March and April's PMA reports list the best selling projectors in the pico, mainstream and 4,000-plus lumen categories. Also, in the last section of this blog, the latest Market Leadership numbers from PMA. A little background on the PMA reports: Every month, Pacific Media Associates releases a list of the top five projectors in varying categories. They’ve been doing this since the 1990s, and the releases continue to provide our industry with valuable information.Sony shows a number of new projectors including more WUXGA laser based projectors and lamp based ones, plus 4K laser projectors. We're talking some impressive new gear.  I'm looking forward to bringing a couple of them in for review. Let's start with the one that we'll probably review first.  The two new WUXGA laser projectors are the VPL-FHZ65  and VPL-FHZ60.  These two in the same family as the 4000 lumen FHZ55 we reviewed last year (and which picked up a Best In Classroom award for a laser projector suitable for higher education). These two are brighter, claiming 6000 lumens and 5000 lumens respectively, plenty of networking capabilities, optional lenses, power lens shift, and plenty of additional features.  Prices are not set yet, but the VPL-FHZ65 is scheduled to ship in August, the FHZ60 in September. At what will be lower price points will be lamp based equivalent projectors, the VPL-FH65 and VPL-FH60, again, 6000 and 5000 lumens.  They will ship in the fall. Before I talk about the 4K projectors, I should mention that Sony also rolled out three smaller "compact" projectors, the VPL-EW348, VPL-EW345 and VPL-EX345 projectors using a new generation of 3LCD panels.  These roughly 9 pound projectors serve up 4200 lumens each.  Two are WXGA while the EX345 is XGA.  The EW348, the only one that won't be available until January, is similar to the EW345, but also offers HDBaseT for delivering hi-def over long cable lengths using inexpensive CAT5e/CAT6 cabling.  Sony claims up to 10,000 hours on the lamps, although that combines using now popular lamp saving techniques that save lamp life when the projector is on, but no new source material is being projected. Now for the real fun - 4K. Sony announced and showed two new 4K projectors - both laser based. Both are supposed to get 20,000 hours out of their laser engines at full power, and up to 40,000 in a low power mode.  Both use Sony's SXRD panels (LCoS).  These two are very similar, but one, the VPL-GTZ270 is designed for "entertainment venues, such as museums, theme parks, even planetariums.  Figure there will be retail and digital signage uses as well.  The VPL-GT280, by comparison is geared for simulations.  Both produced awesome looking demonstrations at the show, as these images suggest. The VPL-GTZ270 offers Sony's Reality Creation for detail enhancement.   The VPL-GT280, by comparison offers high speed 4K processing for what should be superb 4K 3D capabilities!  The GT280 looked killer doing a simulation of a jet fighter flying over land - if only you could get an idea of how real it looked in 4K, not the far lower resolution of these images and your display.  Wow!  BTW all these images (other than the professional product shots) have been taken with my iPhone 6! Mind you the image above was projected with the previously announced VPL-GTZ1 - an ultra short throw 4K laser projector, but this is the type of work the GT280 is geared for - and in 3D as well. [prsku sku="VPL-GTZ280"]Hot off the presses! ProjectorReviews.com has released its 7th annual Education Projector Report. Designed to help educators, buyers, IT/AV managers and teachers pick the best projectors for their needs; the report focuses on a range of projectors that meet the varying requirements of K-12 classrooms and higher education lecture halls. This year’s Best In Classroom Award winners include projectors from Casio, Epson, Sony, Viewsonic and others. ProjectorReviews.com’s 2015-2016 Education Projector Report helps buyers sort through hundreds of projectors to find the best display for their classroom or multipurpose room. Canon, Casio, Epson, Hitachi, LG, Panasonic and Viewsonic all won awards in this year’s Education Projector Report. There are more than 500 projectors available on the market today, with at least half suitable for educational use. We looked at the latest small install, large venue, interactive and mobile projectors, analyzing their strengths to help education buyers select the best ones for their needs and budget. The report features a rundown of each projector’s features, capabilities and options in an easy-to-read format. This year’s Best In Classroom winners include:

• Canon WUX6000 - Best Performance Large Venue Projector
• Casio EJ-V1 - Best Value K-12 Classroom
• Epson PowerLite 1985WU - Best Value Large Venue Projector
• Epson BrightLink 595Wi - Best Performance Interactive Projector
• Epson BrightLink Pro 1430Wi - Interactive Special Mention
• Hitachi CP-TW2503 - Best Interactive Performance Runner-Up
• LG PF85U - Special Mention K-12 Networking Pocket Projector
• Panasonic PT-RZ670 - Best High Performance Large Venue Projector
• Viewsonic PJD6350 - Best K-12 Projector With Networking

“Education buyers are busy. Our decades of experience in the AV industry helps us provide the analysis educators need to find the best projector for their classroom, auditorium and multipurpose room,” said Art Feierman, ProjectorReviews.com founder and editor of the report. Projectors come in families, with models differing only in resolution or whether one has wired vs wireless networking. Our 2015-2016 Education Projector Report describes the capabilities of 17 projectors. These 17 models represent projector families containing more than 100 different models. New in the 2015-2016 Education Projector Report are the latest interactive ultra short throw projectors from today’s top manufacturers. This is perhaps the fastest growing segment in the education projector market.Ricoh entered the US projector market with one projector less than 3 years ago. It was an ultra short throw design that we reviewed, and really liked.   It didn't stay a one projector line-up for very long. At Infocomm in Orlando today Ricoh showed off ten, yes, that's right, 10, new projectors, as well as showing 5 existing models.  All the new models are DLP projectors although Ricoh's three brightest projectors which have been out for a while, are LCD designs.  It's nice to see companies that use both technologies. Three we’ll call value projectors, each with different resolutions with WXGA being the highest. They are all either 3000 or 3100 lumens claimed, have have HDMI of course. The PJ S2240 is the low end unit at $462 MSRP, while the PJ X2240 is $587, And the widescreen WXGA PJ WX2240 is $700 MSRP. These are true portables – only 4 inches tall, and with a footprint of 12.5x9 – weighing in at only 5.75 pounds. Now let’s turn to the other seven newly announced Ricoh projectors. Ricoh has expanded its offerings in the Ultra Short Throw projector category. Before I get into more details, I’ll start with the throw distance. They can produce a 60” diagonal image from only 2 feet, (very suitable for wall mounting above the screen, or over a table top and projecting on to it) while putting up a powerful 3300 lumens on the screen. While Ricoh is definitely targeting the education market with these two models, they will work very well in business and also in special applications including some digital signage.   The two models are the RICOH PJ X4241N and RICOH PJ WX4241N, both producing 3300 lumens.   The feature sets are hefty to say the least.   There’s Miracast for peer to peer wireless, but also standard wireless and wired networking. There’s even an optional pen for more interactivity. There’s also a built in media player for video files. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s about all the press release shared. There’s even 360 degree operation allowing for presenting on table top or floor (or ceiling). Sounds impressive. The press release didn’t state whether their networking supports Crestron Roomview. I’ll find out at my meeting with them. Bright, feature laden and mid-priced, the XGA RICOH PJ X4241N is $1,175, while the WXGA PJ WX4241N is only slightly higher at $1,250.00. The PJ X3351N and PJ WX3351N are the next up, these Ricoh calls Desk Edge projectors. Their very short throw designs let’s you put them in front of the conference table or desk rather than on it, freeing up space, reducing noise and heat around the participants. How short throw you ask? Well you can fill a 40” screen from 2.5 feet, but more practically, that works out to a 60” diagonal screen from 3.75 feet – 45 inches. With smaller screens these should be wall mountable. These two are mid-priced with MSRPs of $1,165.00 for the RICOH PJ X3351N - And $1,275.00 for the WXGA PJ WX3351N. That brings us to the “heavy metal” projectors. Well, in this day and age, I guess their 4000 (or 4100) lumens is hardly massively bright (nor are they the brightest Ricohs), but that’s plenty of brightness for most conference rooms and K-12 classrooms. These may find homes in some of those larger university classrooms and large training rooms as well. The flagship of this standard series is the the RICOH PJ HD5450, Ricoh’s first full HD projector with 1080p resoutions. The other two models are the XGA PJ X5460, and the WXGA PJ WX5460.   These “high bright” systems claim 4000 hours in eco mode. Not bad, just remember, that in most projector line-ups, the brightest models are also those with the shortest lamp life. Pricing on these three is fairly aggressive. The XGA comes in at an MSRP of $1020, while the WXGA is $1188, and the HD – 1080p is $1435. BTW, on the lighter side, kudos to Ricoh to price their projectors without forcing the prices to $..99.00, or $..95.00 (Which usually makes us think they are rounding upward.) All but the three “entry level” projectors offer up “big sound” with a 10 watt speaker system. And important to note:  all Ricoh projectors come with a 3 year parts and labor warranty! I would expect that we’ll end up reviewing two, or possibly three of these over the next year.  I'm leaning to starting with the PJ WX5460 as the first in for review.  January and February's PMA reports brought us the best-selling projectors in everything from pico projectors to 4,000-lumen and up install units. A little background for new readers: each month, Pacific Media Associates releases a list of the top five projectors in varying categories. They’ve been doing this since the 1990s, and the releases continue to provide our industry with valuable information. Let's take a look at what the best selling projector models were in September in the US, in three different categories: Retail Projector Sales - polled from retailers and web sellers Pro A/V Projector Sales - polled from the Pro A/V channel Distribution Projector Sales - best sellers reported by the major US distributors (both A/V and IT). The top five lists found here were provided by Pacific Media Associates.  PMA has been tracking projector sales and trends going back to the '90s.  When  I owned an early online projector reseller, I too used to report a breakout of our projector sales by model to them as many others did.  They continue to provide our industry with valuable information. Please be aware that while some projector models show up on these lists almost every month, a one month snapshot doesn't always give you a really good feel, as many top five models change from month to month. Also PMA breaks out projectors differently rather than the same categories every month. For this reason, we decided that in this first report we'd look at two months of their lists.  You'll also find August  2014 numbers, but the categories are different: Mainstream Projectors High End Projectors Pico and Personal Projectors The comments in the table are added by us, just a tidbit of basic info, perhaps resolution, brightness, or some special capability to help paint a more detailed picture.Projector industry trends, the tracking the hottest selling projectors, projector announcements, more