The DLA-RS6710U projector is arguably the best 1080p projector on the market. The DLA-RS6710 is the same projector as the DLA-RS67U and DLA-X900R, sold through different channels. The full RS6710 projector review will publish within the week.Epson's Pro Cinema LS9600e projector is arriving at Ron's for review. Update:  Ron has published his review of the Pro Cinema LS9600e.  For those of you who have already read my review of the LS10000, you might find his interesting as Ron - an engineer, gets a bit more technical than I do. -artAs expected, not a whole lot of projector action here at CES.  The Sony VPL-VW350ES was the obvious big announcement on the home theater side, at this years show. That said, so far I've also met with Sony, BenQ, Viewsonic, LG and Vivitek so far.  BenQ really didn't have anything new to show off.  They had their HT1085, the short throw version of the HT1075 I've previously reviewed. More interesting in their booth was their color matching system, Colorific,  in action demo'd on one of their projectors and compared to their color matching professional monitors.  While one could consider that projector (which I'll go into more detail after the show) a crossover suitable for home use, it really is intended for commercial applications, bringing the ability to get accurate color for use wherever needed.  (more on that later) Viewsonic had a bit more going on.  They were showing off several new projectors and also gave me a run through as to what's coming in the next few quarters. The two new models that are shipping this quarter are the PJD5 series:  PJD5153, and PJD5555W, both 3200 lumens.  XGA and WXGA respectively, if I recall correctly.  (I've just seen too many products, my brain is fogging up).  They are sporting Viewsonic's Lightstream color matching (see a trend here?) I'm playing catch-up with Viewsonic.  They've started shipping their PJD-7822HD (image below).  The PJD7822HD is a refresh on the very popular PJD-7820HDL, which was the first low cost 1080p projector at $699 a couple years ago. The refresh boosts brightness to 3200 lumens, and according to Viewsonic, the firmware has also been updated, so that we should expect slightly better color performance... Viewsonic is shipping me one to review, but give me 30 days, the projectors are stacking up in the testing room! LG sported several new pocket sized solid state projectors, which included the new PW700 - yes 700 lumens and very small.  I really didn't get a full tour, so I'll have to dig through their press releases to provide more info on this one, and some others.  Below is the PW700 (WXGA 1280x800 resolution).  Below, along with some images from the projector room in their booth.  The PW700 sports Bluetooth audio.     That brings us to Vivitek, which will be launching the new Qumi 6 pocket projector, which I'll cover in another blog.  They also showed their ultra short throw projector with attachment to provide multi-screen capabilities (for example in the classroom), which will allow the projector to display multiple images simultaneously from four different sources - such as smart phones, computers, tablets, at the same time.  A teacher or trainer can select which of 64 (I think) different sources to display.  This isn't new tech, but the first I've seen from Vivitek, and their interface is very user friendly, something the instructor will appreciate.  Shown below displaying different sources in 3 of the four windows. Finally, to round things out, in the TI (DLP) booth, I saw a new pocket projector from ASUS, that I want to review.  Like the LG it is 700 lumens, but get this, this one is designed to run for multiple hours on internal batteries! OK, that's it for now, back to the show floor.  Today I will spend almost all my time looking at Smarter Home Automation gear and solutions, including various Z-Wave products.  I've been talking to Fibaro, Nexia, Insteon, and a host of others so far.  I'll be blogging at the end of the show about all that "stuff" in my home automation blog.   -artSony's most affordable true 4K projector comes to the US - finally.   The VPL-VW350ES is the US version of the VW300ES that Sony announced at IFA in the fall, and started shipping in Europe not long after.  For many of us, that Sony did not bring the projector to the US for the CEDIA show was a huge disappointment.   Well, it's here now. Lots of interesting "stuff" to report about the VPL-VW350ES.  Including special intro pricing through February 28th (see below). It is true 4K, it uses traditional lamps (no laser light engine, etc.)   It has motorized zoom, focus, (and motorized lens shift too I believe, but I'm not 100% about that last).  The zoom lens has an impressive 2.06:1 throw ratio for lots of placement flexibility.  BTW, what it doesn't have is Lens Memory, so for anyone wanted a true widescreen that's Cinemascope shaped (2.35 or 2.4:1), it will still work, but you'll have to change the image size via the remote to zoom, etc., not essentially 1 touch like the more expensive 4K Sony projectors.  Lens Memory would have been nice, but you can still get the job done, it will just take a few more seconds when adjusting the projector between the different aspect ratios. As expected, Sony sees this as more of a media room/ living room/ bonus room projector than one for a dedicated theater.  That's in part because there's no dynamic iris to improve black level performance.  If you are running a projector with more than the minimal ambient light found in a theater, blacks do, of course wash out a bit, which negates part of the advantage of better black level performance.   Sony distinguishes their HW40ES (no dynamic iris) from the HW55ES the same way:  The 55 for a theater, the HW40ES more for the family room. The VPL-VW350ES claims 1500 lumens.  Now that's a ton of lumens in a dedicated home theater, but if you are putting this Sony in a room without good lighting control, your choice of screens will be critical. Let's talk more about that, because the rest (other than pricing - a surprise for you there), is pretty expected - such as excellent color, and of course a razor sharp image, especially with 4K content. Sony had it set up in a ballroom at the Mirage hotel.  For the entire demo they maintained a moderate level of lighting - not bright, but not even close to dim, probably like your family room with the lights on.  Sony demo'd it with two different screens.  The first was the highly regarded Stewart Grayhawk, which is great at rejecting ambient light from off angles.  But, the Grayhawk isn't a match for some of the newer light absorbing screens such as the Screen Innovations Black Diamond screens (which are pretty amazing when it comes to that), or even their newer, less expensive Slate screen.  With the Sony firing onto the Slate screen, the picture looked pretty darn good, with that ambient light.  The Grayhawk, by comparison was (for that amount of lighting) still taking too much of a bit to the contrast, so it had a lot less pop to the image. As it happens, I'm installing a motorized Slate screen in my living room by the end of this month.  My room can be very bright, so it will be fun to check out the Sony in my place on that screen (as well as testing it in our very dark theater.  I should have the screen installed in time to include images showing how the Sony can handle a bad room when paired with a great screen, in the full review. Now to the really fun "stuff".  The official price of the VW350ES is $9999, and it is shipping to dealers immediately. But here's the fun part: Sony is announcing that if you purchase a VPL-VW350ES in January or February, there is an introductory promotion - you can buy the projector for $7999! Well, that should motivate some of you to decide sooner or later.   BTW I expect to post my review in early Feburary, probably a few days after Superbowl.  Plenty of time for you to read the review, and still get your projector in time for the savings! Sony also had one of the JVCs set up for direct comparison.  The JVC definitely wins at black level performance, but the Sony's sharpness/detail advantage was impressive.  The Sony also blew away the JVC in terms of color, but then, we already know that the JVC does some fine color once calibrated.  Of course the JVC is really designed for a dedicated theater, so it's a pixel shifting 1080p projector which is more of a competitor for the more expensive VW600ES in terms of usage. if you want to compare a pixel shifting 1080p vs. a real 4K projector. Bottom line:  It's hard to think of a "home entertainment" projector - projectors for non-theaters, as being $almost $10,000, but then it is the only true 4K home entertainment projector out there. That's it for now.  Stay tuned for the full review!Epson surprised me when I received a call about two weeks ago, to tell me about theHome Cinema 5025UB projector which was announced last week.  Of course I couldn't report on it until the official announcement, so here, finally, is the scoop on the Home Cinema 5025UB.  After some basic  info about the Home Cinema 5025UB time for  a short story. The Home Cinema 5025UB is a 3LCD projector.  It claims 2200 lumens, and 600:000:1 contrast.  It is 3D capable, with built in RF emitter, so just add (more…)With Black Friday only hours away, it's time to introduce all you projector fans to the first of two recently launched home projectors.  Both have been announced in the last month.  We haven't received either for review yet, but will be reviewing both projectors.  Both are selling in the $1500 to $2000 range. This first blog covers Optoma's new HD50.  It will be followed later today with a second blog (more…)It's that time of year again: Time to start thinking about holiday gift giving! And we all know the best kind of gift is one you can enjoy too... All the more reason to make your home theater the star stocking stuffer. To help you prepare for the holidays, and anticipating that projector sales will be off the charts this year, we've drawn together two guides highlighting some of the top home theater projectors on the market. The guides are divided into two price ranges, Under $2000 and Over $2000, and each feature five home theater projectors that will surely bring some holiday cheer. Check out great projectors from Epson, Sony, JVC, Optoma, Panasonic, and more. Visit our guides, below: Your Holiday Guide To The Five Best Home Theater Projectors That Are Less Than $2000 Your Holiday Guide To The Five Best Home Theater Projectors Over $2000 Your biggest dilemma should be:  Which one do I choose?Greetings projector fans! Last week I attended Rand's Luxury Technology Show is Los Angeles.  You could think of the show as a tech toy show for the rich and famous. These Rand Luxury shows start with autos, but cover a lot of strange and wondrous other products. Since I knew that at least one home theater projector company would be showing, I thought I'd take the hour plus ride up there, to check things out, and see how the rich and famous party. Sure enough, SIM2 the Italian maker of high end (and beautifully styled) home theater projectors had a pair of projectors fired up, onto Vutec screens. More on that in a minute, first I thought I'd tell you about the show.  I got there late afternoon - for the press opening.  The show opened to "regular" invitees at 6pm, and then it started getting pretty crowded. There were celebrities.  Mind you I don't pay attention to celebrities, but I spotted some LA Lakers players, one of the actors from the Fast and Furious movies, and a couple of others.  I'm pretty sure, though, that if my wife had come, she'd have identified 20 or 30 celebs.  Ne-Yo and Chris Brown were also there somewhere, I'm told. Most noteworthy was the location of the event:  The Petersen Auto Museum, which is one very cool place.   (more…)Greetings projector fans, this is just a brief update of what's in the queue, as things are getting crazy around here. First of all, I'm almost finished with the Optoma HD141X, a very nice little roughly $600 - $650 street priced 1080p home entertainment projector.  BTW, I decided not to spend to calibrate this one.  After all, is anyone who's going to drop $600 on a projector really going to also spend $300 to $500 more to have it calibrated?  Not likely!  Thus, we'll be reporting and showing images of how it performs, with only minor tweaking, that anyone can do.  The Optoma is only the beginning, lots of projectors arriving, so keep reading. (more…)My first impression of BenQ's new HT1075 is that is sure looks and cooks like the BenQ W1070.  Having been watching it for a week, and playing with it (Mike calibrated it first), I've come to the conclusion that it really is just a minor update on BenQ's aging, but very highly regarded W1070.  Update 10/4/2014:  Click for the full HT1075 review, just published.  Continue reading this blog for a quick overview. With that in mind, I suspect that, at some point, W1070's will fade away into history.  On BenQ's site, they still show both projectors.   I did say minor update, but remember that the older 1070 has been a stand out projector for the price. The HT1075 would seem to be the "standard" model projector.  There's also a (more…)