Pop into any retail store selling large screen TVs and sure enough there are a lot of different flat panel LCD, Plasma and rear projection sets to choose from. One technology often forgotten about is front-projection, usually as a result of consumers thinking of the large washed out picture they seen from projectors at presentations, which typically have a very low contrast ratio, not to mention often being run in a brightly lit up room. However, projectors have moved on a long way, particularly when it comes to those designed for home cinema. The saving made by choosing it over a large 60"+ High Definition flat panel would be enough to also cover a HD DVD or Blu-ray player, not to mention still enough change for a selection of HD titles, assuming one doesn't mind the drawback of using blackout blinds for daytime viewing.
Epson has unveiled its latest model, the PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080 home projector which features a native resolution of 1080P with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a very high contrast ratio of 12,000:1, making it ideal for those who want to get their hands on a very large 1080P HDTV screen. Like most High Definition displays, the projector features a wide range of inputs including HDMI, VGA, component, composite and S-Video inputs and will is compatible with PAL, NTSC and SECAM video. Despite its high contrast ratio, the projector uses 3 LCD chips, one per primary colour, thus doing away with the colour wheel and the associated rainbow effect experienced by some owners of DLP projectors.
According to AboutProjectors, the projector can project a screen size of between 30" and 300", has a fan noise as slow as 26dB, a brightness of 1200 ANSI Lumens, vertical & horizontal lens shift and is HD Ready. However, while it mentions that it uses a 170 watt UHE lamp, it unclear at this time how many hours its bulb is rated for. It has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $4,999, due for production in January 2007.
So far, it is a pity there seems to be little sign of black projector screens as this would surely help give projectors the competitive advantage over alternatives when it comes to viewing in a lit up room. For example, while it is nice to have the lighting dimmed way down or off during a movie, most consumers prefer to have the light on when watching TV for news and other general watching.
Further info can be read at the Digital Trends source here.
*Correction - This article was originally titled incorrectly as being a BenQ product
