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

There are several 1080p projectors priced around the $5k mark coming out this fall. Isn’t technology amazing? Projector Central takes a look at the Optoma HD81 1080p DLP projector.

It has a contrast ratio of 10,000:1, and puts out 1400 ANSI lumens of brightness. It uses a single DLP 1920 x 1080 chip with a 7-segment, 6x speed colour wheel. It has 3 HDMI inputs, but only a 1.2 zoom lens, and no lens shift. Also, fan noise is higher than average.

On the plus side, it is very bright, produces a sharp image, has good deinterlacing, and gives a solid black level.

For more, read the full review.

Review: Optoma HD81 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

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

Rear-projection televisions still offer the best bang for the buck when you want a large screen HDTV in a room with some light. Maybe that’s why they’re so popular, and DLP is the king of the rear-projection hill.

If you talk DLP, the name Samsung has to come up, because they’re a big player in the DLP market. Maybe that’s why audio|video Revolution decided to take a look at their HL-S6187W 61″ DLP rear-projector. Note that this is a 1080p television, and that it goes for an MSRP of $2,999.

What did a|v rev think?

Supposedly this set has a contrast ratio of 10,000:1, which would help give it a good picture quality. The black level is very very good. The set has problems, though, transitioning from dark to bright.

It’s good to note that this 1080p set does indeed accept a 1080p signal. All you HD DVD, BD, and PS3 fans take note.

For the price this is a very good set, but it does have its shortcomings. Check out the full review at audio|video Revolution. Link below.

Samsung HL-S6187W 61-Inch DLP HDTV Review

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

Vidikron is one of those high-end brands that I’ve been aware of for some time, but I’ve always thought that they were too expensive. That’s kind of true with this Model 50 Vidikron projector. The MSRP is $9,999. Which sounds expensive, but there are lots of other similar projectors in the same price range.

This projector is a DLP design using the HD2+ Dark Chip from TI, with a resolution of 1280 x 720, and it has an HDMI input. It has electronic focus, zoom, and lens shift. Strangely enough, the projector has a PIP feature, which is cool. Another cool feature is the ISF Day and Night modes. Video processing is good. Colour decoding is “dead-on” accurate.

Audio|Video Revolution’s review of this projector lasts three pages, so if you’re at all interested, check it out.

Vidikron Vision Model 50 One-Chip DLP Projector Review

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

With all the news of 1080p displays, whether that be LCD, DLP, or SXRD/D-ILA, it’s almost like going back home to see a review of a standard 720p DLP projector review. In this case, Ultimate AV’s Thomas J. Norton takes a look at the BenQ PE8720 projector.

With an MSRP of $6,999, I’m not so sure Thomas should have bothered. There are so many good projectors being released for cheaper, and some of them are 1080p to boot. But who knows, resolution isn’t everything, maybe this projector has what it takes after all.

So how does it do? It actually compares fairly well to single-chip 720p projectors twice its price. And even though the MSRP is about $7k, it can be had on the street for about $4k. So this projector does a decent job, and if you don’t care about rainbows or 1080p, maybe this projector is for you. Check out the review for full details.

Ultimate AV: BenQ PE8720 720p DLP 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

If you want to buy a plasma and be assured you’re getting one of the best, you’ll be looking at getting a Panasonic or a Pioneer. Ultimate AV recently took a sneak peak at Pioneer’s Elite PRO-FHD1 plasma monitor. This particular plasma is a unique one in the history of plasma displays, because it’s the first one that has a resolution of 1920 x 1080. It costs $8000, is 50″ in size, and has two HDMI inputs.

This display is strictly a monitor - no tuners on board. But it makes up for that fact with a smashing image. The image is crisp, natural, and “un-digital”, according to Mr. Buettner. because this is a sneak peak, and not a full review, there aren’t as many details about the set as otherwise. But Ultimate AV’s sneak peaks are as long as some other publication’s full reviews, so if you’re at interested in plasmas, check it out.

Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1 Plasma HDTV Monitor

Ultimate AV takes a look at Westinghouse’s new 47″ LCD. It’s an amazing display - 1080p resolution for only $2,499. Strange thing about this HDTV is that it’s really a monitor - there’s no built-in tuner of any variety.

This set has both DVI/HDCP connectors, and an HDMI connector. All will accept 1080p signals at both 50Hz and 60Hz.

But what about the picture quality? Peter Putman, the reviewer, says that this television is much better at displaying HD signals than SD signals. But it does HD signals really well. Unfortunately, this set was affected by LCD motion smear, so it might not be the best set for fast action pieces. Read the full review for more details about the sets deinterlacing and scaling performance.

Westinghouse Digital LVM-47w1 High Definition Monitor

The second Blu-ray Disc (BD) player to come to market is the Panasonic DMP-BD10. It’ll coming to market sometime soon, as we recently heard that they were shipping to retailers. Although I have to admit that that was a while ago now, so I’m kinda wondering if that was just a false rumour. But anyway, the $1300 player should be on store shelves soon, and there are reviews slowly trickling out.

So how does the Panasonic player fair? Well, load times are up compared to the Samsung, with a slightly better picture quality. No TrueHD or DTS HD Master decoding is supported (!!!) though that is supposed to come in a firmware update. (Whew!) Also on the bad news front is the fact that this player also does that 1080p to 1080i to 1080p thing that the Samsung does.

[via Engadget]

Canada HiFi Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Disc Player Review
Home Theater Forum Panasonic DMP-BD10 Review

Ah, Sanyo. Sanyo, Sony, and Panasonic have been battling it out in the LCD projector space for a while now, with each offering excellent projectors. Last time around, if I remember correctly, the Sanyo PLV-Z4 had a slight edge in detail over the Panasonic. Has Sanyo kept this edge with the new PLV-Z5? I read the review at Projector Central with anticipation.

First of all, let’s get the basics out of the way. This is a 720p 3LCD projector. It will have a street price of around $1695. It has a contrast ratio of 10,000:1, 1100 ANSI lumens of brightness, 2 HDMI inputs, a 2:1 zoom lens, and horizontal and vertical lens shift.

What about picture quality? Contrast is improved over the last projector. The colours are vastly improved, which sharpness is just as good as before. Plus, the image is very noise-free, which is a great bonus.

Review: Sanyo PLV-Z5 Home Theater Projector

And how does this projector compare to its closest competitor, the new Panasonic PT-AX100U? Projector Reviews has an article about just that. To sum up, both are excellent excellent projectors. But if you had to choose, the Panasonic would do better in conditions with a little light, while the Sanyo would do better in low light conditions. But each has definite advantages over the other in certain areas. Read the review for full details.

Shoot-out: Panasonic PT-AX100U vs. Sanyo PLV-Z5

c|net wasn’t totally convinced by Samsung’s new LED-lit DLP projector, but HDBeat Engadget HD had a different opinion, pretty well liking the set a whole lot.

Like lots of other television sets, or should I say most, look terrible right out of the box. And this one is no exception, according to the Engadget HD folks. Or folk - Matt Burns. The image quality is superb, and the scaler does a great job of scaling video to the set’s native 1920 x 1080 resolution. The blacks are better than any DLP set Matt has ever seen. And I don’t know if that’s good or not, because I don’t know how many DLP sets Matt has seen! But still, the black level is one of the few areas where DLP falls down next to its ancient CRT competitors. (Does anybody make CRT displays anymore? Sure they do!)

Game modes are an important feature for televisions because typically they turn off processing that might cause gaming lag. But this Samsung’s gaming mode seems to be somewhat of a wash. Oh well. I guess no set can be perfect!

Review: Samsung HLS-5679W LED DLP