On occasion, a new projector will surprise me, but perhaps the most surprising thing at CEDIA was the absence of Runco.  Runco, originally founded by Sam Runco, industry legend, was the first company to get involved in creating home theater projectors. Over the last 20 years or so, Runco established itself as the premier line of home theater projectors in the world, or, (more…)I already mentioned this when writing about new projectors shown at IFA a couple of months back. At CEDIA, Sony was showing the VPL-HW65ES, its replacement for the HW55ES.  So what are the improvements you ask? Let's start with 3D. (more…)The VPl-VW365 and VW665ES are two new true 4K Sony projectors for those that just can’t afford the VW5000ES that I wrote about separately. With these two new Sonys come enhancements and better picture quality than the VW350 and VW600ES they replace. They also have longer lasting lamps, (more…)The IFA show is underway in Berlin, and that means new home theater projectors are being announced.  Sprechen sie Deutsch? I don't, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of news from IFA. For JVC and Sony showed off a number of new projectors, mostly 4K capable, most (more…)The Epson Home Cinema 1440 was one of two more Epson projectors released this summer, two of five since the beginning of August.  With a $1699 official price, it's also the only new Epson projector announced that's over $1000.  For those not familiar, Epson makes perhaps 15 home entertainment and home theater projectors, from under $500 to $8000. I like Epson's info they sent me.  In their materials they refer to it as a flat panel killer.  I love the thought, and will discuss that below! 4400 wall melting lumens and an 3LCD design are the backbone of the HC1440.  The HC1440 is scheduled to start shipping in September (2015).Epson’s having a busy summer. Today, Epson has rolled out two more home projectors, the Home Cinema 1040 and the Home Cinema 1440. And that just after launching three other sub-$1000 home projectors just 3 weeks ago. In this blog, I’ll cover the Home Cinema 1040, the less expensive of the two. Let’s start by saying it’s a small, but very bright projector designed to bring a really big screen experience into your home. It's your chance to enjoy "TV" on something gloriously large, not some tiny 50" LCDTV.  Perhaps watch a 100” or a 120” image, or, if you have the room, even a bit larger! In other words: That should be good for some serious wow factor.A lot of you should find the forthcoming home projector comparison to be  interesting. In one corner, we're going to talk about BenQ's HT1075, a fine single chip DLP projector, and the successor to BenQ's popular W1070.  It was launched over a year ago.  We reviewed it last October (2014). Interestingly, it is my understanding that the HT1075 is sold in the EU as the W1070+.   In the US, the W1070 remains in the lineup along with the HT1075, but it would seem primarily on the strength of the W1070's reputation, that they keep it around, even if the HT1075 is slightly improved.  Officially the HT1075 is $1199 in the US, but sells for less than $1000. Taking on this popular projector that has a street price under $900 projector, is the latest price competitive entry from Epson.  Epson announced two versions, the Home Cinema 2040 and the 2045.  The 2045 offers built in Miracast wireless technology, which the HT1075 lacks.  Both Epsons and the BenQ offer MHL. I'll be comparing the BenQ to the HC2040, since in that regard, the feature sets are the more similar, but that gives the Epson about a $50-$100 price advantage based on a published "street price" of $749. Both the BenQ and the Epson projectors claim 2200 white lumens, but different color lumen counts.  We'll save those differences, and what it means for the comparison. Epson adds the Home Cinema 740HD to its lineup of new home theater/entertainment projectors.  The HC740HD will be available in September 2015. This new 3LCD projector sports 720p HD resolution, a built in speaker, and a massive 3000 lumens (color and white lumens) of brightness. This projector is built to tackle living rooms, spare bedrooms, bonus rooms, basically rooms that aren't set up as dedicated theaters, but rather those that often have ambient light present. The HC740HD is designed to take on LCDTVs as the center of your home entertainment experience.  Why suffer watching a movie on a 42, 50, or even 65" LCDTV when for about the same bucks you can to large screen - 100" or even 120" diagonal.  Believe me, that's way more fun. We spend a lot of money - $10 bucks a piece, at least, to see movies at the local Cineplex.  Why?  Well, because on the large screen we are more immersed in the content, we're more able to "suspend disbelief," to really "get into" the movie, or sporting event, or other programming.  Sorry folks, Transformers just doesn't cut it on an iPhone! The Home Cinema 740HD is a small, lightweight projector, and that means it's happy to go mobile with you.  Toss it (gently) into your backpack and take it to a friends, perhaps for some gaming. Got a family, all you need is an extension cord and somewhere to shine the projector on outside, perhaps a garage door, or an inflatable screen, or, if you are desperate - hang a sheet from a tree branch.  The Home Cinema 740HD let's you enjoy the big screen outdoor experience!  Invite over 30 friends and family for the event. There is a small speaker built into the HC740HD, but if you really want to rock the house - or the backyard, you can use it's audio out to plug into a boombox or other "bigger" sound system.The just announced Home Cinema 2040 and Home Cinema 2045 offer major feature and performance upgrades compared to the older 2000 series projectors.  That combined with aggressive pricing makes for a really improved value proposition. The base Home Cinema 2040 has an official "street price" of $799 while the HC2045 comes in $50 higher at $849. They will be sold by (more…)Greetings all you fans of home theater projectors.   I've been behind the curve on keeping you informed with this blog.  This blog is just a few more comments on this JVC, and to tell you that we're going to be doing an RS6710 vs. Epson LS10000 comparison in the next month or so. The JVC DLA-RS6710, which was lent to us by the good folks at AV Science, for a little longer than a week, certainly didn't disappoint.  Lots of projectors come through my theater, and I admit I haven't purchased a new one in half a decade, but the one I do own is the old JVC DLA-RS20.  It had the best black levels money could buy back in its day, and can still do battle with all but one or two of today's best that aren't other JVC projectors. In truth I rarely fire it up any more, but just it sitting there when I'm using other projectors is a reminder to me, that while the differences between good projectors is often minor on daytime or bright scenes, on extremely dark scenes, it really separates the great from the good - by substantial margins. Which brings me back to the DLA-RS6710 and it's almost identical twins - JVC's RS67 and the X900R.   They have, hands down, the best black levels you have ever seen, or rather not seen! I concluded in the review that this JVC is simply the best 2D projector out there.  True, I don't get to compare it to $50,000 and $80,000 3 chip DLP's which definitely have some advantages, but none of those will challenge this JVC on those dark scenes. As I point out in the review, this is a purist's projector, but once it strays from straight 2D, other projectors show their strengths.  Most interesting should be the RS6710 vs Epson LS10000 comparison I'm working on. The dual Laser Epson has some extremely good black levels - without any dynamic iris, probably rivaling those of the entry level JVC's (which are also great at blacks).  The Epson's a bit brighter, and seems to have better 3D.     Another area of comparison is dealing with 4K, where Epson assures us that the LS10000 will work with Blu-ray UHD, and where the JVC lacks the HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 that the now established Blu-ray UHD spec now calls for.  Ron, my most technical blogger just posted his blog summarizing the new UHD specs.  For those of you technically minded, it seems a very complete overview. So give me a couple of weeks, for an in depth comparison.  And I've got extra video clips for our subscribers as well.  Two great projectors - one perhaps more future proof than the other...  I could live with either for the next couple of years.  BTW, the key difference between these two images of Lucy's eyes, is the exposure, the Epson is slightly more overexposed than the JVC.  It's always tough to get comparison images exactly the same. It's report time - finally.   Because I felt that this year's big report needed to include the late arriving JVC, our annual Best Home Theater Projectors Report has been delayed until June.  In this report we'll give out our annual Best In Class awards.  Stay tuned! Separately, we're now within a month of launching our new website - SmarterHomeAutomation.com.  I hope you'll check it out, as we review smart devices, and systems. After all:  "Home automation started in the home theater."  -art