LG HX300 still not released in the UK. How about elsewhere?

Hi everyone,

I'm starting this new thread to initiate a discussion on the availability or lack thereof of the new XGA LED projector form LG; the HX300G.

From my exhaustive search, it appears the projector has been properly released and is available for the asian market since March of this year and is sold on eBay from Korean sellers.

In the UK, it is listed on the websites of a few UK suppliers, but there is no stock anywhere.

Even LG UK could not comment on the future availability of the projector.

I've then tried to find its SVGA older brother; the HS200. It's sold out absolutely everywhere with no new stock available either.

What is the situation in the USA? Worldwide?

What could be the cause of this lack of supply?

Does LG consider that this is only a niche market and is only going to release a very limited number of machines?

Does this have anything to do with the recent financial troubles that Luminus (the PT-54 manufacturer) experienced?

It appears that pj manufacturers worldwide are not interested in developing, manufacturing or distributing affordable, green, bulb-less machines.

The availability of affordable FullHD projectors in the next 5 years or so also seems compromised if they can't even mass manufacture and distribute SVGA and XGA machines.

On the other hand, the Casio Hybrid LED-Laser machines are widely available, however, them seem to be pretty lame when it comes to projecting videos (from a few reviews around) and they are very noisy.

I'd like to hear everyone's view on this topic and on the future of mercury-free projection systems in general.

Thanks.

P.S. I wonder if there is any hope of seeing a FullHD Laser-only projector being released within the next 5 years???

Well said, MCaugusto.

I would tend to agree with you if indeed LG started supplying enough units worldwide soon, which does not seem to be the case.

If you read my angry rant on the LG HX300G official thread, you'll see that I was informed that this machine would not be available in the UK for another 3 months... at the very least.

Futhermore, when FINALLY available, it will be so in VERY limited quantities.

What a joke!

What gets to me is that, apart from Casio, no company out there seems even remotely committed to offering AFFORDABLE high resolution LED projectors.

That's insane.

I'm now honestly tempted by the HC3200 (priced-down HC3800) or the HD200X but I'll hold back because I don't want to change bulbs every 2000 hours (if I'm lucky).

So... I'll wait...

Honestly, if I knew that I could avoid customs and that LG UK were covering units bought from Asia, I would have already jumped on eBay to get one.

And to add insult to injury, LG is discontinuing the production of HS200 (thanks Kenshin2b for the info) without ensuring first the wide availability of its successor, thus leaving a gap of many months when nothing will be available. It's utter madness. They clearly don't value their customers outside their home market of Korea, nor are they interested in becoming market leaders on High Resolution LED projectors.

I don't understand Casio either, they could easily develop a technology using 3 arrays of laser diodes (just like the ones they already use): 1 for the Red instead of the LED (it's relatively cheap to make), and two sets of blue lasers (cheaper than green lasers), one for actual blue and the other one for green after reflection off a phosphorescent surface, WITHOUT any need for a bloody colour wheel.

As for the noise, it's just a question of building a larger enclosure capable of accommodating larger, more efficient and quieter cooling fans. Nothing intellectually challenging here. A properly trained monkey could do it.

Obviously, this would increase the cost of each unit, but not to the point where it would be unaffordable.

After sufficient stabilising period (100 or so hours), the lasers should offer their peak performance and a similar image quality to that of current LEDs.

Furthermore, Casio could utilise lasers that have already reached their peak levels, thus providing top calibrated performance out of the box, without the irritating colour shift occurring in the first 100-200 hours.

Would they decide to offer such projectors with either WXGA or Full HD chips for less than £2000, I'd be lining up to get one.

This is technologically feasible today and I do not comprehend why we should be waiting for another 5 years or more to see this dream fulfilled.

It makes no sense at all, other than forcing us to buy into this dead, un-ecological and wasteful mercury-bulb technology.

The same old story again and again: instant maximum profits outweighing the benefit of mankind and the future of our children...

When will big corporations finally learn the lesson that sustainable, long term profits are far more beneficial not only for themselves but for society as a whole, or have they forgotten who's buying their products?

Offering affordable and green display technologies is what people want here and now. It's happening for TV sets, why can't it happen right now for video projectors.

Think of all the schools and offices using projectors regularly for hours everyday. This is a much bigger market than people actually realise and with clever marketing campaigns, it could get even bigger and compete with the LCD TV market.

Okay, second rant's over... I'll go get my happy pills now...

Thanks so much Boston909,

I haven't been too present on the forum these last few days. Thanks for the porthale website and the fantastic comparison between the HS201 and HX300. The advantage of the HX300 over the HS201 on all counts is overwhelmingly obvious.

I was just wondering if the images produced using the Cinema mode in eco lamp are worse that the ones you have posted. Also what is your screen gain? Is the high power fan noise bearable or is it really obstrusive during quiet scenes? What's its WAF rating?

If it's not too much to ask, could you post a comparison of the two projectors in eco + cinema mode using the factory settings (uncalibrated)?

I was thinking of getting myself a FullHD bulb projector, but these screenshots are extremely convincing.

I found a couple of youtube links (seemingly Korean) shot in what seems to be the same restaurant or tea house on a plain wall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HibeLHnls8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PM1BD27blw

None of these clips do justice to the HX300 the way you do.

I'd also like to ask you what you think of this french review (translated through Google), whether it confirms your findings or not:

http://translate.google.com/translat...2F&sl=fr&tl=en

I found it very negative as the reviewer mentions a real brightness nearly 10x lower than advertised, a very low on/off contrast ratio of 752:1, a blurry picture beyond 40" (did he even use the focus ring?) and a very noisy fan at 44dB @ 60cm.

I start wondering if this unit was not actually faulty to yield such poor measurements, especially after comparing it to the really flattering projectorcentral review (http://www.projectorcentral.com/lg_h...ble_review.htm). It's virtually night and day!

Finally, from your screenshots, it detects what seems to be a slightly higher offset for the HX300 compared to the HS201 and some slight barrel distorsion on the sides. Are my observations correct?

Once again, a very impressive display of gorgeous screenshots. I can't wait for the next ones and/or a movie of the beast in action.