Sanyo are to add a brand new model to their range of short-throw, short-focus projectors, the PDG-DWL2500J. Not content with being able to produce images as large as 110 inches across, Sanyo's latest light box can produce 3D images too.
That short-throw technology is pretty impressive on its own merit too, producing 3D visuals from a distance a little as 2.4 centimetres.
In terms of connectivity, the projector features a HDMI port and Ethernet socket alongside a 10watt speaker, while the bulb throws out 16:10 aspect ratio images with 2,500 lumens of brightness. The resolution is a bit of a let down though, only at WXGA natively.
It'll cost a pretty penny when it launches next month in Japan for 450,000 Yen (£3,295 circa), but home cinema enthusiasts are probably looking at a glimpse of the future here.
Who needs a 3D TV when you can bag yourself a 3D projector for around half the price? That's what ViewSonic's PJD6531W 3D ready projector offers. It's out this month and comes in at a cheap £649.99.
So what's to get excited about here? Other than the price tag and the 3D capabilities via a firmware update later in the year, this short throw projector can produce widescreen images up to 60 inches across from a distance of just 1.9 metres.
Images are beamed with 3,000 lumens of brightness, which means day-time viewing shouldn't be half bad. An eco-mode will also save the bulbs life expectancy, promising 6,000 hours of constant usage. There is also a HDMI input and PC display inputs, making it handy for gaming, Blu-ray viewing and presentations alike.
If there's one shortcoming however it's that the images have a max resolution of 1280x800 WXGA 720p, rather than the superior 1080p. If that isn't a problem for you however, this projector is definitely worth getting in for the World Cup.
InFocus have announced the launch of their ScreenPlay 8602 projector, a great looking bit of full HD Home Theatre kit that will throw 300 inch images around your living room at a native resolution of 1080p.
The ScreenPlay 8602 has a contrast ratio of 30,000:1 which should produce deep blacks, and 1300 lumens of brightness for comfortable day-light viewing.
120Hz support, a manual lens shift, two HDMI ports, image warping for uneven surfaces and automatic celling detection all feature. There will also be interchangeable decorative skins for the projector, to help it fit in alongside the rest of you home theatre kit.
No news on pricing yet, but for more info click here.
Making sure Avatar looks as good at home as it did on the big screen, Acer ready their new S5200 3D ready video projector.
The projector is able to produce 3D imagery by using DLP 3D Ready technology. Using 120 Hz refresh rates, it can transform a flat surface into a 3D screen thanks to a combination of a PC with a compatible graphics card and special 3D glasses, producing two images on the screen at once which your mind processes as one.
A short-throw projector, the S5200 can deliver an 81 inch screen from as little as a metre away. Acer's ColourBoost II + tech should also ensure colour performance remains solid, no matter what the ambient lighting conditions.
The lamp is said to have a respectable 4,000 hour life, with a contrast ratio of 2,500:1. Brightness levels max out at 3,000 ANSI Lumens, which should make daytime viewing comfortable.
Connections include 2x component video, 1x HDMI, S-Video and composite.
The Acer S5200 3D projector costs £649. That includes a 5 year warranty on the DLP chip and 1 year warranty on the lamp, regardless of hours used.
Sony are set to launch the Bravia VPL-HW15 full HD projector. Priced in roughly the same bracket as a top-end HD TV (circa £2000), Sony are pushing it as an affordable entry point for home-projector enthusiasts.
Boasting a 1920x1080 resolution projected to sizes up to 300 inches diagonally, the projector has been engineered to handle images requiring a fast response time, such as action movies, sport and gaming, optimised with 3SXRD technology.
The projector features a contrast ratio of 60,000:1, with Sony hoping that the dynamically changing Advanced Iris 3 incorporated into the lens can prevent the washed out colours that cripple other home projectors.
Bravia-synced One Touch Play, a 1.6x manual zoom and an adjustable lens shift and focus are all set to feature, as well as high-res optimised SD images through the Bravia Engine 2.
"We're always looking to innovate and upgrade our home cinema suite of projectors to ensure we are offering our customers the very best in home cinema projection," says Takayuki Nakane, Marketing Manager at Sony Professional, "And thanks to continuous engineering advances we can offer this for a price that makes HD viewing available to a wider market than ever before."
Keep an eye out for a full Tech Digest/ HDTVUK review of the Bravia VPL-HW15 in the near future.
I'm always pleased when Optoma shows off new products, and it's used CEDIA this year to do just that.
As well as the HD82 HD projector which launched in the UK in February, Optoma showed off its new sub-£900 HD20, high-spec ThemeScene HD86, plus a sneak peek at Optoma's new state-of-the-art 3D projectors.
HD20
The HD20 is a full 1080p DLP projector but at economy prices. It features 1,700 ANSI lumens brightness, 500:1 ANSI contrast ratio, balanced colour rendition, 29dB noise level, two HDMI inputs and filter-free no maintenance design.
Granted, in some settings it won't be powerful enough but it's fine for use in rooms with some ambient light. Optoma also guarantees that image and colour quality will remain as new for at least five years.
Available from July priced around £900.
Epson is celebrating the twentieth birthday of its 3LCD projection technology, with its first projector launched in 1989, and the first home cinema projector to support HDMI 1.3a launched in 2006.
Pictured is the first 3LCD projector - quite different to some of the sleek models available today.
Graeme Davidson, Epson UK Ltd said, "As its inventor and pioneer we're proud to be celebrating 3LCD's 20th anniversary. Our innovation has constantly raised industry standards for producing vibrant, true to life images. We're proud that millions of our projectors are not only being used in the most demanding business environments, but are also bringing cinema experiences into people's homes. What's more, over the years we've developed proprietary technology that has enabled us to reduce overall energy efficiency of the projectors by 90 percent - making them a great choice for environmentally aware businesses and consumers."
Related posts: Epson announces double-speed driver for 3LCD projectors | Sony introduce BRAVIA-branded AW series 3LCD projectors | Epson EMP-TW1000 3lCD 1080p projector boosts range | More HD Projector news...
Sanyo has announced the latest in its line of high definition projectors. The single-chip DLP PDG-DHT100L features a bright 6,500 lumens from its dual lamp system, 7,500:1 contrast ratio, full 1080p native resolution, and twin colour wheel system.
The colour wheel can be easily changed by the user, with one wheel being optimised for brightness and the second for rich colour reproduction.
Other features include picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture functionality, a 25,000 hour active maintenance filter and sealed optical engine, and compatibility with Sanyo's uncompressed HD wireless data transmission system.
Available from March, its US RRP will be $21,995. Details of UK availability to be confirmed.
Related posts: Review: Sanyo Xacti Dual HD 2000 Camcorder | Video Review: Sanyo Xacti HD 1010 camcorder | Sanyo shows off new range of high-def Xacti Dual camcorders | More HD projectors...
Optoma has today announced its latest DLP-based home high definition video projector. The ThemeScene HD82 features a 20,000:1 contrast ratio (680:1 ANSI contrast), and naturally is able to handle full HD 1080p.
It can project up to a whopping 150 inches (12.5 foot) diagonal and uses a range of technologies including PureMotion to insert frames to reduce motion blurring and judder, PureColour for vivid, balanced colour reproduction, and PureDetail for a pin-sharp picture.
Epson has announced that it is to start using the Colour Light Output (CLO) measurement on its projectors.
Developed by Lumita at the end of 2007, CLO works on the same principle as the white light brightness measurement.
How is Colour Light Output measured?
Three RGB colour patterns are divided into nine separate areas. The luminance of the nine areas is then measured for each pattern, and an average value taken for each of the patterns. Finally, the Colour Light Output is calculated by adding the average values of the three patterns.
So expect to see a new measurement listed in Epson's future video projector specs.
Epson
Italian high-end projector manufacturer SIM2 has announced what is probably its most advanced, sleekest-looking high definition cinema projector to date.
The C3X LUMIS HOST builds on the standards set with the Grand Cinema C3X Series, boasting an amazing 35,000:1+ contrast ratio, dynamic iris, DynamicBlack technology and a new "dimmable" lamp.
Acer has announced its latest DLP-based video projector which can handle high definition content and comes with ColorBoost II technology for enhanced picture quality.
With a resolution of 1.680 x 1,050 pixels, it won't display a full HD video without scaling, although it will happily accept high-def signals via HDCP-compliant HDMI.
Offering a brightness of 2,500 ANSI lumens and 2,000:1 contrast ratio, the projector can thrown an image up to 82 inches even from a projection distance of one metre.
Quiet, at 28dB in Eco Mode, it offers 3,000 hours of projection life and a built-in speaker. It comes with a remote control and laser pointer, so is geared particularly for business users, and offers several power-saving modes.
Available for £539 (excluding VAT).
If you're in line for a new projector or home cinema system, you might want to get yourself to the Stuff Live / What Hi-Fi Show this weekend for some great deals on Epson gear.
Offers only available at the show include £100 off the EMP DM2, now £399.99; £200 off the EMP TW420, now £449.99; and £400 off the EMP TW2000, now £2,599.
If you've been waiting (im)patiently for the VPL-HW10 high definition projector which was announced at IFA this year, then your wait is nearly over.
It's coming at the end of October (that's about as precise as it gets) for £1,760.
In an attempt to lure you into its projector goodness, Sony is offering a Blu-ray player worth £249, or a replacement lamp worth £260.
Take a look in more detail on the product page.
Here's a bit of component news, in that Epson has developed a new double speed D7/C2 Fine Panel, upping the display rate to 120 frames per second.
The panels will be fitted in new high-end 3LCD projectors from Epson. In addition, the number of integrated circuits has been reduced from four to one, by embedding the mini-LVDS interface function onto the video signal processing IC.
This news isn't going to make any immediate difference to consumers, and won't affect lower-end projectors which will continue to display 60fps video, but moving forward it will allow Epson to develop more advanced high definition projectors.
Sanyo has announced the latest in its line of high definition LCD projector, the PLV-Z3000.
This full HD 1080p projector uses Sanyo's TopazReal HD technology, which is a 3D colour management system that changes colour phase and level to obtain "perfect" colour reproduction - some 216 billion colour combinations, in fact.
The 120Hz projector introduces 5:5 pull down, for accurate rendition of the source material. Presumably, a UK version of the projector would run at 100Hz. It can also handle 24fps video.
Sony has announced its latest high definition projector, the BRAVIA VPL-VW80.
Just like the VPL-VW40 launched earlier this year, it uses Sony's proprietary SXRD (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) technology -- a variant of LCoS -- to produce its full 1080p image.
Built-in Sony technologies include the BRAVIA ENGINE 2 (the previous model used version one) which handles colour reproduction, Motionflow which adds intermediate frames to the original video source, creating smoother movement, Dark Frame Insertion which optionally adds darkened frames to heighten contrast and remove judder, Real Colour Processing which allows precise tweaking of the colour space, and Iris 2 which dynamically adjusts the lens aperture based on the scene.
InFocus has announced its latest projector, the X9, offering high definition projection at a distinctly budget price.
Thanks to the fact that it's a 720p projector, rather than offering 1080p high definition, it comes in at a lower price point. There's no skimping on quality, though, as it uses Texas Instruments' DLP technology with BrilliantColor, and offers a 2,500:1 contrast ratio, 1,800 lumens brightness, and HDMI with DeepColor support.
Panasonic has announced the latest in its high definition LCD projector line. The PT-AE3000 offers full 1080p operation, 1,600 lumens of brightness, 60,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and Panasonic's Frame Creation Technology that inserts additional frames by analysing adjacent ones.
The user can set the rate of frame creation, from 120fps when watching 60fps video (presumably a UK version will allow 100fps from 50fps video), to 96fps when watching 24p films.
Delta has announced the successful development of a high definition DLP projector based on LED technology.
Using LED technology, it does away with the lamp, colour wheel, and shutter of a traditional projector. However, it requires precise control using a complex algorithm to ensure that the LEDs work with the DMD to provide a high quality image.
Exact specifications aren't available for these projectors at present, though the LED module is expected to last 20,000 hours in normal operation.
Jeff Fu, Director for Projection Display at Delta's Display Solutions Business Unit, said "The viewing experience is amazing. The image quality of the projector's full HD resolution plus saturated colour and dynamic contrast is extremely impressive. With this product, we believe the era of the LED projector has arrived. Home theatre projectors are just the beginning."
Sanyo are to add a brand new model to their range of short-throw, short-focus projectors, the PDG-DWL2500J. Not content with being able to produce images as large as 110 inches across, Sanyo's latest light box can produce 3D images too.
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