With the Mits 5500 coming on market momentarily at a $2,500MSRP, and the Sony VPL-VW10 rumored to be MSRP lower than that, are we finally looking at the 1080P price war that drives 1080 toward 720 (and 720 out of the market?)
For two generations the 1080p projectors have stayed consistently above 2k with a couple of exceptions on rebates for the second tier projectors, and the popular 2-3k projectors were all >3k msrp (prompting much forum splitting.) Now we are looking at high end features (the 5500) and LCOS (Sony) MSRP'ing at $2,500 or less so what do Panasonic and Sanyo, the traditional value end leaders, Optoma and Benq, the competitors, or Epson, which prides itself as the performance leader, do to compete? If quality 1080p drops to the 1.5k range does that leave room in the market for quality 720p? or even value priced (ie. $800) 720? It seems after 18 months of stasis the market may be in for some big upheaval.
For two generations the 1080p projectors have stayed consistently above 2k with a couple of exceptions on rebates for the second tier projectors, and the popular 2-3k projectors were all >3k msrp (prompting much forum splitting.) Now we are looking at high end features (the 5500) and LCOS (Sony) MSRP'ing at $2,500 or less so what do Panasonic and Sanyo, the traditional value end leaders, Optoma and Benq, the competitors, or Epson, which prides itself as the performance leader, do to compete? If quality 1080p drops to the 1.5k range does that leave room in the market for quality 720p? or even value priced (ie. $800) 720? It seems after 18 months of stasis the market may be in for some big upheaval.