Panasonic PT-AE3000U and Mitsubishi HD8000 1080p home projectors

Greetings all,

OK, The CEDIA expo show floor opens tomorrow, but I’m spending much of today at press conferences. So, far, I’ve been to Panasonic’s where they rolled out the new PT-AE3000U 1080p home theater projector.

And I picked up a press kit for Mitsubishi, with whom I’m meeting with later this week. While Mitsubishi is already advertising their new Diamond 1080p home theater projector, I was surprised and pleased to see an announcement for the HD8000, which I will also discuss below. Mind you I haven’t seen either of these work, and in the case of Mitsubishi, the HD8000 press release leaves some things unanswered. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s CEDIA time again some pre-show projector news from Epson Sanyo, etc.

Greetings all,

I’m off to CEDIA on Tuesday (Sept 2) - through Saturday of next week. Already we know of a number of new projectors being rolled out for first looks at the show. I’ll do at least one blog next week, with comments on some of the more interesting new models.

In the meantime, a few things to report, that should be of interest to those hot in the search for a home theater projector. First, the “old”:

Epson - the Home Cinema 1080 UB, is, as reader’s know, one of my all time favorites. Epson, most likely will show a new model, and I’ve just learned that Epson has done significant price drops on both the Home Cinema 1080 UB, and the older, less expensive Home Cinema 1080 (the one that goes in the Ensemble HD 1080 complete system.

Here goes:

The Home Cinema 1080 was $2299. It is now $1999, and you also get a free lamp!

Beter still, the Home Cinema 1080 UB, was $2999 (less $200 rebate). It is now:

$2799 less $300 rebate, and free lamp.

Assuming a value of $350 for the lamp, the math works out to new prices of $1649, for the standard 1080, and the Home Cinema 1080 UB, works out to $2149!

That’s got to be one of the best deals going!

Sanyo has announced a new, low cost 1080p projector, the PLV-Z700. It looks a lot like the PLV-Z2000 (from the images - I haven’t actually laid my hands on it yet), and will ship in October.

And now, the New: Sanyo and more…

Read the rest of this entry »

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Epson Ensemble HD 1080 Review - going live shortly

I expect a lot of folks have been waiting, and waiting for this review. It should be posted within the next 3 hours.  Those of you glued to the Olympics might just want to take a break and check it out.  Without a doubt, the Ensemble HD 1080 is a great, complete system, and really changes the dynamics of home theater. 

Finally, millions can consider and buy, and have installed, a real home theater system (sorry plasma and LCDTV owners - your sets are just to small to be a home theater).  Up until this product, getting a nice home theater has been an incredibly complex task, considering “which projector, which receiver, which speakers, which sub-woofer, which other components”, and then there is the traditional complicated, drawn out installation as well.

Epson has made it just too easy (and too good).  If you’ve got a room picked out, and money in the bank, there’s still time to buy one of these and have it installed in time to catch the end of the Olympics.  (But you better hurry, there are only a handful of days left until the Olympics end.

OK, I’ve got to get back to putting the final touches on the review!  -art

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Epson Ensemble HD - Installation Finished - Excellent!

Greetings all, Sorry I’m late!

The installation of the complete Epson Ensemble HD system was finished on schedule, the second day. The two man installation team put in about five hours in day one, but before I go further, let me recap, and explain more of the plan. The Epson Ensemble HD is a very complete almost “instant projection based home theater in a box (or 8). The motorized screen has left, center and right front speakers in the screen housing. The housing for the projector - the Epson Home Cinema 1080 - holds the rear left and right speakers, and the cabinet has a built in subwoofer, the Console that controls everything and has a built in DVD player and FM tuner. The package also comes with wiring channels so you don’t have to open walls to run wiring. Also included is all the necessary cabling.

OK, the easy way to install the Epson Ensemble HD, is to use the wiring channels, which can be run along the wall and ceiling. For my installation, however, Read the rest of this entry »

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Epson Ensemble - 1080p projector system - the First easy to install projector based home theater

When Epson initially announced the Epson Ensemble back at CEDIA almost a year ago, I was blown away by the concept. Now I’ve have the chance to review it, and that means, the whole system, including the installation!

The Epson Ensemble is being installed in my home, as I write. It is actually in my testing room/office. I’ll be doing a full review, in addition to this blog and a follow up one in the next 24-48 hours. The review will include the entire process of installing the Epson Ensemble, as well as the final results.

I better start out by describing the Epson Ensemble, so everyone understands the concept. Read the rest of this entry »

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Viewsonic Pro8100 redux: A second look coming

Greetings all!

About two and a half weeks ago I published a full review of the Viewsonic Pro8100 1080 3LCD Home Theater Projector.  Overall, it was very impressive, but had one glaring (ok, not so glaring) flaw.  I found the dynamic iris to have problems.  It was often visible in its operation, to the point of occasionally being distracting.  It didn’t just adjust from scene to scene, but seemed to overshoot where it was heading (opening or closing) before settling back to where it should be.

This resulted in making its action more visible than if it simply adjusted to exactly where it should go.   Read the rest of this entry »

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Upcoming Projector Reviews for July and August - InFocus, Epson, BenQ

Greetings everyone!

This is just a quick piece to let you know what is planned for home theater projector reviews over the next two months.   Of course, summer is a bit slow for new home theater projectors, but there are a few, I’m hoping to get my hands on.  I’ve got confirmations from the manufacturers for most of these.  Here’s the scoop: Read the rest of this entry »

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InFocus IN83 Projector with 1080p Darkchip4, OMG! First Look

Greetings all, 

I can tell you right now, InFocus has released a first class projector.  I already liked the IN82, and here comes it’s Darkchip4 “version”, called the IN83.  So far, I’m pretty much “blown away”.  

Remember, please, this is a very preliminary “first look” based on a couple of hours of untouched, “out of the box” settings, and then some minor tweaking, and more watching but without calibrating the IN83.  In fact, I’m normally not that good at “tweaking” by eye, without software or gear. Read the rest of this entry »

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Viewsonic Pro8100 home theater projector - review is now online

Finally, done, except for some minor editing, and perhaps an image or two. 

The first unit we received had an issue, so we received a second one, and it performed beautifully, give or take a minor issue or two.  In a nutshell, the Pro8100 is definitely brighter than the average 1080p projector for the home, especially in its best mode, and it is one of the sharpest projectors I’ve seen.

The Pro8100 was found to have great color management, decent but not great out of the box color (but it calibrates beautifully), and an overall dynamic image with rich colors - lots of wow and pop!  We also found a flaw or two, notably with its dynamic iris.  For most considering the Pro8100, the “issues” are not deal breakers, and the strengths are multiple.

Check out the full Pro8100 projector review.  -art

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InFocus Darkchip4 IN83 Projector - Can InFocus raise the bar?

6-24-08:  Our next home theater projector review is the 1080p resolution, InFocus IN83.

I just received tracking information from InFocus for my IN83 review projector.  The IN83 is perhaps the first big name Darkchip4 DLP projector to ship.

UPS advises that it will arrive tomorrow.  Thursday night it will get fired up, in the theater, and I’ll check out it’s out of the box performance.   With luck, it will be calibrated by Friday night, and I can spend the weekend doing extensive viewing.  Look for the review to post around 7/8, sooner if I can (don’t forget - there’s the 4th of July, between now and then.

Not much else to say, other than the IN83 should be almost identical to the IN82 we reviewed earlier this year, with some minor improvements, and one major one - the switch from the Darkchip3 DLP chip, to the newer, higher contrast Darkchip4.  This allows even better black level performance. Read the rest of this entry »

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