[Jason Turk]

Well I am here...not all that thrilling to be frank. Attendance is way down, not a lot of vendors on display, and many of those who are reverted to the Hilton instead of the big displays. All in all so far...okay at best. But from day 1, here are some things I have seen:


Vivitek is showing an LED 1080p DLP projector. 900 lumens, 10000:1 native contrast (no iris), HDMI 1.3, etc... Kicker...it is a white LED lamp, still using a color wheel, and retails for $19k.

It would take a heck of a lot of lamps to justify that pricing IMHO.

(I couldn't really get a screenshot as it was a fast moving image. It was also a really small screen-maybe 4' wide).


Next I went by Elite screens. They have a new dual ratio motorized screen called the Auspree (spelling might be wrong). Instead of a standard 2.35:1 with masking, this is actually 2 separate motorized screens...1 2.35:1 and 1 16:9. They are only about 1/2" apart front to back, so the focus change shouldn't be an issue. It is only in a nontensioned version at the moment, but tensioned will come. The key thing is that they are a LOT less expensive than comparable fully motorized screens with masking.

Elite also showed a HUGE pullup screen. These are great for quick setups and such. In 16:9, they have a 135" diag...blowing away any of its competition. I use an inflatable for outside fun, but I plan to order one of these instead as this is a much quicker setup. Very cool.

Next I went to Optoma's booth. Finally, Optoma listened. Their new 1080 projector...HD8200...is shipping in March. It retails for $4995 and boasts Dynamic Black and 20000:1 contrast. It is also 1300 lumens, and finally...LENS SHIFT!!! Now they are going to be some competition (darn previous offsets were bad news for most).

(No screenshots...bad room for doing it).

 

[Jason Turk]

Next I headed to Sharp. Rumor was that they had a new 1080p DLP for $2995 list. They did. But, near as I can tell it is an OEM, and from what I saw of the image, not typical Sharp performance (which is usually top notch...this was not). It was decent for sub $3k, but don't think because it says Sharp that it is up to snuff with previous models. Plus, it has a huge offset (no shift) which makes it more limited (and also adds to the suspicsion that it is an OEM).

Next I headed to the Hilton, because, get this, that was about it for the main floor! I am going to do some more checking tomorrow, but again, this was a thin show.


At the Hilton, I went to Sim2 to start. There they had their HT5000E setup as a DCI projector, demoing content downloaded from Entertainment Experience. More on that tomorrow. They also demo'd the new C3X1080 Lumis. This is an updated version of the well known C3X1080. It offers a brighter 300 watt lamp (3000 lumens!), Dynamic Black iris system at 35000:1 on/off! And a new slick design with HOST (dual box system with 6 HDMI 1.3, and HDSDI! It only retails for $5k more than the previous version, so you really get a lot for the upgrade.

Lumis Screenshots:

So far, this was the most impressive of the show. Tomorrow I plan to do, well, more planning and see what major things I missed.


Stay tuned!

 

[Jason Turk]

CORRECTION: After looking into it further, the Vivtek LED does NOT use a color wheel...it is a true RGB LED projector. It also is 100000:1 contrast with a dynamic iris, not 10k:1. The gentleman I saw was misinformed.