What’s new - what’s in the works, Mitsubishi HC3800 video clip, Epson etc.

Greetings all.

Just a heads up.  For the next roughly 3 days, I won’t be checking the blogs, and responding, sorry, but will try to catch up on the weekend.

In the meantime, I have just finished working on one of two videos.  The first one is now live on YouTube.

Basically it’s a 2+ minute teaser.  It’s a very short summary (humorous I hope) of our not long ago, Mitsubishi HC3800 review, a projector I really like a lot.  Click here:  The YouTube Mitsubishi HC3800 video summary of the full HC3800 projector review, is live. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, New Projector Reviews, News, Opinion | 2 Comments »

Panasonic PT-AE4000 Home Theater Projector - A First Look review

Greetings everyone!

OK, I know a lot of folks have been waiting quite a while for this especially with the first online review of the PT-AE4000 published what is now several weeks ago.  And since I’m getting a whole ton of Panasonic PT-AE4000 vs. Epson UB questions by email, I’ll give you all my latest thoughts on that contest, throughout this blog.

As is usual, this is a “First Look” and not the full projector review.  I’ve been working with the PT-AE4000 projector since Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, New Projector Reviews, Opinion | 6 Comments »

Infocomm 2009 - A few new home theater projectors announced

Greetings again!

I’m going to keep almost all of this piece to the home theater side of what was shown at Infocomm 2009.  There was far more action - as expected, on the business side, with many dozens of new biz projectors.  Hey, this is a home theater blog, so I won’t bore you.  I will add an article about Infocomm 2009 to the website late next week, discussing a number of the new business projectors as well as, in general LED light source projectors and 3D projector solutions.  3D is getting A LOT of attention in the commercial space, but I figure we are still a few years off before we see any real move toward 3D in our homes.

Where to start?  Hmm!  Vivitek, a not overly well known Taiwanese manufacturer was showing an LED lightsource based projector, the H9080HD.  I should have a review unit late July, and publish (hopefully) in the  first half Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, News, Products | 4 Comments »

InFocus gets a new life?

Greetings!

Yesterday, InFocus announced that it was being acquired by private company IHC, which is controlled by John Hui, one of the original co-founders of eMachines (a maker of low cost PCs, that ultimately was purchased by Gateway Computer).  IHC, like InFocus is headquartered in Oregon.   Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, News | No Comments »

Back from CES - catching up on comments - JVC, Optoma review units coming

Greetings all,

OK, five days in Las Vegas, at the CES show.  Not much in new home theater projectors - and not much was expected as most new projectors were announce at CEDIA in September.

Of note, Optoma has two versions of a new projector, featuring a 1.5:1 zoom lens, and vertical lens shift. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, Products | 4 Comments »

Catching Up: Next Reviews - Optoma Epson, DVDO … other issues

Greetings all, 

Well, I’m slammed with emails asking about when the Epson 6100 and 6500 UB will be reviewed.  I’m still waiting, like all the other reviewers, for Epson to release review units.  As of yesterday, their PR firm (PR firms usually handle such things) still was telling me.  ”We haven’t gotten them in yet, but soon”.  They still say, this month.

Both are top priority over here (if they both arrive same day, the UB will be first, however. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, New Projector Reviews, Opinion, Products | No Comments »

Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, Mitsubishi HC7000 pricing

Greetings,

As everyone in the market for a “top of the line” 3LCD home theater projector realizes, the major new projector entries, notably the Epson Home Cinema 6500UB, the Sanyo PLV-Z3000 and the Mitsubishi HC7000, all compete directly with the Panasonic PT-AE3000U, which just set a price point of $2499.

The Epson HOme Cinema 6500 UB claims the highest contrast ratio of any home projector

In my earlier blog, today, I wrote about the lower than expected PT-AE3000U home theater projector pricing. The big question is will Epson, with their Home Cinema 6500 UB, come down to match the price of the Panasonic, when Epson ships?  What about the pricing on the Sanyo PLV-Z3000 and the Mitsubishi HC7000?

Just for fun, my guesses:   I expect Sanyo, with their PLV-Z3000, will definitely go for pricing parity, it seems to be their nature.  Over the years they have almost always come in at the same price or slightly less, when compared to the Panasonic home theater projector competition.  Those two companies just love to slug it out. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, Opinion, Products | 9 Comments »

Panasonic PT-AE3000U Projector News - Oh, what a price!

Greetings everyone!

I learned yesterday, from one Panasonic PT-AE3000U, authorized dealer, and then confirmed it with another:

Panasonic has set the MAP price (minimum advertised price) for the PT-AE3000U at $2499.
That pretty much determines selling price which now will be there, or in some cases, just slightly less.

Dealers are pre-selling the PT-AE3000U, and expecting first shipments in late next week.

With previous projectors, Panasonic has fiddled around with promotions with extended warranties, free blockbuster rental cards, etc.

Looks like this Q4, though, that Panasonic is keeping things simple, Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, News, Products | 1 Comment »

Home Theater Projector Reviews: Coming Up soon, Comparison

Greetings everyone,

It’s that time of year again.  Most of the major home theater projector manufacturers rolled out their new projectors at CEDIA, with a few projectors shipping immediately, but most with first shipments scheduled for October, November, and December.

I’m getting buried in emails from folks asking when I’m going to get to this one, or that one.  In some cases I know, in others I have ball park promises from the manufacturers.  To keep my life simple, here’s what’s happening, and my best guess as to the answer to the question “when”.

By projector manufacturer:

Sanyo:

PLV-Z3000 - Early November or end of October arrival.  A priority review (as are the top of the lines from the other major brands).

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Industry, New Projector Reviews, News, Products | 3 Comments »

JVC launches two (pairs) of new home theater projectors - DLA-RS10 and DLA-HD350, and DLA-RS20 and DLA-HD750

JVC has been busy on the home theater projector side. Once again, they have launched, essentially two new models, but since they have two divisions - Pro and Consumer, each “real” new home theater projector, has two versions. For the most part, the differences between the Pro and Consumer versions seems to be strictly cosmetic.

What we have here, on the lower end is the DLA-RS10 home theater projector (Pro group), and it’s twin, the DLA-HD350 coming from JVC’s Consumer group. Up the food chain, and you find the DLA-RS20, and matching DLA-HD350.

According to JVC, these projectors aren’t (at least immediately) going to replace the existing DLA-RS1 and DLA-RS2 (or their consumer counterparts. That does tend to make things a bit murky, but it definitely looks like the new projectors have some advantages.

Before I get into individual models, let’s look at what all four new JVC projectors have in common:

• A new 16 element lens with 2:1 zoom ratio (same 2:1 range as the older RS1 and RS2)
• Customized gamma control - the lack of the ability to customize gamma, was always something I’ve missed on the RS1.
• All have superb range in terms of lens shift both vertical (80%) and horizontal (34%), for easy placement. Lens shift is now motorized
• All support HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color and CEC
• Image processing - already good on the older projectors now uses the Silicon Optics Reon-VX
• All four, are supposed to be available this November (you never can tell, until they ship)
• All have a screen trigger - this can be used to control a motorized screen, or a masking system, or alternately can be used to control the motorized sled for an anamorphic lens.
• And all four support an anamorphic lens, without needing an outboard (expensive) processor
• JVC has moved the inputs and output panel to the side, as opposed to being on the back on the older projectors - more on this below.
• These models are brighter than their older equivalents - RS10 vs. RS1, RS20 vs. RS2, etc.

Let’s start with the DLA-RS10. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Blu-ray, Industry, News, Products, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »