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June 24th, 2008 Art Feierman
After much thought, I’ve decided to produce a report following the Infocomm show last week. It will feature capsules on about 35 or so, newly announced projectors and related products. In additional to the usual news and announcements on business and home theater projectors, I’ll be focusing on the new class of cell phone sized projectors (8-12 lumens?), that we’ll see hit the market late this year or early next year, Read the rest of this entry »
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May 6th, 2008 Art Feierman
What a whirlwind trip. Japan and back in four days (from San Clemente California). Overall, the trip was a bit brutal, a lot of fun, and, actually rather enlightening. I’ll give you a taste of the travel schedule, and then get into the substance of the trip.
The brutal aspect of the trip started with a 10.5 hour flight from LAX to Tokyo’s Narita Airport. I’ve got to thank the 3LCD group for dropping the big bucks on Business Class. Those seats are the size of a small car, and really do open up into a flat bed. Amazing. Of course I had to leave the house 3+ hours before the flight, and once landing, there was the almost hour to get luggage, and take transport (90 minutes) from the airport to the hotel in Tokyo. Ok, that doesn’t sound so bad (if a 10.5 hour flight can ever be good - the food was).
The killer, though, was we left LA on Monday, and arrived Tuesday (crossed the international date line), around dinner time at our hotel, only to have to (after some catch up sleep Tuesday evening), meet in the hotel lobby at 7am on Wed morning, for a ride to another airport and a “short” two hour flight to northern Japan.
Once arriving on the island of Hokkaido (near Sapporo), it was a short ride to Epson’s automated 3LCD plant, located right off the airport grounds. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 17th, 2008 Art Feierman
Not complete yet, images not yet added, and not fully proofed, but there’s plenty there.
Best In Class $2000 and under: Panasonic PT-AE2000U
Best In Class $2000 to $3500: Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB
Best In Class $3500 to $10,000: JVC DLA-RS2
The report also lists Runner-Up awards and Special Interest awards.
Click for the 2008 1080p Home Theater Projector Report. Enjoy!
Posted in New Projector Reviews, News, Opinion | 3 Comments »
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March 17th, 2008 Art Feierman
Not complete yet, images not yet added, and not fully proofed, but there’s plenty there.Best In Class $2000 and under: Panasonic PT-AE2000UBest In Class $2000 to $3500: Epson Home Cinema 1080 UBBest In Class $3500 to $10,000: JVC DLA-RS2The report also lists Runner-Up awards and Special Interest awards. Click for the 2008 1080p Home Theater Projector Report. Enjoy!
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February 19th, 2008 Art Feierman
In my last commentary shortly after the CES show last month, I (like many) declared Blu-ray the winner in the battle with HD-DVD. It now looks pretty official, thanks to Toshiba’s new announcement.According to articles appearing all over the internet, Toshiba announced yesterday (Feb. 18), that they would stop making and marketing HD-DVD players.This announcement followed another major blow to HD-DVD, when Wal-Mart announced last week that they would no longer offer HD-DVD players AND HD-DVD movies, by June of this year.Toshiba announced they would continue to provide support and service to existing HD-DVD player owners. Hmm, I do believe I can hear the “fat lady singing”. OK, all you home theater people without hi-def players, it’s time. While the difference between standard DVD’s and Blu-ray, in overall picture quality isn’t as great as between standard TV and HDTV, it’s still a rather dramatic. It’s time to bite the bullet, get a Blu-ray player and really enjoy the potential of true hi-def. -art
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December 18th, 2007 Art Feierman
I’ve been roaming the usual brick and mortar stores this week to see what’s going on in the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD wars.
Perhaps the first significant thing I saw, was lower prices on Blu-ray players, first, at Best Buy in Lake Forest, CA. Samsung Blu-ray players for $299 (one disc included, Spiderman 3, I think).
Then I just read somewhere (not confirmed) that Circuit City is offering a Sony Blu-ray player for $299, with five free titles. Now that works out to well less than $200 after you figure at least $25 per disc.
I’ve seen Toshiba HD-DVD players around for $199 for a while now, but I haven’t followed whether they have bundled discs.
Also good news for consumers, Wal-Mart apparently offered up an HD-DVD player for $99 at one of their “secret sales” which go out to their mailing list. (That was back before Thanksgiving.) A more recent Wal-Mart secret sale had the Toshiba HD-A3 player for $298, but with 12 free HD-DVD titles. Now based on the normal selling prices of HD-DVD discs, that’s pretty close to a free HD-DVD player!
On the bright side, thanks to Wal-Mart, my original prediction back in late 2006 in the first Blu-ray vs HD-DVD article, turns out to be in part true. Back then I predicted that consumers would probably be able to buy a hi-def player for under $100, and Walmart has made that happen. Of course I predicted both HD-DVD and Blu-ray would be at that price, so I didn’t get it all right.
Still HD-DVD for $99, and a $299 Blu-ray player with $125-$175 worth of free discs, is going to make for very happy shoppers this month.
As to who’s winning the war? Well, Blu-ray still has the advantage in most areas (except player price).
I noted that the local Best Buy had 3 sections of Blu-ray titles, vs only 2 of HD-DVD titles.
Last time I wrote about Blu-ray vs HD-DVD discs, the big news was pro HD-DVD - that Paramount joined Universal as the two exclusively HD-DVD studios (except for Spielberg’s formidible library). This time around, no major announcements, but, interestingly, I see that Warner, who has been consistantly supporting both formats, just released Blade Runner, in standard DVD and Blu-ray, but no mention of HD-DVD. Does this mean anything? Who knows. On the other hand, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is right around the corner (2nd week of January), and it is a time when announcements can be expected.
(Update: One of the comments received below just advised that Blade Runner is available on HD-DVD, and I thought that worth adding to the blog itself. Strange that they aren’t advertising HD-DVD, but that should have HD-DVD owners feeling a little more secure.)
Perhaps most significantly, I found this quote on another blog: “During the Black Friday period, BD titles made up 72.6% of all high-def purchases, with HD DVD totaling 27.4%, according to Nielsen/VideoScan figures cited by the [Blu-ray Disc Association].”
What to do? Personally, I’m rooting for Blu-ray, even though I have both a PS3, and a Toshiba, but it doesn’t really matter. At worst case, if you pick the format that doesn’t survive, you’ll still amass a collection of many dozens of movies, (before the dust has settled) for the format you start with, and you will always be able to play them as long as you have a working player.
With prices on Blu-ray and HD-DVD players at their current levels, my advice to all of you with home theater projectors, or planning on one soon, is to definitely get at least one format immediately. The differences between standard DVD and either hi-def format, are astounding on the big screen. It’s more than just resolution, the overall picture quality is usually dramatically better for viewing. Those of us with home theater projectors can truly appreciate these differences. Go for it. -art
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December 13th, 2007 Art Feierman
Greetings all,
Before I start rambling on about this new Epson projector I’m reviewing, and, since this is my first official blog, I’ll take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Art Feierman, and I’ve been involved in the AV industry most of my career, since getting out of college in 1972 (go Penn State football).
I’ve owned a major AV online reseller, but am having even more fun as a reviewer of home theater projectors.
Turns out, it is a natural fit.
Launching a blog is something I’ve been meaning to get around to for more than year, but have just been very busy growing my business: Projector Reviews.
BTW, I plan to post at least twice a week, with updates on reviews in progress, as well as assorted tidbits on products, how to get the most of your home theater, and useful tips on choosing wisely.
Here goes:
Welcome! A first look at an all-in-one projector I am currently reviewing - Epson’s MovieMate 72. Very, very, cool!
OK, I’m in the middle of reviewing Epson’s new MovieMate 72. With a little luck, the review will post Sunday night 12-16-07, but probably it will happen Monday night.
Here are some preliminary thoughts.
Talk about a great last minute present for the whole family, the Epson MovieMate 72, finally brings a reasonably high level of overall performance to those craving an all-in-one home entertainment projector. The Epson has a built in DVD player, plus reasonably good sound (hey, it’s a small box), and for the first time, a true HD resolution picture (720p resolution). Read the rest of this entry »
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