First of all, I sat and listened to a panel with James Cameron, who is very big on 3D (can you say Avatar…).

He and others have dazzled us with a lot of impressive numbers for 3D, and especially mentioned the rapid growth of 3D in the theaters. From what I heard, though, they didn’t seem to be breaking out kids oriented blockbusters – including, Lion King 3D, Train Your Dragon, and a great many others, many of which are animations – from “grownup 3D” which is more of the Avatar type of movie. I have no doubt (in theaters) about the successes of 3D there, overall, but we’re still not seeing much in “grownup 3D”, where I see gaining traction to be the most difficult. We shall see.

But, moving right along, the big emphasis here seems to be on mobile, glasses free, 3D devices such as smartphones and tablets. Many seem to believe that widespread success of 3D smart phones (next year or two?) will be a core vehicle to bring 3D content into the home. (Think download to your phone, watch some of it, get home, stream the rest to your LCDTV (or projector – we hope)…

Most of the emphasis in terms of content is around movies, and games. Interestingly, content that I like to call Discovery HD type content (but in 3D), hasn’t been discussed much. Yet, as a grownup, I’m getting far more enjoyment out of watching sports and especially, Discovery HD type 3D, than movies, of which there are only a handful of non animation, non-action content movies worth viewing. The amount of content will change. One speaker forecasted a total of about 250 films in 3D – many created in 3D, more converted to 3D, will appear by 2014. Just remember, 2014 (the beginning of) is still 2.25 years away.

But, a brief look at the 3D channels on my DirecTV, and the amount of content there, is growing rapidly.

For those of you with 3D, try those Stephen Low videos – they include my favorite 3D non-movie – Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D, and a new one called legends of flight or something like that. Again, 60 frame – not 24, based, non-movie content. Educational, and dynamic. I mean I have friends who would never watch a surfing flick who insisted on watching Tahiti from beginning to end.

BTW, the only 3D projector here a the summit, is a cinema projector – a Sony I believe.

All the other action in the exhibit area are LCDTV (and plasma), with many showing glasses free 3D. interesting, but pixelated (one explained that their glasses free, reduces the 1080p content to 1/4 HD – that is 960×540. That’s a bit better than old fashioned DVD’s but 1/4 the resolution of normal 1080p… Not for me, thanks. Now if they can get that up to 1080p resolution to the eyes, then there’s hope for glasses free. Right now, I think it’s a confusing distraction. On the other hand, who knows – in two years or three, perhaps most 3D capable LCDTVs will be glasses free. Hard to guess.

On the other hand, glasses free projectors? Haven’t heard a peep.

That’s it for now, got a session to go attend. -art

Couple of busy days, and much partying, I had hoped to do more blogging late last night, but the fates had it otherwise.

This will be my last blog before a final walk through of the show (only an hour of time to spare).

Projectors, Let’s start with the Epson 6010 – and therefore 5010 and 5010e – demo, and, of course, the once expected last year, 61000 Epson with reflective panels.

First the Epson Pro Cinema 61000. This long awaited projector (very long), looked great. Just a guess, (and remember I don’t care about claimed contrast specs – including this one’s 1,000,000:1), but I’d say the Epson can probably take out the JVC RS40 that I reviewed last year, when it comes to blacks, and do so without much trouble. Whether it can equal or beat the RS55 and RS65, I’ll just have to get one in to make an accurate judgement, based on my RS20, but then blacks have not improved of any note as JVC has gone to the RS20 to the RS25. From my look at the RS60 last year, same is true. JVC may finally have some major league competition for the black level champ, although Epson’s using panels and iris.

At any rate the demo of the 61000 was stunning in terms of blacks.

The Pro Cinema 61000 is 2D, and not as bright as the others by virtue of not needing the extra horsepower for 3D. We will of course measure and see how it comes out lumen wise, as soon as we get one in. Ship date is November (with manufacturers when they name a month, it’s usually towards the end…)

Pricing of Epson’s Pro Cinema 61000, Epson says will be “under $5000″. Epson often doesn’t finalize pricing until right before shipping (like many) because they all like to see what the competition’s priced at.

Next – the Pro Cinema 6010, the Home Cinema 5010 and 5010e projectors: All of these have essentially the same performance, with only some feature differences.

Last time I saw the Pro Cinema 6010 was at Epson 2 weeks ago yesterday. What a difference. Then I pointed out the 3D still needed a good bit of work. I am pleased to report, that while 3D still isn’t as clean as we would like to see, I would say that the improvement was rather dramatic in terms of getting things right.

Still a bit more work to do, but they have plenty of time yet to work on all that firmware. The Panasonic, and the new Mitsubishi HC7800D both looked very clean, and the Epson isn’t there yet. The Mits has the advantage of being a DLP, which I’m led to understand, inherently has virtually no crosstalk at all when done well.

Back to the 6010. These new (including the 5010 and 5010e) projectors are all scheduled to ship in November as well. Price wise, the Epson formula is:
Home Cinema 5010 Projector: Under $3000
Home Cinema 5010e Projector: Under $3500
Pro Cinema 61000 Projector: Under $4000

Since you already know that the lower cost 3010 and 3010e are $1599 and $1799, you are wondering why the price spread is potentially larger for the 5010 vs 5010e, both 5xxx models come with 2 pair of glasses while the 3010e does not come with the glasses.

The 6010 looked really good color wise. But then, there isn’t much to do. So far I’ve never reviewed a projector with THX mode, that didn’t have great color out of the box. Sure you can tweak and calibrate for your lamp, contrast, etc, but never even “pretty good color” whether Epson, JVC, Runco, or other projectors sporting that THX logo.

I know you are all going to ask me which to buy, the Panny, the 5010/5010e/6010, the Sony, HW30ES, the Mits HC7800D, etc. for those who want 3D.

Here’s the answer: Not a clue! I can take some decent guesses, but, here’s the GOOD NEWS: I’ll likely have almost all of them reviewed, and have several in house, before most ship in “November”.

Next: Panasonic – I liked it the first time I saw it, and that hasn’t changed. What has is Panasonic has now said: Very soon, which I take to mean before end of the month, or very close to it.

SIM2. They have launched so many new projectors, and they are coming down to the $7000 price point. They need their own blog, but let’s just say they’ve got a host of single chip DLP’s with 3D capability coming out (soon or out), as well as, of course rather expensive 3 chippers (also with 2D and 2D/3D models). I expect to review a couple later this year or first quarter of next.

Runco – I let’s just say, 11,000+ lumens Even doing 3D, Even doing a massive 213″ diagonal screen, was brighter than probably any 2D home theater I’ve ever reviewed! Amazing, truly bright – the way you want your sports, in 3D, truly amazing.

Hey even their $60,000 3D projector is bright but this one defines “light cannon” more in blogs during the week where I can get into individual model information. Just remember Runco, like SIM2 is now playing in the under $10,000 space, so let’s not take them for granted as out of the question when looking at Sony’s and JVC’s etc.

Sorry, wanted to write more, but you’ll all be happier if I spend the next 90 minutes on the show floor. adios for now! -art

Hi everyone,

It’s time for me to introduce another new blogger on our site.  Welcome Ron Jones, below he’s provided a brief introduction to himself, and tomorrow I’ll be posting his first serious blog on the technical side of projectors and related home theater.

I’ve asked him to write a short intro, for me to post here.  After that, I want to tell you a bit about what we’re up to, blog wise, and why Ron’s starting to blog for us.   So, here’s Ron:

Greetings all:

My name is Ron Jones and I am very pleased to have been invited by Art to contribute to Projector Reviews with a new blog focused on home theater video technology with an emphasis on new technologies, such as 3D, and associated issues/considerations.  My background is as an Electrical Engineer (MSEE) with 30+ years professional experience and as a home theater owner/enthusiast for 35+ years.  My home theaters have evolved through several generations of CRT front projectors to current micro-display digital projection technology.   I plan to start off the new blog with discussions on the transition to a 3D capable home theater and to the technologies involved. I hope to give readers an understanding of the unique factors, issues and limitations that need to be considered for creating a 3D enabled home theater.

And there you have it.  Ron’s very focused on 3D at the moment, I’ve already read a draft of the blog that will post tomorrow, which is definitely 3D.  To clarify, though, Ron will be taking on a wide range of topics, of which 3D is but one.  I expect, though, that 3D will dominate his first month of blogs.

Most of you know we  another new blog just a couple months ago, which looks at projectors for gaming, and other games related aspects.  I’ve got a plan, it seems, and that’s to grow a small network of bloggers to blog on related topics, and get some critical mass, as I can only do so many reviews, write so many blogs, and answer comments.  As a result, I’m (working on building up a select group of blogs and bloggers tied together primarily by home theater, and especially projector related.  This could mean as many as 6 new blogs this year, and probably that many next year.

I asked Ron Jones to blog for us, as he has the skills and background to take on some highly technical issues.   You all know me, I’m more of the subjective guy, techie at heart, but am more concerned about the bottom line – the end result, than the actual technical reasons.

Enter Ron, who in the past, has been one of the more active folks in terms of commenting on my blog.  One thing I admire, is that when he sinks his teeth into a topic, he seems impressively thorough at examining it.   Ron, like me, happens to be very into 3D, but he’s a detail guy.  I’ve been learning 3D as fast as I can for two years now, but Ron has consistantly managed to provide me helpful information, and he’s corrected me, or provided more accurate explanations than mine, a number of times, which you can find on old blogs of mine.  I recall in particular his understanding of polarization issues as it concerns screens for 3D.  Until I met Ron (online), my assumption was that if you take two “non-3D” screens, such as the Stewart Studiotek 130, and the Carada Brilliant white.  Very similar doing 2D, similar gain, etc., they would likely behave fairly similarly.  Ron pointed out, and explained why, that one of those screens could end up producing an image easily twice as bright as the other, with 3D content, because they are very different in terms of polarization retention.  I learned, readers learned.

Ron’s been active at providing good additional info, occasionally correcting me, for quite some time, and I simply felt that giving him his own blog, letting him answer your comments, would be a real plus for the overall worth of www.projectorreviews.com.

Point is, he’s into it, and has good stuff to share.  So, again, welcome Ron!

Remember, his first real blog – technical, will be posted here tomorrow, BUT, that same blog will appear on his own blog sometime this weekend.  As soon as he’s up and running with it on his blog, I’ll pull down the version on my blog, and replace it with a link to his new blog (you will also be able to find a link on our homepage in the BLOGS section (left-center column).

Over the next few months we’re going to be expanding our social networking options.  So far, we’ve been pretty minimal, so look for lots of ways to pass on the word about our site and blogs to your friends.

One last thing – we’re going to launch still another new blog – next week, if all goes well.  That one will be a second one relating to the gaming world and projectors.  More info in my next introduction, probably right after the 4th.

Hang in there, and enjoy the Fourth of July weekend (US), everyone else, hey, just enjoy!   -art

The Sharp XV-Z17000 looks like it's predecessor

Wow, a practical 1080p home theater projector.  I set the Sharp XV-Z17000 down on the table in my theater, plugged it in, connected it to my PS3, and DirecTV box, and dropped in Alice In Wonderland in Blu-ray 3D.

Eureka!   It works – in “living” 3D.   My PS3, and the disk recognized the projector as a Blu-ray 3D device, and everything fired right up.

So, what have we here?  The XV-Z17000 projector from Sharp is essentially a slightly updated (overall) version with 3D, of the existing XV-Z15000 which has been around more than a year, and which is a very nice home theater projector (Hot Product Award), that sells for about $2000 and has an MSRP of $2495.

If there is an “unfortunately”, it’s the price.  The Sharp XV-Z17000 has an MSRP of $4995, which is double that of the older 2D projector.   This projector is just about to start shipping (not quite yet, as of this writing), so I cannot make any determination as to what the street price will be initially.  I imagine the Sharp Z17000 could sell for close to the MSRP, or, considering that the street discount on the older projector tends to be around 20%, then the same would have the Sharp XV-Z17000 available for close to $4000.

Either way, this is the lowest MSRP 3D 1080p projector we’ve seen to date, although the JVC DLA-RS40 which is starting to ship, is also $4995.   We will be reviewing that projector as well, but probably at least a month out, as JVC is now sending an RS60 as the first one we get for review.

Ahh, let’s stay on target here, which is the Sharp XV-Z17000 projector.

I won’t discuss 3D picture quality but to say, sure, there’s a little crosstalk, and other minor artifacts, but I have yet, including the $15,000 LG CF3D, or the $6000 Lightspeed Modulator to see a truly clean 3D image.  That is to say, for those of us playing with home theater projectors 5, 7, 10 years ago, we were used to all kinds of minor noise types and artifacts.  Over the years, the processing has gotten cleaner and cleaner, to the point that today’s basic $2000 home theater projectors probably produce a cleaner overall image than most of the very expensive projectors only a handful of years before.

Most likely it will take the 3D projector industry a couple of years to start refining the 3D aspects and deliver a truly clean 3D image.

But, the Sharp projector is very watchable.  I watched about an hour of Alice (forced my wife to watch some as well), then we switched to an hour long 3D program from the Universe series from TV, now shipping on Blu-ray 3D.  The solar system visuals in 3D were nothing less than stunning. Again, not perfect, but definitely knock your socks off type of “wow” material.

Finally, I put on Monster House in 3D, afterall, probably more than half of all 3D movie titles right now are animations.   That was fun too.

I should note, my theater still has a temporary screen – a 100 inch diagonal 16:9 Elite HC gray surface.   I don’t think it’s ideal for even active glasses 3D such as the Sharp.  I will be trying out the projector on several other screens, including the Carada Brilliant White, and the Da-lite 3D surface.  If the Stewart silver 3D screen arrives on time, that one too (it should be here before Superbowl).

Yes, the 3D looks pretty good, but what about overall?

Dim!   I started in Movie 1 mode, with Alice.  Forget that idea.  Movie 1 mode is dim.  Period.  The Sharp has never been a particularly bright projector especially in “best” mode, in fact the opposite.  The older model measured just barely 300 lumens in “best” mode, but a much more respectable 1100 lumens at its brightest.

In Movie 1 mode, the projector was unwatchable – too dim on Alice, on the dark scenes, to be acceptable.  Now, Movie 1 has the manual iris stopped down for max contrast, and the dynamic iris feature off.

Next I switched to Dynamic mode.  Oh what a joy by comparison.  Alice was now definitely reasonably bright.  I won’t say that some extra brightness wouldn’t have been a little better, but then my screen isn’t as bright as a normal white surface. A better match in a screen would help.

In other words, I’ll go out on a limb to say that in brightest mode, the Sharp does have the muscle to fill a 100″ diagonal 16:9 screen with 3D content.  (Though not a lot to spare).  Forget having a nice, really, really, bright image for sports, or Discovery HD type 3D content, but if you have your room lighting control, you do get a good 3D showing!

Next I tried Movie 2, which defaults to dynamic iris on, manual iris maximum open (brightest).  That was still down from brightest mode, but a huge jump from Movie 1.  When Mike gets done calibrating a best mode based on Movie 2, we’ll see how “bright enough” it is.  Let’s say that probably you’ll view in “brightest” mode for 3D, for the max lumens, but for some viewing, or on a smaller screen, Movie 2 just might do the trick.

The experience:    Sorry to many of you.  I am a big 3D fan.  I don’t call for 3D everything, but I have been enjoying 3D in the theaters and here at home.  I don’t care if 95% of what I watch is 2D, 3D, to me, is often truly worth watching.  I found the Universe programming in 3D to be right up my alley.  And I’m just about to start watching some sports in 3D!

I’ll discuss more, in the full review, who I think, of  different types of people, with different enthusiasms for 3D, and with different viewing habits, and different budgets might consider this XV-Z17000, as a good move now, who should wait, and who might find other 3D alternatives better today.

Let’s just say that for the first time I’m looking at $4000 – $5000 for a 1080p 3D projector that is pretty capable.  Yes, in a year, 3D pictures will probably be a bit cleaner (including less crosstalk) but I’m figuring two years probably to get to a clean approaching what us enthusiasts have been used to,  the last 2-3 years with 2D projection.

I’m well familiar with the performance of the basic XV-Z15000, and have always liked it among the lower cost ultra-high contrast projectors, though it never had the brightness in best modes to handle my larger 128″ screen.

Considering all of that, this Sharp XV-Z17000 may be one of only a small handful of 1080p 3D projectors being rolled out, that can, a) get the job done, in 3D – at a fairly reasonable price.  (A price though that will get a lot more reasonable in a couple of years, though as more folks start buying 3D).

Mike should be calibrating the Sharp 3D projector tonight, so I’ll be back viewing it again tomorrow afternoon.  I’ll be doing some 2D viewing as well, but I expect that to be very much like the older projector, so not too much new to support there.

Let me say this – after about 5 hours of total viewing last night, all but minutes, in 3D, this Sharp Z17000 looks to be viable for those wanting a respectable image in 3D without going and spending a lot more, for say the Sony 90ES, the LG, or the higher end JVCs.

I look forward to completing this review, and trying to build out a method for you all to figure out if 3D is for you, or rather, when 3D will be for you.

BTW my wife passed the LCD shutter glasses test.  She wasn’t initially happy, but she got used to them.  I should note, they are not the slickest, or the lightest of the 3D shutter glasses out there.  The projector, I should note, came with two pair of active shutter glasses, as part of the price.

Finally, since I failed to mention this above.  This Sharp XV-Z17000 projector is a Sample, definitely not production, though physically it’s well finished since it’s built on the year and a half old Z15000 projector design.

For those of you who want to better familiarize yourself with the other aspects of the Z17000, here’s a link to the review of the older, 2D, Z15000 projector.

3D – at home – that works!  In 1080p!  Blu-Ray 3D compatible!  $4995.  Definitely doable for those of us with the budget.   Stay tuned!  -art

Last night I attended the Digital Experience (the major Press only event) at the CES Show, and pico projectors and pico projector containing devices were in abundance.  More than 100 vendors were showing off their technology, mostly at small 10×6 foot table top booths.  I liked the pico projector cameras and camcorders I saw.  Not bad!

The DLP.com folks, I think, had way more than a dozen different pico projectors and other devices with on board projectors, from all kinds of major players.   Among the small devices at the DLP.com (Texas Instuments) table, the largest was the new Optoma Neo-i, which I will have for review as soon as they become available (UPDATE: now published, click for review).  The Neo-i is another small device – about 2.5 pounds around a foot long, somewhat oval, that you can hook up to your smartphone, iphone, iPad (yes, iPad).  It has built in speakers, (looks like a lot of iPhone home systems, such as those from iHome, but the Neo-i is unique in that it has a built in projector. Bingo, project those music videos while getting some pretty decent sound from a small, dare I define  it  as a- boombox.

But what impressed me were camcorders and cameras with built in projectors.    BTW there were a bunch of 3D camcorders (all price ranges), and I was hoping to see one with a built in 3D pico projection setup, but, I didn’t see one (yet).  I counted at least 4 cameras and camcorders with pico projectors inside.  Oh yeah, there were a few phones too.  Remember this is just a large press show, there are probably 10 projectors on the show floor for everyone at this event.  One thing that was nice.  The folks I spoke to were trying their best to throw these pico projector camcorders, projectors and cameras at me.  Everyone’s attitude, was – how fast can we get you a review unit (that is, after most start shipping)…

Individual companies were showing theirs, such as 3M, with what has to be considered one of the most “serious” pico projectors, the MPro180, in terms of being designed for business.  A lot longer than the competition (looks like the MPro150 we reviewed but at least 2 inches longer.  Why?

Well it claims 32 lumens, AND that it can run a full two hours while doing so.  In addition it has something I haven’t seen before in a pico  projector, which is direct support for powerpoint files, and another major, perhaps Word (I just don’t remember at the moment).  It is also a WSVGA, not the more common widescreen (and lower res) WVGA.  3M’s pico projector lineup also included a small white model, more traditionally sized and shaped, sporting 720p resolution.  That is probably a first, though there might be a few others doing the same, here at CES – the Consumer Electronics Show, for those not familiar.

I’ll report in more depth, and we’ll start reviewing some of these new pico projectors, pretty much as soon as they start rolling in.

We are going to increase our focus on pico projectors and, perhaps more importantly, some of the devices that have pico projectors in them.    I’m expecting Tony to review at least a half dozen in the next few months, and more than that by the time the summer Pico Projector report comes out. But, don’t worry, the pico projector reviews, and reviews of pico camera projectors and pico camcorder projectors, etc. will post as soon as each is finished.

My take is there is plenty to choose from if you want/need a pico projector.   I suspect that one more year will make another big difference, but this year’s crop overall, looks really impressive from what I’ve seen.

Samsung, of note, has several combined devices with pico projectors, and also a cute little cube of a projector (shown in white) that was probably not much bigger than 2 x 2 x 1.5 inches. Very cute, my complaint was no kensington lock. With one of those, or something else, that Samsung pico projector just might make an oversized keychain (no bigger than my wife’s keychain.  (sorry guys, too bulky to attach to car keys – and put into a pants pocket.

I’ll provide a more in depth about the pico devices and projectors and which pico projectors and devices will be reviewed next, in just a few days. Hang in there -

and – happy new year.  -art

OK, my thanks to the folks at Epson America, marketing, for putting together this handy-dandy list that now cross references current US and EU Epson projectors, so you all can keep things straight – which has always been a challenge.  Here ya go:

I’ll trust Epson to have gotten this right, but if anyone finds a flaw…

Epson Projectors:

US                EU (and many other parts of the word, too).

HC 8350 = EH-TW3600
HC 8345 = EH-TW3200 (??? on the HC8345 – I’m trying to find out! -art)
HC 8500 = EH-TW4400 (Actually TW4400 has lower contrast ratio, but this is what they carry that is essentially comparable.)
PC 9500 = EH-TW5500
HC 705 = TW450
MM 62 = DM3 (Actually, this is the same as MovieMate60. Other countries did not replace the MM60 DVD combo, with the MovieMate 62.)
MM 85HD = N/A (art’s note:  Too bad, EU, this is a cool 720p all-in-one)
HC 21000 = N/A (since the EU doesn’t have the Home / Pro dual line, they have the 31000)
PC 31000 = EH-R2000

Epson did not send me the equivalent to the PC61000, but a reader did let me know that its the

PC 61000 = EH-R4000  (has the 1M:1 contrast ratio).

OK, people – save this info, bookmark this page…  I plan to not be able to memorize this info, which means I’ll still mostly be talking US model projectors when I write. -art

OK, I haven’t been writing much.  Today is the 27th day Projector Reviews Inc., myself, Lori, etc. are now living in our new home.

That also means it’s 28 days since we moved out of the last house, with all my gear packed up, and my two viewing rooms there, abandoned.

I’m back in business!  Soon to be better than ever!  Here’s the scoop on the two new rooms:

Gone is the 128″ Stewart Firehawk G3.  You won’t be hearing, in new reviews, how well projectors did on that particular screen.

New is the new house – better set up for reviewing.  It’s not finished yet, but for the last 10 days it has been functional, and improving daily, in capabilities.

First though the latest going on, in terms of reviews.

The LG CF3D projector review has just been published.  I still have to do the screens page, and calibration.   There won’t be a competitors page, because this is the only 3D projector reviewed anywhere near the price.  I’ll try to have the other two pages up, in the next 48.

I’m waiting for more home theater projectors.  Mike’s Samsung – LED light source business projector just posted.  And Tony’s posting a review of the interactive InFocus IN3916, but those probably aren’t of much interest to most of you.   But I’m sitting here, ready to start a home theater review and have nothing new in house.  That’s absolutely mazing for this time of year. Waiting patiently for the 4 new JVCs, the two new Sonys, the Epson R series, and so on.

To keep busy, I’m working on all those new category pages on the site, like 3D projectors, lcd projectors, digital projectors, pico projectors…  One of the web guys wrote most of the content on those pages, and I’m finding many things I think need changing (and correcting) or expanding upon.

If any of you should notice some “frontier gibberish” on those category pages, feel free to comment back to this particular blog.  I hope to have all of them re-written by early next week, but we shall see.   I’ve got a one day conference in LA on TV “3.0″, and a Christie demo of projectors in concert, staging type environments. Then off to Las Vegas, for some work and play – I likely try to hook up with Evan, over at PC (he lives in Vegas) for lunch, and to catch up, and bitch about the industry.

I’m also still plugging away at the pretty much now infamous and still missing 3D report.  I’ve published the LG CF3D review, and am working on writing up the Lightspeed 3D system, and several related pages about 3D.   I have to also write up the 3D sections for 3 other single chip 3D ready DLP projectors that Mike reviewed just covering them as standard 2D projectors.

In other words, plenty to do here, but I really want to play with some all new home theater projectors, which hasn’t happened yet this fall.  Most of those just mentioned – are sporting new “engines.”

I will of course, report as soon as I know that an interesting projector is inbound.  I hope one will surface in the next few days, so I can start on it next week.

I’ll take some photos of the rooms in a few days when they are clean enough (boxes everywhere), but downstairs I’ve got a testing room:

It’s about 16×11 (was a nice sized bedroom) with a side room off of it. The side room is a work area – all cheap shelving (but should be great for my junk).  It is about 4.5×8 feet.   The testing room has dark carpet (blue with some color, but dark – by any measure).

The ceiling is black.

Two opposite walls are medium blue-gray.  One wall is very dark blue, and one is a medium dark, redish brown.   On that brown wall, I can place two 3 foot wide white, or black panels.  If you are wondering why, I’m going to try to emulate different “family room” environments with different lighting.  By having different wall colors I’ll be able to quickly discern some of the light rejection abilities of screens… I’m still sorting it out, but I figure it will be useful.  There are four recessed lights – all on the same circuit.  They will be divided into four circuits each dimmable.

On the dark blue wall (between the medium blue gray walls), will go two screen setups.  The primary will again, be a Carada Brilliant White, but this time, a 2.35:1 inside their Masquerade CIH masking system.  That Carada is a 110″ diagonal, 2.35:1, 1.4 gain, white surfaced projector screen.

The room as shown in this link, is sporting my old Carada Brilliant White 106″ that was in my previous testing room.  Basically I’m simply going to a 2.35:1, using the same Brilliant White surface, with a masking system.

The other two screens will most likely be a Screen Innovations Black Diamond .8 gain screen, and probably a Firehawk G3 (or SST).  The Black Diamond would do double duty as a 3D screen, and as a sample “dark” gray screen. I haven’t actually ordered either but should have things in the works soon.

One of these two screens (both will be motorized) will be in front (above) the Carada, and the other on the blue-gray wall, that has a large window (with big wooden shutters).

With three active screens, and several other fixed wall screens stacked up, I’ll be able to try a lot of things.

I’ve got to get some real work done soon, so let me skip to the theater room, upstairs.

This is easy it is basically a room added over the two car garage!  8 foot ceilings, and about 20×23 feet (once we removed the closet).  Nice sized.  So far, just a  fixed 100″ Elite HC gray screen, balanced on a box, and a smaller 82″ Da-Lite 3D screen is leaning against a wall near by, if needed.  Looks like this so far!    Here’s standing up by the right speaker with the photo showing the back of the theater

I’m just finalizing the screen for this room.  It’s a 130″ diagonal, 2.40:1 screen.  It’s going to give me a slightly larger image for movie viewing (about 7″ more width than my old Firehawk, but a smaller image by about 14″ less vertically, when viewing 16:9.  (Dropping to a 100″ diagonal 16:9.)  For me, that’s almost tiny.

But, what type of screen – get on with it, you say!  OK.

It’s two screens.  Stewart recently announced their Daily Dual (yep, that is the name of it).  And it’s perfect for my needs.  It consists of a fixed wall screen (which will be their 3D surface), and a frame housing a motorized Studiotek 130, will be right there.  Hit the button, and the Studiotek 130 lowers, and snuggles up close to the 3D screen.

I’ll probably end up all stressed out at having a 130″ 3D screen, or, rather, trying to fill it with bright enough 3D content.

Ahh, the ceiling is the same black as downstairs, and the walls are very, very dark blue.  This room has the same carpet as the testing room.   From my back row, it’s just over 22 feet to the screen.

The sound will be great too.  More on that, later.  - adios! for now-art

OK, I’m going to blow through a whole bunch of projectors (and things) I saw yesterday, and today.  I had hoped to get you all a good amount of detail on the new Epson “R” projectors, and have it posted by now, but I’m still awaiting an email. Tomorrow I hope, I’ll have it for sure come monday.  Here goes.  I run through the projectors pretty much in the order of my meetings.  Yes, it started with Epson.

I should note, that several movies were extremely popular for demoing.  Most widely used were Alice, Despicable Me, Monsters vs. Aliens, plus more animations.  Fortunately, I was only subjected to parts of Transformers 2, twice the whole show.

Epson demo’d the Home Cinema 9700UB.  The 9700UB like a number of other projectors here at the show, is a minor update of a very competitive projector, the now discontinued 8500UB.   The only noteworthy new feature is the addition of two anamorphic lens modes.

For those buying the Home Cinema 9700UB, you’ll only get one anamorphic mode.  That will mean you need a motorized sled to more the lens out of the way for 16:9 and 4:3 content when you are using a 2.35 or 2.40:1 screen.

The Epson demo room, like all the other little theaters, was a nice sized box of a room, and all black surfaces.  That’s perfect for demoing if your room is like that – black ceilings, walls and floors.   Stuff in 15+ people at a time, and it got hot in there.

The PC 9700UB looked just great in those conditions.  The Blacks were extremely black (same spec as the 8500UB – 200,000:1).  Basically, it looked like what I expect an Epson UB to look like.  It will, most likely, sell in the mid-$3500 range, and come with a ceiling mount and a spare lamp (now claiming up to 5000 hours).  Did I mention the 8700UB at launchcomes with a spare lamp?  I’m pretty sure of that, but I will confirm, and find out if that’s permanent, or a launch promo.

They didn’t demo the Home Cinema 8350 or Pro Cinema 9350, but as posted, Lori advises that an 8350 arrived at my place for review, while I am here at the CEDIA show.  Unlike the 8700UB and 9700UB, there is a significant performance increase in Epson’s entry level 1080p projectors.  These two now have Epson’s C2Fine panels, that’s the first time a “UB” panel has gone into their least expensive 1080p.  It Should pay off nicely.  With a 50,000:1 spec, it should behave in terms of black level performance, about the same as the original Epson 1080 UB, a few years ago.   That ups the ante’ in the under $1500 market space, in terms of performance, but that’s good.  You might note that in my most recent review of the Mitsubishi HC4000, that projector – a direct competitor to the 8350 – received a performance upgrade from the Darkchip2 to the Darkchip3.

The great news is that the Epson will be “under $1300″ (yeah, we all know what that means – probably either 1299 or 1295, but you never know, they might surprise us with something lower, but don’t count on it.  Epson did not set a price for the Pro Cinema 9350 either.  Like the other Pro, it will come with spare lamp and mount.

Look for Epson to fill their channel with these guys in the next month.  My understanding is that most of the large dealers are out of 8500UB’s, so, btw, unless there is ananamorphic lens in your near  future, I’d point out that if you can find a great deal on an 8500UB before they are gone, short term, that would be better investment, than the 8700UB, which will be “under $2300″.  I mention this because one of you commented on a blog mentioning a price well under $2K…

NEXT up, the Epson Pro Cinema 31000.  Looked really great.  Hard to judge, ultimate black levels in an unfamiliar (and darker than usual environment, but I’d conjecture that they look really good.  In pounding Epson for info, I’m waiting to hear back if it uses the same iris as the UB series.  If so, then the contrast jump from 200,000 on the UB, to 500,000 on the 31,000 would indicate about a 2.5x improvement in native contrast…  (which isn’t huge, but definitely significant.  (You know, like going from 400 lumens to 1000, except not that noticeable.  They showed, Alice of course, and I’ll give them a bravery award for talking about the great depth of the image when shown on the Pro Cinema 31000, when that movie (3D in theaters…) was being shown in 3D in hundreds of booths (projectors and LCDTVs).  BTW, I did think the skin tones were better than anything I’ve seen on an Epson before.  (For those of you following my reviews, you know I’ve never given top grades for Epson’s skin tones.  Not bad, but they are, perhaps, my favorite Epson issue to complain about.

Enough of Epson already.

Next was JVC.   If you don’t mind (and to keep the search engines happy, my thoughts on the new JVC’s will be in the next blog, which I’ll start as soon as this is up. It will post before I check out, in an hour… gotta get home, ya know!  -a

Meet the new Epson Pro Cinema 31000 projector

It’s almost CEDIA time, and today Epson gave us a lot of info on the nine new home theater projectors they will show next week.

Prices are still to be set, as are delivery dates, but we’ll give you the best idea we can.  There are three home projector groups:

• Replacements – 4 – for the current Home Cinema 8000 and Pro Cinema 9000 series
• New High End Projector line sporting three models
• Two new MovieMate all in one projectors

To keep things less cluttered, below is a quick sentence or two on each projector, but,  I will follow this blog entry with three more blogs

Here’s the quick version:  

The Epson Replacement Projectors:  The new Home Cinema 8350 (replacing the 8100), and the Home Cinema 8700UB projector, (replacing the 8500UB), will have enhanced performance.

Most notably, the Home  Cinema 8350, the entry level model, gets the D7 C2Fine LCD chips, which have only been in the Epson UB (ultra black series) til now.  That should translate into a noticeable black level improvement.  The 8700UB now offers support for an anamorphic lens and sled.

There are, of course, two matching Pro Cinema versions, the Pro Cinema 9350 and 9700.  Pricing also not set, expect them to be bundled with mounts and spare lamps, as the Pro’s always have been.  Look for similar improvements in the Pro models.

—

Epson Home Cinema 21000, and Pro Cinema 31000 and 61000 Reflective 3LCD projectors.

The two Epson new premium projectors claim a mere 500,000:1 contrast while the top of the line 61000 boasts a cool 1,000,000:1 (and that’s without using an LED light source)!  These new Epson’s still use a dynamic iris.  I can’t wait…  And wait until you see some of the goodies the Pro Cinema 61000 offers!

Expect these projectors to be competing with the generally more expensive LCoS and DLP projectors.  I like the idea of more good technologies to choose from.

–

Finally, two new MovieMates – the 85HD being 720p HD resolution, which is the highest resolution I’m aware of, in an all-in-one projector (as was it’s predecessor).  These should be shipping any day, so plenty of time to pick one up for fall sports.  Get a keg, put a white sheet up on the back of your house, and invite the gang over for Monday Night Football!  Of course they have built in DVD players, 10 watt speakers and have lots of connectivity.

OK, for more info, look for the other three blogs over the next 24 hours.  I’ll try to get things going by doing the new higher end series first… -art

Because the K-12 school market does almost all of its projector shopping research in April and May, and then goes out to bid in June, the Classroom report became a massive priority.   It was made worse this year because of the last minute arrivals of 3 important home theater projectors which severely delayed the 1080p (home projector) report to mid-April

Well, “I’m baaack”.  True, I still need to add about 8 hours to the Classroom report, and probably 5+ to the 1080p report, but I’m back to new stuff as well.

One of my first priorities is to start writing up the Mitsubishi HC6800 projector review. It was measured and calibrated, and watched for a whole bunch of hours before I started on the 1080p report, but there was no time to write it up first. Now’s the time.

And I’ve got a couple of “surprises” for you all.  Two more blogs coming tonight.  I’ll give you a clue:

a) We received our first Runco ever, to review

b) 3D is almost starting to come together…

c) InFocus SP8602 first of two updates

OK that’s it for now.  tic, tic, tic… to the next blog.