Yesterday I mentioned a couple 1080p projectors by Sony and Optoma. Today I’m going to look at another contender, this time from Panasonic. And when I say “I” in that last sentence, I really mean the folks over at Projector Central. I’ll just regurgitate!

This projector is highly anticipated, but it doesn’t put out the same light as it’s 720 brother, the AE100U. 1100 ANSI lumens for this 1080p projector. This projector does have a variable iris, though. Which gives it a contrast ratio of 11,000:1. It uses three 1920 x 1080 LCD panels and a UHP lamp. It has two HDMI inputs, a 2.0:1 zoom lens, and both horizontal and vertical lens shift.

On SD material, this projector is astoundingly good. On HD material, this projector is “just” good. Projector Central mentions a slight softness to the image. Other than that, though, the image quality is very good. So you have a small trade-off there to deal with.

For more, read the full review, link below.

Review: Panasonic PT-AE1000U 1080p Home Theater Projector

Ultimate AV has a sneek peak at the Ruby’s baby brother, the Pearl. And I’m not talking about jewels here, I’m talking about video projectors. I’ve already mentioned the Projector Central Sony Pearl review which complained about the lack of sharpness of this projector. Remember that the Pearl is an SXRD 3-chip Sony projector, retailing for $5k, half the Ruby’s cost.

One very cool thing about the Pearl (or the VPL-VW50) is its ability to accept a 24p signal and display those 24 frames 3 times. That’s 96Hz. Pretty cool, huh?

But what about the sharpness? Indeed, that’s a complaint here too. But Ultimate AV doesn’t have too much of a problem with it, considering how good the projector is in other aspects. This is in direct contrast to what the other review found.

Sony VPL-VW50 Pearl SXRD Projector

DigitTimes has a small article about the cost of a rear-projection HDTV versus the cost of an equivalent-sized LCD or plasma display. It makes for interesting reading.

The stats are for a 52″ 1080p television, and they are:

All component costs:

LCD $1621
plasma $1749
DLP $807

In other words, it costs twice as much to hang your 1080p 52″ television on your wall instead of placing it on your floor. Frankly, I’m surprised. I thought it was more than that.

DLP RPTV half as costly as LCD/PDP for 52-inch TVs

Everyone is watching the Sony VPL-VW50 projector. It follows Sony’s excellent VPL-VW100 projector which has received many good reviews. The VW50 sells for about half the price, but the performance is still quite remarkable. The VW50 is a SXRD 1080p projector, and will sell for $5k. That’s one of the cheapest 1080p front projectors that you can buy. This projector puts out 900 lumens, has a 15,000:1 contrast ratio, and a 200W UHP lamp. (That’s not the same as the lamp in the VW100.) It does accept 1080p, and has two HDMI inputs.

Projector Central took a look at this projector, and they had a good summary right near the beginning. They say that “the VW50 has outstanding black levels, color saturation and contrast, but the image is softer than we’d like to see from a 1080p resolution projector“.

Basically, the review says that there are lots of great things about this projector, but they can’t get past the lack of sharpness. Take a look yourself.

Review: Sony VPL-VW50 Home Theater Projector

Okay, let’s get some facts out of the way right off the bat.

JVC
LCD
Flat panel.
1080p
46″
1080p
$3,499.99

JVC isn’t the first name I think of when I think “LCD flat-panel displays”. But this review from Ultimate AV endeavours to change my mind. To sum up, it looks great. The black level is actually better than the competing BRAVIA used for comparison. Picture quality is great. Check the review below for details.

JVC LT-46FN97 1080p LCD Flat Panel Television

We’ve all seen pictures of 100″ LCD or plasma displays that cost and arm and a leg, and we assume that those are just prototypes that manufacturers use to one-up each other. But that’s not the case! LG is actually going to put their 100″ LCD display into production, and you’ll be able to buy one day soon. The catch? You know it’s coming. It costs $150k to produce. That’s right. I didn’t say $150k was the MSRP, I said it costs that much to make. And with mark-ups the way they are, we might expect to see this set on the market for $300k.

In case you’re interested, this is a 1080p set with a 3000:1 contrast ratio, a 180° viewing angle and a 5ms response time.

LG’s 100-inch LCD TV goes into production - at a price

On a budget? I mean, a really really restricted budget? But you just happen to have a room that would cozy up to a projector? Then maybe you should take a look at Epson’s $1599 LCD projector (With a $1500 street price.) It’s a 1280 x 720 3LCD design with one lumen of output for every dollar you pay - 1500 ANSI lumens. It has a 1.5:1 zoom lens (could be better) and both horizontal and vertical lens shift for easier projector placement. It has a 5000:1 contrast ratio.

One thing to note is that this is quite a bright projector. So if you have a room with a little bit of ambient light, thought that’s not optimal, you might want to keep that in mind.

This projector is great for video games and watching football. On the other hand, the colour accuracy isn’t all that great. For more, read the full review, link below.

EPSON PowerLite Home Cinema 400 LCD Projector

The Mitsubishi HC5000 is a 3LCD design. That means it has 3 LCD panels, through which light is shot as a canon, to spray the screen with colour. That canon is 1000 lumens bright and can vary the light with a 10,000:1 contrast ratio. It has a resolution of 1920 x 1080, with an HDMI input. It has a 1.6:1 zoom lens, which is adequate, but it could be better. It also has both horizontal and vertical lens shift. The HC5000 will retail for $4,495.

Evan Powell over at ProjectorCentral got a chance to review this lovely projector, and I’m glad he got this chance. He says the projector is quite nice. The projector is bright, “superb” colour accuracy, precise deinterlacing and scaling,

Mr. Powell goes on to talk a whole lot more about this excellent projector, but I’ll leave the reading of that as an exercise to you, the reader. But it definitely looks like a great 1080p contender.

Review: Mitsubishi HC5000 Home Theater Projector