How much money do you have? No, really. If you’re shopping for a projector like this one by Faroudja, you better have a whole heck of a lot of it. ultimate AV reviews the Faroudja DILA1080pHD projector, which goes for a nifty $37,995. Add the DVP1080 video processor at $6995 for a cool system price of $44,990. When prices go that high, does one even bother haggling? I gots to wonder.

So what does all that cash get you? Well, no lens shift. Uh… what’s that? That’s right, you’re plunking down a BMW for a projector and you don’t even get lens shift. Maybe they figure rich people like using projectors for foot stools.

But it does get you 1080p. As a matter of fact, this projector only accepts 1080p/60 over a DVI connection. Everything else has to be transmorgified through their processor. (It’s 15.5% of the system price, remember.) At least this video processor does proper 1080i processing, mainting all the little bits when converting to 1080p. The video processor has a DVI/HDCP input, though no mention is made of HDMI.

For $44,990, you want to be able to know, I mean really know, that what you bought is there, right? So Faroudja made sure that the fan was loud enough for you to hear, just as a little reminder for you. “Hey, I’m $44,990 and I’m sitting under your feet!” Yes, I’m exagerrating a little. Shame on me. But for $44,990, you gotta expect perfection, no?

What about picture quality? The reviewer seems to be a little less than enthralled with the device, though in the end he gives it two thumbs up. The waffling is so Belgian, I won’t even try to summarize what he says about the picture quality, the most important part of the review. So you’ll just have to check it out for yourself.

ultimate AV - Faroudja DILA1080pHD and DVP1080 D-ILA Video Projector and HD Digital Video Processor