the immersive 3D experience in their homes,” said Gary Klasmeier, product engineering manager, D-ILA Systems, JVC Professional Products. “Our new line of D-ILA projectors sets a new standard for home cinema. It’s an immersive home 3D viewing experience.”

For 3D content, each projector includes two HDMI 1.4a ports and supports side-by-side (broadcast), frame series (Blu-ray), and above-below 3D transmissions. An external 3D Signal Emitter (PK-EM1) syncs the projected image Read the rest of this entry »

Epson Introduces PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 and 8700UB – Press Release


September 23rd, 2010 Art Feierman

Comment by Projector Reviews Staff:

We are very excited that Epson has today introduced two new 1080p home cinema projectors, the PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 and 8700UB, successors to their very popular Home Cinema 8100 and 8500UB.  We do in fact, have the 8350 in-house for Art to get a first look at when he returns from CEDIA next week.  Stay tuned….

Epson Adds Two High-Performance 1080p Projectors to Award-Winning Home Cinema Line

PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 and 8700 UB Deliver Affordable, High-Definition Home Theater Experiences
ATLANTA (CEDIA Expo 2010, Booth 2406) – Sept. 23, 2010 – Epson America today expanded its award-winning line of 3LCD™ home theater projectors with the announcement of the PowerLite® Home Cinema 8350 and 8700 UB. These two projectors offer native 1080p resolution and Epson’s latest 3LCD technology with C2Fine® chip sets for amazing color and detail, high contrast ratios and road-tested reliability. The value-packed Home Cinema 8350 and 8700 UB also include Epson’s award-winning customer service and support, delivering an outstanding and affordable viewing experience for home entertainment and AV enthusiasts.
As the number-one selling projector brand worldwide[i], Epson has priced the Home Cinema 8350 and 8700 UB in the sub-$1,300 and sub-$2,200 categories, respectively, offering consumers two options for affordable Read the rest of this entry »

Sanyo PLV-Z4000 clarification


September 23rd, 2010 Art Feierman

Hi everyone, remember the new Sanyo review has not been proofed yet. I want to be clear about one point. I’ve said in the review, that I cannot tell whether the improvements in color handling that I noted, were actually improvements, in the 4000 from the 3000, or firmware updates done as a 3000. I fully stand by my statements that the Z4000 I received after calibration definitely was slightly improved over the 3000 we reviewed. -a

New projector commentary from CEDIA is coming, in the morning


September 23rd, 2010 Art Feierman

In my next blog – I got a look at the Epson Pro Cinema 31000, and the 9700UB (replaces the 9500UB), and the new JVCs, which will be the focus of that blog.
Tomorrow I meet with Optoma, BenQ, Vivitek, and a couple others, so more blogs Friday night (hopefully) or Saturday, and the rest when I’m back home.
That’s it, gotta run, they have parties at these CEDIA shows. -art

Projector Press Releases


September 23rd, 2010 Art Feierman

You will be noticing a whole pile of new home theater press releases, on the blog. That’s because I’ve gotten a lot of requests… Problem is, I often do not speak of a new projector except in passing until one is inbound for review. As a result, those who rely primarily on projectorreviews.com, often were a bit late finding out about such things. Posting the press releases helps solve that communication issue.

I’d like also to announce that in a day or 4, we’ll put up a second blog – focused on press releases on new projectors for business, education, and home.
We’re still debating whether to keep putting the new home theater press releases on this blog “the art..”, or just to restrict them to the new blog. Your feedback is more than welcome.

One more thing. Lori (the wife) handles inputting all the projectors into our database, will be posting the press release blogs, including most of the ones now up…

She’s not a reviewer, but she’s been listening to me babble about this gear for more than 15 years.
She will try to flag one or two points she thinks I would consider worthy of mentioning first, before you get into all the manufacturer’s hype.

For example, on the new JVC projectors press release (tonight hopefully), she points out that the substantial lumen boost is critical for the 3 new RS JVC’s because they are all 3D capable (yep blu-ray…), and with 3D, as most of you know, you lose at least 50% of the brightness.

That type of tidbit is the kind of thing I’ve asked Lori to come up with. Often she may ask me for points, but during the show, she’ll probably post 5+ releases (most are multiple products), and “she’s on her own”.

Projector Reviews was down today – sorry…


September 23rd, 2010 Art Feierman

Greetings!
Folks, sorry, we had some site server issues this starting past weekend (email erratic…) so we did an emergency change to a more robust server (we’re in the clouds now). Unfortunately, the transition which started yesterday, had our site still a bit erratic by this morning.
Actually the site has been fine since about 7:30 am east coast time, but for many of us, the old address in your computer caches, may be pointing you to the old IP. Of course, me writing this won’t help those still suffering the problem, because you couldn’t get to the blog either.
Bottom line. If you are having difficulty – totally, or intermittantly, then our webmaster says all you have to do is reboot your computer. That worked for our PC’s back at the “office” and all three apple devices I have with me at CEDIA – macbook pro, iphone and ipad.
Once again, sorry bout that. But, we’re running well now, unless you have that cache problem.