August 31st, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings everyone!
Epson's new Home Cinema 5020UB Projector
OK, around here we know all about the Epson models that the Home Cinema 5020UB and Home Cinema 5020UBe will replace. The older 5010 has been a major favorite of ours.
So, what’s going to make the Home Cinema 5020UB worth the wait?
Here are a few tidbits, best I can confirm: First, the new 5020 projectors look exactly like the older projectors they replace. No cosmetics upgrade! Still mostly off white, with a center mounted 2.1:1 zoom lens, but with much of the front trim dark gray.
Look for the 5020 to be the same 2400 lumens brightness, which should see the new Home Cinema 5020UB and 5020UBE continue to hold the title for brightest home theater projectors under $5000. Note, the “e” version comes with wireless HDMI.
But, also look for an improvement in contrast and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 3D Projectors, Industry, News, Products | 3 Comments »
August 31st, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings Projector Fans!
It’s touch and go time here. the big IFA tradeshow has begun in Germany, and as is the case most years, it’s shortly before the US CEDIA tradeshow.
Epson's new Home Cinema 5020UB looks like the older 5010
These two shows are where most new home theater and home entertainment projectors are announced.
My understanding is that here in the US, Epson like many other home theater projector manufacturers, is distributing information on their new projectors in advance of CEDIA to we members of the press, but with the restriction, that “it’s a secret” until Sept 5th, which is Press day at CEDIA.
What that means to you, is that even if Epson told me everything about any new home projectors, I couldn’t legitimately share that info with you until they lift the “embargo”.
Fortunately, that doesn’t really apply to information Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 3D Projectors, Industry, News, Products | 5 Comments »
August 14th, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings, I’m freshly back from Outside Lands music festival, and dropping Lisa back off at college. Mike’s returning the Sharp XV-Z30000 projector in a couple of hours, so I can get back into some serious reviewing.
The Sharp XV-Z30000 - Best In Cave or Home Theater
For those of you who read my “First Look” blog about the XV-Z30000 home theater projector, I conjectured that it was fairly bright. I didn’t get a chance to set it up side by side with any other projectors for reference (which would have made “guessing” rather accurate). In the last blog I did guess that the Z30000 projector might produce 1500 lumens in its brightest mode – Stage.
Wrong. I was just looking at Mike’s calibration and measurement summary. I was overly optimistic. Stage mode which actually looks pretty good (as mentioned) though definitely on the cool temperature side, at maximum measured just over 1100 lumens. (Now we know Mike’s meter is more conservative than our others here, but we go by Mike’s for all home theater projector reviews.) The point there is don’t be surprised if other reviewers find an extra 100 lumens or so.
Still, by our reckoning, that makes the Sharp Read the rest of this entry »
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August 8th, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings all,
Sharp's 3D capable, XV-Z30000 home theater projector
Today our second Sharp XV-Z30000 projector arrived. The first, some of you may remember, arrived about 3 weeks ago, but it was freight damaged. (Someone did an impressive job on the box.) It powered up, but operationally it was a disaster, with a major problem with the “light engine”.
XV-Z30000 number two, exhibits no immediately obvious problems. I’ve had it running for about 3 hours, mostly watching the Olympics. As I write this I’ve got the woman’s Beach Volley Ball finals on, in fact, May/Walsh is one point from winning the goal. Pause… They won another gold! Cool. color’s really good, I’m currently using Movie 1, the brighter of two movie modes (mostly the difference seems to be which brightness mode, which iris settings between Movie 1 and 2). Skin tones look really good. Note: I’m watching beach volleyball, there’s plenty of tanned skin to observe. Movie mode is probably a tad over saturated, but it could be the feed.
Normally, I’d have this XV-Z30000 in Sports mode, or one of the other bright modes. Sports looks Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 3D Projectors, About our website, New Projector Reviews, Products | 3 Comments »
July 1st, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings,
We’ve received this new 720p Epson projector, and Mike has it now, for measurements and calibration. I’ll get it back on Monday and start running it through its paces.
Sharp XV-Z30000 - Cool
Sharp announced at CES in January, the XV-Z30000 to replace their XV-Z17000. That older Z was the first of the affordable 1080p 3D capable projectors to ship. I’m looking forward to see what they’ve accomplished in the over two years since the first one launched.
I really like the look of the Sharp projector. Of course it’s the performance we really care about. I thought this projector would arrive this week, but there seems to be a delay. Will keep you posted. -art. SIM2 is also promising a C3X one of their $40K projectors I believe. That should arrive before the end of July. It will be the most expensive projector I’ve ever reviewed, but I figure it’s going to be hard pressed to top the Sony Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 3D Projectors, Products, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
June 13th, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings all,
Sony VPL-VW1000ES - a True 4K Projector for Home Theater
The title says it all!
After almost 6 weeks with the Sony VPL-VW1000ES, first, I have say, no question: The VPL-VW1000ES is definitely, by my taste, the best Home Theater – or perhaps I should say, Home Cinema projector I have had the opportunity to review. Now, I confess, this is a $24,999 projector so expectations were high going in. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 3D Projectors, New Projector Reviews, Opinion | 5 Comments »
June 4th, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings all! Most of the Classroom Projector Report: Best School Projectors for K-12 Education is up and ready!
I will still be making a few changes, no doubt, including more smaller comparisons and overviews.
The Epson BrightLink 485Wi interactive projector.
The Best In Classroom awards are up! If you haven’t read about them in-depth yet, here’s a taste:
The Classroom Projector Report divides the 16 projectors considered into two classes, “Interactive” and “Standard” (non-interactive).
For the second year in a row, an Epson BrightLink model took our Best in Classroom award for the interactive class. Read the rest of this entry »
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April 15th, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings all, Well, I’ve finally come up for air. Most of the 1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report is up, and proofed, at this point.
JVC Home Theater Projector
Still will add a few things, and will try to get about 5-7 more direct comparisons added, mostly so far, it’s just two new ones, and a bunch of carry-fowards from previous years.
The Best In Class awards are up, so for those who haven’t been there yet, the short version:
Down in the under $2K range, carved out a special Best In Class award, 2D only, which went to the Panasonic PT-AR100 projector – PT-AR100U, here in the US.
For 2D and 3D capability, a tie. The Epson has the muscle with their Home Cinema 3010, and bright 3D, and great warranty and support. The Acer H9500BD, though, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 3D Projectors, New Projector Reviews, Opinion, Products | 7 Comments »
March 31st, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings, the JVC X70 went live a few hours ago. Still needs proofing, some additional content and images. Enjoy.As many of you will expect, it’s a great projector – at least for 2D. 3D, not so much (still a bit dim). Unbeatable black level performance. $8K approximate street price, THX. Click here for the review. -art
Posted in 3D Projectors, New Projector Reviews | 3 Comments »
March 1st, 2012 Art Feierman
Greetings gamers, etc.
OK, I’m not the guy to write about gaming. I’ve got two hard core gamers doing that – Pete and Scott. But, Pete’s just blogged on the Epson Home Cinema 5010 as a gaming projector and I just shipped him the W7000 (click for review) so that’s next on his list.
After speaking with Pete, I did some Lag tests. As you gamers know, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in 3D Games and Gaming, 3D Projectors, gaming and Game projectors, Home Theater Projector issues | 4 Comments »
