Mitsubishi HC7800D 3D Home Theater Projector

But first – one more time: Happy New Year!

OK, to the Mitsubishi HC7800D projector. This projector (pre-production unit) looks to replace the HC6800 but it features a change in technology, from LCD to DLP, and of course, adds 3D abilities. The HC7800D I got to work with (for a week), I returned to them Thursday (two days ago), as they needed it for the CES show. They will return to me, either that HC7800, or another, with newer (hopefully final production) firmware, when we all get back from the show in a week.

The HC7800D sports an MSRP of $3995, but MAP – the minimum advertised price is $2495 (or was it $2499?). Sales are going to be through CEDIA dealers, that is, local, installing type dealers.

Let’s touch on some key points:

The HC7800D isn’t too unusual in terms of brightness. Calibrated, it’s Best mode measured 668 lumens, (in User Memory 1, Brilliant Color off, mid-point on the zoom lens). That’s just a tad more than the Epson 5010, a bigger step brighter than the Panasonic, and similar to a number of other DLP projectors. It certainly is no match in brightness with the BenQ W7000, a projector built to be a light cannon, and the brightest DLP projector we’ve reviewed in more than a year.

I should note, that the regular preset modes Cinema and Video don’t even allow basic items like Brightness and Contrast to be adjusted. That may be due to the not final production firmware, or it may be the way the final versions ship. It’s not really a problem anyway, with three User Memories available, and you can base them on those other modes.

Maximum brightness of the HC7800D came in at 1299 lumens (with BC on) , but it’s really overwhelmingly green. Since the High Bright mode (native lamp) doesn’t allow you to do much in adjusting, forget about it. Ok, maybe if you need every lumen, and are willing to forego anything resembling decent color – but I hope not.

Kicking on Brilliant Color gives a nice boost of about 22%, but grayscale suffers. According to Mike, by the time you correct for that when calibrating with BC on, the end result is the same brightness as calibrated with BC off. Where you’ll want BC on is for less critical viewing – such as sports. Mind you BC on isn’t bad, the User mode with BC on looks really good, just not as good as it calibrated with it off. Turn it on to enjoy those extra 150 lumens that are available: The combination of BC on, User Memory, etc. yields 816 lumens. 3D does just slightly better with 866.

Mitsubishi HC7800D image from The Fifth Element

Hardware – ahh – lens is in the front (just making sure you’re paying attention). Lens shift is on the top, right behind the zoom lens dial, hidden behind a small pop-up door. The round control panel is on the top, near the back. The 1.5:1 zoom is nice and sharp.

3D on the HC7800D looked really good in terms of seeming cleaner than most other projectors coming through here. I have to say, I think it’s cleaner than the JVC RS45, which arrived in time to overlap the the HC7800D’s visit.

The thing is, the HC7800D is typical of most 3D capable home theater projectors we’ve reviewed so far: It just isn’t bright enough in 3D. Oh, like many others it will be fine for occasional 3D viewing. If you are more serious about 3D, you can go with a particularly high gain screen to help out, or stick to a smaller screen (under 100″) and modest gain, the 3D. Myself I normally have to recommend that having a brighter projector is a better solution than a really high gain screen (2.0 gain or more).

Inputs were very typical, with a pair of HDMI 1.4a inputs, and a standard collection of other connectors… Placement flexibility, BTW is pretty good, with the 1.5:1 zoom combining with lens shift to make things pretty easy.

All in all, a small screen projector designed for a dedicated theater or other cave. Really good 2D calibrated image, with DLP clarity and richness, Clean, but underpowered 3D. Black levels are respectable but not outstanding. Better than the early sample W7000 (which is supposed to be much improved with the final firmware), but not a match for the Epson’s Panasonic, Sony HW30ES, etc.

Ok folks, you get the idea. It may be DLP in the middle of the Mitsubishi lineup this time instead of 3LCD, but the HC7800D, seems to fit what Mitsubishi likes as a feature set in this position. One of my favorites, their HC4000, another DLP down below $1500 is their entry level projector (no 3D). On the high end is the HC9000D LCoS projector, which was our favorite value in last year’s crop of LCoS projectors sporting 3D.

I’m going to try to get most of the full HC7800D review posted by late Sunday night, but, if you know me… And Monday, I head to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics show, gone for a week. I’m pretty certain, that the full review will really get finished then. Hang in there… -art

But first:

Greetings and happy holidays!   That’s from the whole crew here at Projector Reviews.   And with that, out of the way…

Back to the business of the BenQ W7000 home theater projector.  It’s a single chip DLP projector, small-medium in size.  It sports a 1.5:1 zoom lens, and both vertical and horizontal lens shift (it uses a joystick).  The BenQ W7000 is 3D capable, and comes with glasses.

Not surprisingly, it seems rather sharp, since it’s a single chip DLP.  By the same token it has at default a fair amount of sharpening going on, and it’s Clarity filter, which at first makes you think “razor sharp” under close inspection is paying a price for that, with sometimes visibly haloed objects, etc.  I’ve turned Clarity most of the way down, from the defaults.

I’m not sure the measurements Mike took, will hold up, by the time production firmware is in the projectors.  Overall the projector produces a good grayscale, but when Mike looked at the primaries and secondaries, there was a big dip in Cyan.  For that reason, he did go into the CMS and adjust Cyan.  We only mess with the individual colors when there’s a real issue, such as here.  I would expect that cyan issue to be addressed in newer firmware.  If not, no problem, Mike corrected for it just fine.

BENQ W7000 LIGHT CANNON!

OK, check this out sports fans.  Not a single mode measured less than 1000 lumens, even without engaging Brilliant Color.

Post calibration, in User 1, the projector – with Brilliant Color on, measured a whopping 1571 lumens!  At maximum, Mike came up with just a few lumens shy of 2000, and he wasn’t pushing any adjustments to maximize that.  His improvement of Dynamic mode, in terms of color, still yielded over 1750 lumens.  Of course, that’s with Brilliant Color on, and that will affect the image a bit, such as flattening the colors, so that you might see faces as having slight flat spots. (Very typical of Brilliant Color).  Mike indicates that the projector does calibrate better with Brilliant Color on, but, probably more work with the CMS should level the field if you want calibrated color without the  ”artificial” boost – a bit more pop and wow, added to the image.

Even as 3D brightness is always an issue, this, folks, is going to be a hot product for the big screen crowd.

Black levels are worth a comment.  I’m disappointed so far.   It’s been a long time since I’ve had a W6000, but I’d venture to guess that the blacks on this W7000, at best, just equal the W6000, and probably are not quite as good.   It’s definitely at the “entry level” end of the ultra high contrast projectors.  It’s not even close to the Epson 5010, which can almost beat the W7000 even with its dynamic iris off.

I’m hoping production W7000′s will push the iris further to dig out some deeper blacks on those really dark scenes.  Still, making it to being an ultra high contrast means never saying your really sorry.

3D brightness was not what I expected.   First when you switch into 3D mode on this projector, I’ve been having intermittent problems – again, stuff that should be gone with the firmware in first shipments.  The W7000 had stopped taking commands from the remote (had to restart).  Also, the lamp at times flickered.  I think this projector got really confused at one point.  Even some of the settings went back to default.   (and then reappeared after powering the W7000 down, and restarting.  Very strange, but very engineering sample, kind of problems.  I shut it down and restarted, and all was well again.

Back to 3D and brightness.   I’m hoping this will change, but the single 3D mode that exists isn’t near as bright on the screen as the brightest 2D mode, and that’s before you put on the glasses.  This may well change.

Now, even with the 3D image starting off darker, the BenQ W7000 is still pretty bright as a 3D projector.  Putting the BenQ, and the Epson 5010 side by side in 3D, overall, the Epson has a slight advantage.  The Epson has three glasses modes of brightness, the highest (brightest)  setting definitely adds ghosting (as expected).

The BenQ W7000 comes in perhaps just a tiny bit less bright than the Epson in Medium (on the glasses), and is brighter than the Epson, when the Epson glasses are in Low, for best image quality.  The BenQ (at least  on this engineering sample) does not offer glasses brightness (or related) controls.

Basically, for “serious 3D viewing” I would consider the Epson to be just a tad brighter.   You should consider it a tie, for now.

I’ve already contacted BenQ and waiting to hear back.  As I said above, a number of things will likely be corrected or improved.  I hope to have some answers for the full review.

Also of note, besides a dynamic iris (Dynamic Black), the W7000 offers CFI for smooth motion.  I believe it also works in 3D, but will need to confirm.

That’s it for now, folks I’ll add to this, tomorrow,  gotta get some sleep. -art

PS.  Assuming all these “minor” issues are resolved, the W7000 will likely demand serious attention from almost everyone shopping its price range, which is right around $2500 here in the US.

Greetings home theater projector fans,

Sorry, I’ve been remiss, regarding my blog.  I’ve just finished answering probably 25+ comments scattered around a dozen different blog pieces, so with those questions all answered, deflected, or ducked, it’s time to clue you all in to what new home theater projectors are in the works and inbound!

I think you’ll be impressed:

In process right now:

Sony VPL-VW95ES 2D 3D Projector

1.  Sony VPL-VW95ES Home Theater Projector – 85% written pages starting to post this afternoon (saturday), the usual trailing items (proofing, menus, calibration settings) will be added later Would you believe:  I actually finished a screens recommendation page in time for the first uploads.

2.  SIM2 Nero 2  aka the Nero 3D-2

This is SIM2′s “low” cost ($19,995) 2D and 3D single chip projector for the rich among us.  (not the super rich – they buy 3 chip DLPs).

SIM2 Nero 3D-2 home theater projector

I’ve been watching this rather sexy looking home theater projector for far more than a dozen hours so far, and as of today, it’s my primary for the next few days (a good 20 hours more of viewing, including football tomorrow).   I’ll start posting the Nero 2 projector review this coming Wednesday (12/14 if all goes well).

In bound home theater projectors:

1.  BenQ W7000 – an engineering sample is expected to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday.  If I’m still writing up the Nero 2 projector, then the BenQ W7000 projector will likely go right over to Mike’s for immediate calibration so that the W7000 becomes the focus of my universe (well, my review universe) by Thursday evening.

The W7000 is long overdue, the W6000 has been around a good 2 years, and was a great roughly $2500 projector when it first hit, and it has stayed competitive thanks to price drops, but it’s time for something new. The W7000 starts out with a big plus, as a 2D and 3D capable projector and that is:  The W6000 was about the brightest serious home theater projector under $10,000 when it hit the market!

As such, even if BenQ does not make the W7000 brighter, it should still be up there in brightness (or close) to the Epsons and Panasonic, which are the current 3D projectors with the most respectable brightness for 3D.

I will promise (assuming it arrives as scheduled) that the BenQ W7000 projector review  will post before Christmas Eve.

2.  Mitsubishi HC7800D – a DLP, 1600 lumen 2D/3D capable home theater projector.  The HC7800D was supposed to arrive this week, but Mitsubishi now says end of next week or during the week before Christmas.

With the BenQ now in front of it, I don’t see how I can publish the H7800D review before Santa hits the skies, but I will promise a typical  - Mitsubishi HC7800D First Look review on this blog, before Christmas eve.

The HC7800D should be interesting – first it’s a single chip projector, and it seem, on paper, to be similar or close in brightness to the Acer H9500BD projector.  The H7800D claims 1600 lumens, the Acer (another DLP) claimed 2000 but (in our improved “brightest” mode) measured about 1500.  Most likely the the Mitsubishi, which should certainly have decent brightness for 3D  will have a slight to moderate disadvantage, compared to the Acer H9500BD, and probably also, the  Epson Home Cinema 3010  and 5010 (LCD), the Panasonic (LCD) and the BenQ W7000.  But it should be brighter than just about everything else.. We shall see.

The HC7800D is geared first as a family room projector.  True, it won’t be a match for that Panasonic PT-AR100U projector, which claims 2800 lumens, but remember, that AR100U is 2D only, making it an especially bright  family room projector – but only if  you don’t care about 3D at all.

The Mistsubishi HC7800D helps fill out one’s choice of options in the $1500 – $2500 dollar range, I think, but I still don’t know what MAP pricing is, which is the best indication of what it will sell for on the street.

I’ll be taking a particularly close look at the HC7800D’s 2D to 3D conversion, which they claim is really excellent.  I’ve yet to like any projector’s attempt at conversion, so I’m looking forward to a possible “breakthrough” when I try the HC7800D’s.

Also we’ll be closely looking at the H7800D as a 2D and 3D gaming projector.

Wrap up!

That folks is the lineup through the end of the year.  Look for one additional review prior to the CES show which starts January 10th.  A couple of possible projectors are vying for that slot, but I really haven’t gotten any promises in terms of delivery.

Also, please note, for those that haven’t yet noticed – we now have Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Linked-In sites.

Expect me to be blogging a couple of times, tweeting, and “facing” from the Consumer Electronics Show.  I’ll try to tweet about any really dazzling things I see, and then follow that up.   -art

If you’ve carefully read the individual projector reviews, you won’t be surprised, but…We’ve got lots of side-by-side photos for your consideration.  And maybe we’ll throw you a curve?

Each year, it seems the two best selling non-entry level projectors are the Epson UB projectors, which the Home Cinema 5010 is the latest (despite the dropping of the Ultra-Black reference), and the Panasonic 1080p projector, this year, the PT-AE7000.

We pick a projector winner for 2D and one for 3D.  You’ll have to figure out your balance of importance between 2D and 3D, a couple of other choices, and then then your final selection shouldn’t be too difficult to determine!  Have a blast! -art

Mostly I’ve got great news so far, but also a disapointment or two, but the news is mostly good.

Black levels are really good.  I actually haven’t run it against the 8700UB, but I did put it up against the PT-AE7000 that’s here, and I’d have to say, there’s at least as big an advantage with the Epson Home Cinema 5010 when compared to the PT-AE7000, as “last year’s” Home Cinema 8700UB had against the older PT-AE4000.

In 2D, based on what I consider most important, Looks like the Epson has the picture quality advantage over the Panny.  The Panny of course has a cool feature set, and the Epson jazzes its up with side by side picture viewing, etc.

But I’ll save all that for the review.

I’ve got no issues with the Epson doing 2D.  It closely resembles the 8700UB, but with a healthy boost of lumens under the hood.  Black levels are still about the best this side of a higher end projector like my RS20, or the newer version, the roughly $7500 RS45.   That’s a lot more change to further improve black levels which are pretty darn good.

My complaint, if any, is with 3D.   Oh, let’s be clear, I love the reasonable 3D brightness with Dynamic mode, and even 3D Cinema mode, is as bright or almost as bright as a couple LCoS projectors in their brightest 3D modes.  I also found the color to be slightly better than the Panny when they are both doing their brightest efforts.

What bothers me, is that we are denied, I believe, all of the dynamic features – definitely no CFI, and no Dynamic iris, and for that matter, their dynamic sharpening – Super-Res, when in 3D on this pre-production projector.    I’m awaiting confirmation whether these might be implemented on full production projectors.  I’ve already contacted them and pointed out that most competitors do have such features active in 3D.

Now, I love my blacks, and want great blacks in 3D too.   At least I can settle for the fact that 3D is never especially bright, so overall black levels are well below what 2D would look like with the dynamic iris turned off.

Still, I did shoot the Epson vs. the Panasonic and Optoma, and both easily beat it at 3D blacks.

Now from my take, the Epson advantage in 2D, is more important than, say the Panasonic advantage in 3D.  That’s not in measured difference, but do the lower brightness levels used for 3D viewing, lowering the blacks as well.  IN the old days, many of us bought HC gray screens just to lower the overall black level.

As always, great placement flexibility.  And warranty.  An interesting feature I haven’t played with much relates to pixel alignment.  it’s an auto feature, and and haven’t figured it out yet, but I suspect it’s digital, and softens a bit.   It could even be doing something like JVC does to call some of their projectors 4k, which is to double projector, with some shift.   I’ll get back to you all on this, in the full review.

Tomorrow will be my first serious test of the Split Screen feature.  It’s not that I don’t have other displays here, but I will put up an NFL game from HDMI while feeding computer signal to the other window.  Do some Fantasy football, side by side with the game.  (And each will still be larger than my friends 50″ LCDTVs.)

BTW, in doing the photo shoot against the Panasonic and the Optoma HD8300, I should note that the HD8300 was in the middle regarding black level performance, but it was definitely closer to the Epson, than the Panasonic, which is to say, that the HD8300 has slightly better blacks than the Panny.

OK, that’s it, gotta blog the Acer, right now, then start writing up the Acer H9500BD, full review.

Hey folks the Acer turns out to be a pleasant surprise, so check out the next blog, and the Acer’s review.  It’s priced down there with the lower priced Epsons and the Optoma HD33, etc.

BTW, the Epson Home Cinema 3010 – the $1599 Epson, will be on the way to Pete for his gaming projector blog.  He’ll let everyone know about lag, and how well it plays.

OK, off to do that Acer -art

Almost exactly 2 years ago, I was asked by an advertiser – Visual Apex, to review their Vapex screen, which they bring in from Asia and sell under their Vapex brand.  I would generally refer to this as a private label screen, and reviewing it  had the potential of creating some conflict.  My solution back then was straightfoward:  I asked Mike to review the screen.  Mike’s independent, so advertising on my site by Visual Apex has no bearing on him or his income.  I just wanted to keep things neutral.  As a former “local installing dealer” Mike is very comfortable with screens and has reviewed other screens  for us as well.  The 106″ Vapex that Visual Apex sent two years ago, was a fixed wall frame, as fixed style was all they offered at the time.

OK, that worked out OK, then, a couple months ago, when Visual Apex pointed out that they have made a number of improvements and expanded the Vapex fixed screen line up, since Mike reviewed it.

As a courtesy to an advertiser, and to keep the old “review” current, I decided to write a few paragraphs here, pointing out the changes, their impact, and the current value proposition of their new tensioned motorized screens.  For the most part, performance shouldn’t have changed very much, but there are some feature changes.    So, here goes:

The main thing that I believe you need to know about the Vapex line now, is that it is no longer limited to fixed wall screens.   They now offer four sizes of motorized screens as well, both tensioned and non-tensioned.  We are focused on the tensioned screens in this overview.

The Vapex screen itself in many ways is the same.  The gain remains the same – a claimed 1.1, fairly typical for a matte screen (Da-lite Da-Mat…), but slightly lower than the Carada Brilliant White (1.4 gain) or the Studiotek 130 (1.3 gain).    (The Carada, however is not available except as a fixed wall screen, no motorized or pull-down versions.)   It would seem from scanning the Vapex materials, that both fixed and motorized are using the same surface.

The closest screen competitors to the Vapex screens, are from well known affordable asian brands such as  Elite Screens, probably the best known. Both VA and Elite offer lower cost screens than from big name brands like Da-lite, Draper, and others which offer alternatives, but typically at significantly higher yet still reasonable reasonable values.  Far more expensive screens are out there as well, often touting performance and QC  that the lower cost screens can’t match.  Still there are far more people that can afford Vapex, Elite, or Da-lite screens, than those who can afford Stewart, dnp, or Screen Innovations some very premium brands.

A quick look shows the Vapex to be a bit less expensive on fixed wall, and basic motorized screens, than most, including Elite.  On their tensioned motorized screens, they are a bit closer to the pricing for Da-lite and some others, but offer more features.  (ie support for screen triggers is included, not an extra option.

Basically VA has set the prices to be highly competitive, which is what we would expect, as they like to bundle the screens with projectors when it seems a good fit.

Again, motorized comes in two versions – standard and tensioned.   Let me say right now, I’m not a huge fan of non-tensioned motorized (or pull-down) screens, as over time they will tend to lose their flatness, and you will notice the distortion (especially when scenes are panned – which is a lot of the time).

Most folks should consider a non-tensioned screen only if they are either on an extremely limited budget, or see the screen as a short term proposition – a year or two, before expecting to replace it (ie. planning a move, or a major upgrade…)  Note also that the non-tensioned Vapex screens use a different surface than the basic motorized (and non-tensioned) screens.  So, when I talk about performance similar to the reviewed 106″ screen, I’m not talking about the non-tensioned, only the tensioned one. The non-tensioned screens use what they call a fibre matte white, as opposed to the tensioned and fixed screens which use their Cinema White surface.   I have no experience at all with their fibre matte white, and can’t speak to how good it would be for home theater compared to any competition.

Let’s finish talking price:   Since we reviewed the 106″ fixed frame screen we’ll stick with that size for primary pricing comparisons:

Non-tensioned Motorized:  Start at 92″ ($299), the 106″ is $339, and their largest – 120″  is $349.
Tensioned Motorized:  Start at 92″ ($699, the 106″ is $799, and their largest is 120″ at $899.

Yep, that’s a really big difference for tensioning, but generally worth it – better surface, and your screen should last several times as long.

The Big Feature:  Wireless 12 volt trigger, comes standard on their motorized screens.

Now mind you, remote controlling motorized screens has always been a popular thing to do when affordable.  And a great way to do it is have the screen automatically come down when you power up your projector, and close when you turn it off.  Unfortunately, that has meant running an extra wire – from projectors’s 12 volt trigger (when they have one), to the screen.  Usually a separate path than your other wiring, and therefore, often expensive and inconvenient, if practical at all.

The easy solution, becoming more popular, such as Elite has done, is to make their screens easier to control  Elites solution over the year was to add both an IR remote, and an RF remote, both which work.  This is great if you are willing to pick up another remote. Or, if you have a good programmable remote, you could easily program in the screen functions into your universal remote.

Cleverly, however, Visual Apex has gone a different route, and I am impressed.  Now I don’t follow the screen manufacturers all that closely, so I realize they probably aren’t the first to offer  aWireless 12 volt trigger, but it is the first one I’ve encountered.  Allow me to explain what they’ve done.

The Vapex screens, offer you a dongle, you set up the dongle (with provided tool), and when done, you remove part of it, and simply plug it into the wired 12 volt trigger on the back of any projector that has one.   Basically, when the projector sends out the 12 volt signal, to drop the screen, the powered jack activates the dongle, which wirelessly talks to the screen and gives it the screen down command…  Same for closing it.

Since normal function is for the screen to go up or down with the powering up, or down of the projector, this would seem to be both logical, and a simple solution.

We haven’t received one of these screens, but well take, for now, Visual Apex’es word that it works as advertised.  As they’ve been offering these screens for months.  If it didn’t work as advertised, I would think that word would be out about problems on the forums, our blogs, etc.

So basically, VA’s solution is simpler, and cleaner than providing a stand alone remote control.   In Elite Screen’s case, btw, they provide the two different types of remotes, because folks would normally prefer RF (no accurate pointing required), but otherwise, the IR features can be plugged into that universal IR remote.

With a simple wireless screen trigger, you get the results you want, without the extra remotes.  Pretty elegant.  Doesn’t do everything, but it can even control the amount of black drop at the top of the screen, that comes down.   That’s pretty important.

Which reminds us, Visual Apex likes to point out that their screens do come with 18 inches of drop (that you can adjust), more than the usual 6 – 12 inches provided by most screen manufacturers.  They also allow you to control that drop precisely (with their tool adjustment, and a small bit of trial and error), which is very important.  With many companies, you’ll pay some extra for the extra drop, and that can amount two $Hundreds.

When comparing prices, also remember to compare apples to apples.  Da-lite (on their motorized screens) charges optionally to have them equipped with a 12 volt trigger – the base models normally are dropped by a wall switch.

So, what do we have when all is considered?   First I must take a leap of faith, since I passed on bringing in the screen for a full review.  And that is, that their motorized screen surface behaves like their fixed wall screen that Mike worked with.  Based on talking with VA, they tell me that we can expect the same results (color wise, gain, etc.)  With that assumed, what you get with the Vapex motorized and tensioned screen is a good pretty neutral gain screen, that prices out competitively with other asian made screens, and perhaps a bit lower.

A quick comparison:

Vapex 106″ motorized Tensioned  $799  (includes wireless 12 volt trigger), 3 year warranty, 1.1 gain
Elite Screens 106″ motorized Tensioned:  $867  (includes two remotes), 2 year warranty, 1.1 gain
Da-lite – who makes their screens in the US, is a good deal more expensive:
Da-lite 106″ NON-Tensioned 1.1 gain screen:   $751 – (has wall switch), no wireless 12 volt trigger, 12 volt trigger optional.
Da-lite  Contour Tensioned 106″ motorized:  1.1 gain:   $1876, (12 volt trigger optional)

As you can see, the VA screen is definitely price competitive with a “big name” asian made brand like Elite, and still a fraction the price of a well known – good value –  major US manufacturer like Da-lite, nevermind some really expensive screens such as those from Stewart or Screen Innovations.

Is the Vapex screen the right choice for you?  You’ll have to decide.   For openers, you are a bit more limited in your choices -with only four screen sizes from 92″ to 120″ on their motorized screens.  You’ll have more size choices from the competition.

The other big thing, of course, is the screen surface.  The Vapex screen is 1.1 gain, and while that’s the most typical out there, many prefer a bit more gain – 1.3 – 1.5 from other brands for more brightness, with minimal sacrifice of viewing area…

The other thing that is obviously missing from your choices in the Vapex line-up, is the lack of a High Contrast gray, as well as HC white surfaces.   As many of you know, I’m a big fan of HC gray screens to match many rooms.  If that’s what is called for, sure, look to Elite, or other affordable brands as your budget allows, who do offer.

Bottom Line on Visual Apex’s recently launched motorized tensioned screens.  It comes down to this; by most measures, the Vapex screens are aggressively priced, probably in most sizes they offer, no doubt price comparable  to any nationally known brands that build overseas.  Of course you can only get them from Visual Apex, not the competition.   One or two other major online resellers may offer their own lines as well.  I’m not aware of any, though at the moment.  So, bottom line, you’ll be able to find similar screens elsewhere, often for a bit more money, but if the Vapex screen makes the most sense to you, you’ll be buying from VA.   That’s likely an advantage price wise if buying a screen with a projector and other goodies, but, if you are shopping from VA’s competition, most likely they will be able to bundle some relatively similar screen (be it Elite or someone else), at least in the general price range.

The Vapex screens appear to be great values, if they have what you need in your size, and gain.

The 106″ Vapex, however, offers a limited selection.  Most notably missing are two things – potential deal breakers:

a)  more sizes – 92″ 100″, 106″ and 120″ leaves a few holes in the line-up.  Most notably, the very popular 110″ diagonal sized screen, is absent – that size is oft considered a “large” medium sized screen, or perhaps the “smallest” large size screen by many.  Many manufacturers offer screens in every inch increment, or at least every 6 inches.

b) Lack of more screen surfaces – most notably lack of a high contast gray surface, and secondarily lack of a slightly brighter 1.3 to 1.5 gain screen.

Ultimately though, based on Mike’s liking the original 106″ fixed screen he reviewed, and that this screen offers the same material, you would have to consider that if one of VA’s four size options for the tensioned screens works for you , then they should be seriously considered, as  Vapex screens would seem to offer very good value, and a nice, longer warranty, than a lot of other lower cost screens.

If these Vapex tensioned screens fit your requirements, you’ll be hard pressed to do better price wise, but, don’t buy the wrong screen to save a few bucks.    Their four models probably meet the needs a a goodly portion of 16:9 screen users, but without the high contrast grey screen in the lineup, and the limited choices of sizes and aspect ratios, Vapex screens won’t be for everyone.

Choose wisely.   I hope this sheds a little light. Perhaps more on screens in general, than the Vapex screen in particular.  Please refer back to Mike’s original Vapex 106 review for comments about the overall image performance of the screen itself.

Finally, let’s just put it this way, if you are shopping Visual Apex, and they pitch you on a Vapex screen for your projector, keep in mind, if it’s the right screen for your room, and types of viewing, it should prove to be an extremely good value.

On the other hand, if you are comfortable plunking down $5K+ for a projector, I would have to say, that there are better screens out there, and you should be considering screens that are ideal for your situation if budget allows.

Just keep in mind that a good screen, that fits your needs, can outlast several projectors for an enthusiast who upgrades their projector every few years…     Got it?  -art

I’m a huge tablet fan, and love my iPads.  So I thought some of you might care how I see the Amazon Fire vs. iPad2.  Now mind you, I’ve been reading various releases all morning, also visited amazon.com to read their own story of the Amazon Fire tablet.   And I’ve been following the rumors for the last week or two.

Let me note  I have an iPad2 (and also my old iPad).  I love my “2″, and I love the integration with my iPhone, Mobile.ME (soon to be Apple Cloud or something), Macbook pro, my bluetooth receivers around the house, etc.  I love the integrated experience.

But I also must disclose that I am a fan of the Kindles.  I purchased a Kindle very early on for my mom, who has vision problems that otherwise required her to find a library with large type books.  Libraries are getting hard to find these days, even in Florida.  The Kindle is her savior, as she loves to read.  (Mind you I’ve been trying to talk her into an iPad2 so she can Facetime and Skype with the rest of us.)

First things first:  What’s the core scoop on the Amazon Fire tablet, in features, compared to the iPad2:

The short version, is the Amazon Fire is the Econo-box.  It may do many things well, but there are whole major abilities the iPad2 has, where the Fire simply doesn’t play.

Amazon Fire – Selling Price:  $199      Basic iPad2:  $499, $629 with 3G.
Screen Size:  7″  1024×600           vs.  10″  1024×768
Battery life (claimed 8 hours of music or 7.5 hours of video)  vs. (similar)
Internal memory 8G      vs. 16G (at the Apple prices above)  more expensive 32Gig and 64Gig models out there
Time to charge: approx 4 hours  vs.  a bit longer
Additional storage:  the cloud – free      vs.  Mobile.me (associated cost) to be replaced by iCloud
Interfacing:  Wifi, USB     vs.   Wifi, 3G (optional), USB
Support for data cellular:  No     vs. No at $499, Yes at $629
Speakers:  Yes vs. Yes
Microphone:  No vs. Yes
Still Camera:  No      vs.  two – front and back
Video Camera:  No  vs. Yes
Operating System:  Version of Android   vs.  Apple ios
Warranty:  1 year standard, 2nd year optional (US)  vs. similar – 1 year, 2 years optional

Obviously the touted strengths of the Amazon Fire are its low cost, their “android” app store, and free data storage in the clouds.  And the big advantage Amazon has over other Android tablets; the ability to deliver content, which millions already use.

I don’t believe refurbished older iPads are still available, but they are obviously far more similar competitors to the Amazon Fire, than the iPad2 is, as the iPad2 has cameras, Facetime, video Skyping abilities, etc. that the Amazon Fire lacks.  The older iPad, also lacked the cameras, Facetime and a number of other features the iPad2 has that the Fire lacks.

Before we start comparing some other aspects, here’s the bit thing.   The Amazon Fire is strictly Wifi, there is only one model, and no indication at all that Amazon might later come out with a tablet that supports 3G, 4G, 4LTE, or any other Cellular Data solution.

That means your Amazon Fire is most effective at home, or at your favorite Starbucks hot spot, and the occasional mall or other location with wifi.  (Watch out for hackers on those wifi networks that are open)  I remember not too long ago, Walt Mossberg, the tech guru of the Wall Street Journal wrote about Google’s own not yet released Google Chrome laptop, which is cloud based.   Not having any access except at wifi points, he basically indicated, will drive a lot of folks crazy.    Now, the Amazon Fire isn’t designed to be an ultimate end all in tablets as the Google device was supposed to be (per Google), the next thing in laptop computing.  The Fire is still a tablet, and must be judged on what it can, and cannot do, relative to what you’d like it to do.

Now by comparison, the base iPad2, is $499, that’s 2.5 times the price of Amazon’s new Fire tablet. Both are Wifi only.  If you believe the Fire and the iPad2 are direct competitors (despite the huge feature difference), it would be the Amazon Fire vs. the base iPad2, that are closest

The hype:  Amazon has done a fabulous job the last few weeks in terms of PR.  Once again the technical press (me too) is in a frenzy – can anyone challenge the Apple iPad2?  There have been all kinds of Amazon talking points in the press, most of the blogs and even some professional writers/reviewers, praising some mostly fancy wordsmithing.  My two favorites:

The Fire can mimic a book, the iPad2 can’t.   I haven’t figured out what that means – The Fire displays words – ok, so does the iPad. They both download to get them. They both turn pages, they both can adjust font size, etc.   Someone explain to me what the Fire does to mimic a book, that the iPad2 can’t do.   At least compared to the previous Kindle’s most reviewers have favored the iPad over the Kindle as having a more booklike feel, from the way pages turn to…

So, someone tell me what I’m missing.

The other one is something on the Amazon site that I’ve now read in at least 5-6 blogs, or newspaper articles, including our local O.C. Register:   That is that since you can read a Kindle format book with the Kindle app on the ipad2, one can start reading a book on a regular Kindle, then continue on the new Fire, and finally, if needed finish reading it on an iPad.   Geez folks that’s just wonderful.  Does anyone really care, though?   I do see the advantage, as an iPad2 owner, to also own an Amazon Fire, just for the smaller screen and overall smaller size (it’s not enough lighter to matter).  Sometimes it would be easier to have a 7″ device instead of a 10″ (the 10″ iPad2 has over twice the actual screen size, in square inches, centimeters, or your favorite method of measure.).  Remember, you can drop down to a smaller size with Apple products too – but it would be from 10″ to the 3.5″ size of the iPhone 4, or if the rumors are true, a 4″ diagonal screen on the iPhone 5. No matter.

But, how many people are really going to want to have both an iPad2 and a Fire – especially if Apple brings out a 6 or 7″ screen, less expensive iPad.   Still it’s true, you can’t (yet) run a book from the iBooks store, and get a standard Kindle to play it.  Of course, if someone brings out an iBook app for the Amazon Fire, then you could claim the same thing the other way.   Buy it for Apple, and also use on an Amazon device although not the “Kindle”  - the Fire.

OK, enough rambling, let’s cut to the chase:

Are they competitors?  Barely. Simply stated, the Fire may well open up a huge new segment in the tablet world.  A low cost, device with more limited abilities.  One could make the analogy of a netbook, compared to a full blown PC or laptop – that is, one will basically suit someone better than the other, but both?    One question:  Will someone seriously considering an iPad2, who can afford one, decide to save a few hundred, with the Fire?

I don’t think so, in most cases.

The big differences favoring iPad2

Cellular versions available for the iPad2.  This will be the primary deal breaker for most people considering the Fire.  If all you are doing is reading books, watching videos, etc., sure, downloading from wifi is fine.  But what if you are between office and home, say at a restaurant, and want to do anything that requires acessing the web?  Sorry, only wifi, and wifi ISN’T in most places. (Yet!)   Want to check your stocks – forget it, if no wifi.

I can’t find numbers, but apparently the majority of iPad2′s are bought with 3G, – data whatever you want to call it.

I can barely survive 48 hours with my iPad2 if I didn’t have cellular access to data.  (I’m an information junkie!)  I think most iPad2 owners I know would agree.   The single greatest complaint I hear from folks I know who have iPads or iPad2s, is usually:  ”I wish I had bought a 3G model”.

The iPad2 has microphone, two cameras (still and video) it can be used to Facetime (easiest video phoning) when around wifi, and it can skype anywhere there’s access to cellular.  As we do a lot of this in our family, it’s a huge thing – video calling.  And of course, you can audio call only as well, if desired, but with the Amazon Fire – no mic, no camera…   Sounds like a lot of add ons, still no cellular, and a real pain if you want to do that stuff.

And if you want to do real work, you get at minimum, twice the memory, faster processing, photo editing, and a ton of stuff that may never get to the current Fire.  Let’s face it, the iPad2 is just far more capable.

But the Fire has its strengths.  If you actually need more than a few million books, Amazon has the advantage (but you can download the Kindle app for the iPad2 and then enjoy the entire Amazon collection of books, movies and music (I note that Amazon has an advantage in those areas, and also in total book and movie content available).  If I wanted to read Pride and Prejudice on my iPad2, I might have to use my Kindle app.

The smaller physical size, to me, is the single major strength of the Fire, (beyond price) where it could steal a bit from the iPad2.    I like the idea of a smaller tablet.

As to their “free Amazon Prime” for 30 days, or use a paid for app for one day for free (who picks the app), nice touches, but I subscribe to Amazon Prime because I buy stuff from Amazon.  Since the Fire is all about downloading, getting free shipping on stuff isn’t a factor.  But, that you do get thousands of TV shows, some movies, etc. for free downloading, is good.  May I suggest Amazon Prime for you iPad2 users.  It works for me too.  I’m not much of a downloader other than music, but I have the same ability with an iPad.  That Prime is free for 30 days, rates only a mild whoopie!  then no doubt, an auto renewing contract, just like so many other services from so many companies.  The Prime option is just that, a nice option, but one also available to other tablet users.

The free one day use of a paid app has some real appeal – if we get to choose the app.  As someone who follows the stock market, I’ll bet I can get some real value from some research apps (they can be very expensive), if I could use one for free.   We’ll see what they really have in mind.

So, while 30 day trials are nice, Amazon seems to always  beoffering free Amazon Prime trials) without any need to own a Kindle or Fire.

But I was talking about strengths of the Fire:  Free Cloud storage – the Fire comes with 8Gig of memory, half of that of the least powerful iPad2.  That’s a decent amount, but plan to use (the free) cloud storage if you are saving a lot of stuff.  Without cloud storage, you will run out of space quickly, as those apps keep eating up memory – my 8Gig old iPhone peaked out at a video, maybe 600 photos, and 1200 songs, lots of apps, etc.  Since much of that was overhead, only 3-4 Gig or so was for my “stuff”.  With my 32 gig iPad2, I’ve got room for about 10 times what an 8 gig can hold, so I think it’s great that Amazon provides free (unlimited?) storage in their Clould.

The only downside of course – can be the loss of instant gratification.    I might have to track down a wifi hot spot to switch to my B side collection of Amy Winehouse, if I had swapped to to the cloud to make room for something else.    Again, wifi-only simply isn’t for me, and isn’t for most enthusastic users, I suspect.   Many of us just don’t want to be without all our “stuff”, and dependent on finding a hotspot.  And do you trust unsecure hot spots when you are killing several hours in an airport.  In almost all cases – I’ll forgo open wifi spots for safety, because I can use my 3G.

Since the iPad2 can do zillions of things the Fire can’t (at least this first version), I believe that the bulk of the impact to the market will be the Fire hurting other Android, Blackberry, and Microsoft (when it ships) tablets.  The iPad market share will remain almost untouched due to the Fire.

What the Amazon Fire will do, most likely is expand the tablet market, by reaching a lot of folks that simply can’t budget an iPad.  (remember, the typical iPad owner spends more on extras – apps, accessories, and services, then they do on the hardware itself).  Amazon will also, certainly benefit from many Kindle owners upgrading.

The Fire offers slightly lower cost services, which also helps grow the market.   But the Fire will steal most of its business from the other Kindles,  the Nook (a competitor to the Kindles), and the least expensive tablets, and likely have little effect on iPad sales at all.

The Amazon Fire, if successful, could mean that Apple’s tablet market share may drop significantly, but that’s to be expected – almost all the other tablets that are being sold (none particularly successfully) are ones that are a lot less expensive than the iPads.   That said, it doesn’t mean though, that Apple will sell significantly fewer iPad2′s  once the Fire ships.  I seriously doubt that will happen.    What will be interesting is if Apple rolls out a smaller, less expensive iPad for Q1, to complement the iPad2, and to actually be a more direct competitor.

Think this way, to use cars as an example.   Think of the iPad2 as a loaded Camry.  Think of the Fire to be a bare bones Kia.  That Kia is a fine vehicle for far less, but, it’s not, as they say, Apples to Apples.  Apple never seemed to want to own the world (unlike Microsoft or Google – just my take).  They seem happy to do sales success by community.  People don’t buy an apple product because of its specs, they buy into the Apple family.   I’m just typical.   It’s another reason why the iPad2 isn’t likely to take a real hit.  If, however, Apple does have, say a 7″ $299 tablet in the works, that might be a different story.

Well, whichever you choose, don’t forget to use them to feed movies and games to your projectors!  -art

Bottom line: Read books?  Want to stream TV shows,  don’t need access to “the world” when you are moving around?  Like the smaller footprint?  The Fire really does look nice, “on paper” and the price is right.

Hey, if Apple does not come out with a smaller iPad in the next 6 months, I expect I will add a smaller tablet to my collection, but I expect it will have to have cellular data, or I’ll have to rig up my own portable wifi hot spot.  There are times my iPad2 is bigger than I’d like to carry, and my iPhone a bit smaller than I like for heavy surfing…

Best of luck to Amazon. Can they do what everyone else has, so far, failed miserably at:  Taking on the iPads of Apple?

No, the Amazon Fire can’t do that.  But the Amazon Fire, thanks to cost and size, is going to try to carve out its own significant market share.  It stands the best chance of any non Apple tablet so far.   From one perspective – if Amazon doesn’t supplement the Fire with larger – and more capable versions, they may well help Apple increase marketshare.   They could do that, by turning on millions more to tablet use, who can’t afford the iPads.   A significant number of those, however, would likely upgrade in a year or two, to more capable devices, and most of those, it seems are iPads.

Well, that was fun.

Enough – back to projectors – and with that note, I remind you all, both these devices can stream video and audio, and they can output both.  That means that either can be used and hooked up to a home theater (or portable business) projector, rather easily.  I have already run movies from my iPad to a projector.  Piece of cake.  -art

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

with the NFL strike / lockout in play, I decided to hedge my bets, re the NFL package, which I enjoyed thoroughly last year, especially as I’m now in my 3rd year of Fantasy Football.

So, I called DirecTV in early July, and requested that we cancel my auto renewal for this season’s NFL package (despite DirecTV’s promise that we wouldn’t pay for games lost if the season was delayed.

I should note, that as Press, I get a discount on DirecTV, but, it’s their Premium package – basically almost everything.  That is to say, the discount I get reduces my spend, to probably still more than I would buy for myself.  (I buy ton’s of Blu-ray discs, and rarely watch HBO, Showtime, etc. even though this package gets me all of those.    So, I pay a hefty amount, each month, regardless.

Next thing I know, Lori’s showing me the DirecTV bill for last month, and I see that I’ve already paid for this year’s NFL package – two payments.  At the same time, the bill indicated that I cancelled my auto renewal, for the 2012-2013 season.  Not what I had intended.

On Monday, I picked up the phone again, and gave their customer service a call.  And that get’s me to the purpose of this blog.  It wasn’t a long call, but I spoke to a Jeff S, in customer service.

I quickly explained that I had previously called to cancel, etc.  Jeff verified the early July call, apologized for the screw up, and fixed it.  I was also interested in the NFL-To-Go, or whatever they call it, so I can watch on my iPad, when my wife drags me out of the theater for social functions.  Jeff S got me all set up there.  In a call that took less than 10 minutes, and had absolutely minimal waiting, and no stress, I have to say that this was the type of customer service call we all would like, when we are forced to deal with a large corporation’s support.

So, my thanks to Jeff “S” whomever, and where-ever they have him stashed in some call center.   And a gold star for DirecTV.   But, there was one more call.

Fresh back from travels, I encountered a different issue.   Less than 3 months after we had DirecTV out to add another location, where they gave me one of their latest Sat boxes (an E24 I think they said – with RF remote instead of IR, and more storage).  When they did the work, they put some new white boxes in the back of two of my boxes, that plug into their ethernet ports.

Well, fresh off the plane, I’m going, time to program in my players, so that I can follow how they are doing during the games.   Now this is a feature that worked just fine last fall, when we bought this house, so I figure it had to do with the recent reconfiguration.  Tech support had me try a bunch of things, with no luck.   No problem, today’s Tuesday, and they are sending a technician out on Thursday – less than 48 hours from my call earlier.

I trust they will sort it all out, but I just wanted to blog to say, that despite the shaky start (canceling next year, instead of this year’s NFL package), that part is all straightened out, I’ve got my NFL package, and my wireless as well.  So finally, one more kudos for Jeff S.  BTW, all of my time with him on the phone, was right before I was ready to start watching games.  So, as Hancock would say:  ”Good Job!”   Of course if DirecTV can’t get my internet working with their boxes, for my fantasy football, I’ll be back, blogging, and complaining…  But, as the guy who fell off the top of the empire state building was heard saying all the way down:  ”so far, so good, so far, so good, so far…”   -art

Epson launches new 3D Home theater projectors - Home Cinema 5010

Everything I now know about these projectors is going live at the same time, although I’m splitting all the info into  this blog and five separate articles on our main projectorreviews.com website, one for each new projector.  The links below will take you to the other articles and blogs.  Enjoy!  It’s going to be very fun fall home theater projector season, far more exciting that last year’s which left quite a bit to be desired, in terms of new projectors.)

The articles on the main site will be the ones that include my impressions after watching these new Epson projectors.  Note, those articles have the correct images of the projectors.  More images coming soon.

I was able to preview these new Epson projectors very recently, at Epson America’s HQ.  Although seeing them in a conference room with basically white walls, isn’t ideal, I did get a good two hours plus, of viewing, even bringing and viewing a couple of my favorite discs.

All of the Epson projectors sport Epson’s new 480hz panels, which per Epson, is how they are able to offer the brightest 3D home projectors to date (assuming you ignore $70,000 Runco projectors, etc.

Let’s start with the short version and intro and comments in each of these new projectors.  The links will take you to First Look reviews of the new projectors:

Epson Home Cinema 3010

Epson caught me by surprise when I got to look at the Epson Home Cinema 3010 projector.   Sure, the rumors have been going around (I’ve been helping, I guess) about a higher end projector, or rather projectors, which are the Epson Home Cinema 5010 and Pro Cinema 6010.  The Home Cinema 3010, however, blew me away.  With an MSRP of only $1599, the Home Cinema 3010 projector looks to be the least expensive 1080p Home Theater projector that’s 3D capable.  OK, you are going to say – “but the Optoma HD33 you just reviewed was only $1499.”

The thing is, the Epson Home Cinema 3010 comes with two pair of 3D glasses, but with the Optoma, the glasses are optional (at $99 each).  Based on that, the title (for now) for lowest cost 3D ready projector, will belong to Epson when it ships.

Ready for this?   The 3010 offers 2200 lumens, with a very impressive 40,000:1 contrast considering the price.

The Home Cinema 3010 can do split screen.  You can view two sources side by side. It could be two video sources, or perhaps you’d like to be watching NFL football on one half of the image and be viewing your fantasy football stats from your computer, on the other half.   This could prove to be much fun!

Epson Pro Cinema 6010 3D Projector

Of course Epson will also have a “pro” version of the Home Cinema 5010.  That one is the Pro Cinema 6010.  As is typical for Epson’s local installing dealer only Pro Cinema series, the Pro Cinema 6010, comes with a spare lamp, a ceiling mount, and 2 pair of 3D glasses.  Cool styling, tons of lumens – 2400 claimed – great black level performance, split screen and improved CFI, are some of the biggest highlights.

Did I mention there are two Home Cinema 5010 projectors?  No?  OK, not only is there a 5010, but also an Epson Home Cinema 5010e!

While I’m at it, note:  There are also two Home Cinema 3010 projectors, the regular 3010, and the 3010e.

I’ll get to the two Epson e series projectors further down. For now, I want to give you all the basics of the Home Cinema 3010, and also the Home Cinema 5010 / Pro Cinema 6010.

And I’ve got lots of specs for you too. And even pricing on some of them, but not all!

For the sake of search engines noticing these projector announcements, I’m going to do this a bit different than in the past, as I mentioned above, I’m going to go into detail on each, with my viewing comments, in separate blogs and articles.

Let’s continue though:

Epson Home Cinema 5010 Projector

This is the projector that rumors were circulating about. The Epson Home Cinema 5010, and the similar Epson Pro Cinema 6010, are the Epson’s new premium projectors.  Sadly, I don’t have pricing yet on these, and I don’t expect Epson to announce that until CEDIA.  I won’t speculate further, since I did a couple of weeks ago in my early rumor blog.

Think of the Home Cinema 5010 as the replacement for the Home Cinema 8700UB.   It’s finished in white, and will be sold by online and local dealers. The Epson Home Cinema 5010 is Epson’s answer to the Panasonic PT-AE7000 projector.  Once again a new Epson – the Home Cinema 5010, will go head to head with a Panasonic, that shares the same Epson LCD panels!

Excited yet?  Consider this:  Epson’s claiming a massive 2400 lumens, and says the Home Cinema 5010 offers up to 200,000:1 contrast (same as the to be discontinued Home Cinema 8700UB).

Did I mention that the the 5010 (and the “e”), have support for an anamorphic lens, with two modes, so you can save the expense of an expensive motorized sled for the anamorphic lens?

If your math is good, so far, you’ve counted three different projectors:  Home Cinema 3010, Home Cinema 5010, and Pro Cinema 6010.   But, there are more!

Epson Home Cinema 3010e Projector

No, the “e” in Epson Home Cinema 3010e, does not mean it’s a version for Europe.  In fact, I was truly surprised by the e version.  First of all, the e isn’t 3D capable.  This one’s for those of you who could care less about 3D.  The Home Cinema 3010e loses the 3D capability, but replaces it with:

WirelessHD!  That’s right, if you own sources that support WirelessHD, as do some new Blu-ray players from Sony, LG, Visio and others, as well as some new AV receivers, you don’t need to run an HDMI cable from those devices to your projector.

Did I mention that both of the 3010 projectors have speakers on board as well, which can be a real nice touch if you don’t have a permanent setup with some nice 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.

Contrast is 40,000:1   That’s an extremely impressive spec for these two $1599 projectors.

And the piece d’resistance:  Epson is claiming these two projectors using Epson’s new 480hz LCD panels (same as the Panasonic), produce 2200 lumens.   Wow!   For you “techies” out there, interested in info on these new panels, which, per Epson are why their projectors are by far the brightest, affordable 3D capable projectors out there.

For more information on the Home Cinema 3010e, click here!

That makes 4 new projectors so far, and I’ve got one more for you:

Epson Home Cinema 5010e

OK!  Figuring out the Home Cinema 5010e is easy, now that you’ve already read the brief above, about the 3010e projector.  It has the same contrast and brightness of the Home Cinema 5010, but lacks the 3D capability, but adds the WirelessHD capability!   Like the standard 5010, it claims 2400 lumens and a 200,000:1 contrast ratio!

This is the version for those with no interest in 3D!

And that makes 5!

It must be noted, that Epson plans to keep their best selling Home Cinema 8350 in the lineup, as the lowest cost of their 1080p home projectors.  The 8700UB, though will be gone.   All told that means 6 Epson’s to choose from this fall.

The 3010 projectors will ship in October, according to Epson, but those of you who can’t live without one of the 5010 projectors or the 6010, will have to wait for November.

Enough.  Check out the articles with my viewing comments.  Actually I only watch the Home Cinema 3010, and the Pro Cinema 6010.  From a picture quality standpoint, the 3010 and 3010e, should be identical.  The three bigger projectors –  5010, 5010e, and 6010 should share identical picture quality, and be a solid step up overall from the 3010 series, thanks to the far better black level performance.

Go read the individual articles!  -art