Hello,
I returned today from INFOCOMM and being from the Home Theater segment of the market, the show was a real letdown in comparison to CEDIA, but that said, there were a couple of very interesting video products of note.
First, the QXGA in my opinion is BETTER than film. Folks, think of the cleanest image you have ever seen and double it. Stretch that out onto a 20' screen and you have literally a window into whatever you are watching. This is as close to reality as it gets. If you've ever seen a $100k 3 chip DLP image, the Q demolishes it on every level. Sorry to go on, but it was a breathtaker...
The other two product intros from JVC were also very solid. Though the 150HT was playing 'only' DVD, it was very filmlike with very nice contrast. The M2000 also looked phenomenal. I was also impressed by the computer images displayed by the new baby D-ILA, though it was on the outside of the booth and had a bit of ambient light to deal with. Nobody could tell me what the final contrast ratio ended up being.
Sanyo had a nice show as well, the PLV-60 showcased excellent black level, but in my opinion (LASIK corrected 20/15+ vision) the pixelization is a drawback. The MLA-enhanced XP-45 (3500 ANSI lumens, DVI in, same case and specs as XP21) looked better in my opinion on a much larger screen located directly above the -60. The XP45 is set to retail for $12,995, just slightly above the XP21 which I was told it will replace by fall.
NEC had a monster booth and was introducing its 61 inch plasma. What a beauty... Perhaps only bettered by the high-contrast Panasonic 50" plasma, NEC is really a step above either Sony or Fujitsu on the image quality. I was NOT impressed by any of the NEC projectors, except for perhaps the 3-chip DLP unit they were showing with a $17,000 ISCO anamorphic lens. Note: the image was noticeably bowed on the top and the bottom of the image and did not fill the entire screen. The other problem was NEC demo'd the same footage of some parade which JVC was showing on their QXGA projector. If you thought you couldn't tell the difference between one $120k projector to a $225k projector, think again.
The InFocus LP530 looked the best of all the entry level projectors shown, with excellent color and good pixel fill factor, far less for some reason than many of the other XGA DLP's shown by just about every manufacturer.
I don't have time to go into everything, but there were a few noticeable disappointments.
1. The SXGA LCOS projector from Hitachi. Looked like dogcrap on a 60" screen in some nook in the booth. Almost an afterthought.
2. To every manufacturer who shows a projector on an unevenly or incompletely filled screen, shame on you. We could never get away with that on an installation but you would be amazed at how many were set up improperly.
3. TI's presentation: Showcases the Wi-Fi wireless system not out yet, demos a powerpoint presentation, then an excel spreadsheet, then shows everyone not only can you see the spreadsheet, but you can type stuff in and you can also see that on the screen, then goes back to the PPT presentation! Enough already.
4. The lack of ANY FProj with the 1280x960 16:9 DLP chip. Why can we buy $15k rear projections but not a $12k FP?
5. Higher resolution projectors: the PLV-60 did NOT look better than the XGA XP-45 and some company was showing a 1920x1536 projector of unknown type that looked like junk compared to any XGA projector. Also, Sanyo was showing doublestacked 7700 lumen UXGA (1600x1200) LCD projectors that looked as if they could double as a tanning bed for the entire show, entirely too much contrast and blooming for a horrible image quality.
6. Toshiba's widescreen projector: It was next to the Sanyo and was utterly blown off the map on the simple measure of color temp accuracy. The flesh tones were way out of control and the black level was terrible. No wonder so few companies chose to participate in the projector shoot-out.
7. SONY: Wow, a company of complete mediocrity. They were not showing anything new. Guess what they were using in the home theater showcase? The G90. Wow, nobody has ever seen that model before. Also, no wonder Sony's plasma displays are so cheap, they are completely outperformed by every NEC and Panasonic model. Where's the 50"? No 61" either? Explained they were not in the shootout because everything is so good, people make misinformed decisions about image quality. I would agree if this were a double blind comparison of $25k speakers, but most folks can tell the good from the bad or mediocre almost immediately and be able to explain why. Not a bad move, though, because Sony would have lost in every price and resolution measure in the shootout. I was very disappointed because I usually am impressed by Sony display products.
That was more than my 2 cents, but I hope I covered some products not otherwise noted.
Regards,
Steve
Synergy MultiMedia, LLC
I returned today from INFOCOMM and being from the Home Theater segment of the market, the show was a real letdown in comparison to CEDIA, but that said, there were a couple of very interesting video products of note.
First, the QXGA in my opinion is BETTER than film. Folks, think of the cleanest image you have ever seen and double it. Stretch that out onto a 20' screen and you have literally a window into whatever you are watching. This is as close to reality as it gets. If you've ever seen a $100k 3 chip DLP image, the Q demolishes it on every level. Sorry to go on, but it was a breathtaker...
The other two product intros from JVC were also very solid. Though the 150HT was playing 'only' DVD, it was very filmlike with very nice contrast. The M2000 also looked phenomenal. I was also impressed by the computer images displayed by the new baby D-ILA, though it was on the outside of the booth and had a bit of ambient light to deal with. Nobody could tell me what the final contrast ratio ended up being.
Sanyo had a nice show as well, the PLV-60 showcased excellent black level, but in my opinion (LASIK corrected 20/15+ vision) the pixelization is a drawback. The MLA-enhanced XP-45 (3500 ANSI lumens, DVI in, same case and specs as XP21) looked better in my opinion on a much larger screen located directly above the -60. The XP45 is set to retail for $12,995, just slightly above the XP21 which I was told it will replace by fall.
NEC had a monster booth and was introducing its 61 inch plasma. What a beauty... Perhaps only bettered by the high-contrast Panasonic 50" plasma, NEC is really a step above either Sony or Fujitsu on the image quality. I was NOT impressed by any of the NEC projectors, except for perhaps the 3-chip DLP unit they were showing with a $17,000 ISCO anamorphic lens. Note: the image was noticeably bowed on the top and the bottom of the image and did not fill the entire screen. The other problem was NEC demo'd the same footage of some parade which JVC was showing on their QXGA projector. If you thought you couldn't tell the difference between one $120k projector to a $225k projector, think again.
The InFocus LP530 looked the best of all the entry level projectors shown, with excellent color and good pixel fill factor, far less for some reason than many of the other XGA DLP's shown by just about every manufacturer.
I don't have time to go into everything, but there were a few noticeable disappointments.
1. The SXGA LCOS projector from Hitachi. Looked like dogcrap on a 60" screen in some nook in the booth. Almost an afterthought.
2. To every manufacturer who shows a projector on an unevenly or incompletely filled screen, shame on you. We could never get away with that on an installation but you would be amazed at how many were set up improperly.
3. TI's presentation: Showcases the Wi-Fi wireless system not out yet, demos a powerpoint presentation, then an excel spreadsheet, then shows everyone not only can you see the spreadsheet, but you can type stuff in and you can also see that on the screen, then goes back to the PPT presentation! Enough already.
4. The lack of ANY FProj with the 1280x960 16:9 DLP chip. Why can we buy $15k rear projections but not a $12k FP?
5. Higher resolution projectors: the PLV-60 did NOT look better than the XGA XP-45 and some company was showing a 1920x1536 projector of unknown type that looked like junk compared to any XGA projector. Also, Sanyo was showing doublestacked 7700 lumen UXGA (1600x1200) LCD projectors that looked as if they could double as a tanning bed for the entire show, entirely too much contrast and blooming for a horrible image quality.
6. Toshiba's widescreen projector: It was next to the Sanyo and was utterly blown off the map on the simple measure of color temp accuracy. The flesh tones were way out of control and the black level was terrible. No wonder so few companies chose to participate in the projector shoot-out.
7. SONY: Wow, a company of complete mediocrity. They were not showing anything new. Guess what they were using in the home theater showcase? The G90. Wow, nobody has ever seen that model before. Also, no wonder Sony's plasma displays are so cheap, they are completely outperformed by every NEC and Panasonic model. Where's the 50"? No 61" either? Explained they were not in the shootout because everything is so good, people make misinformed decisions about image quality. I would agree if this were a double blind comparison of $25k speakers, but most folks can tell the good from the bad or mediocre almost immediately and be able to explain why. Not a bad move, though, because Sony would have lost in every price and resolution measure in the shootout. I was very disappointed because I usually am impressed by Sony display products.
That was more than my 2 cents, but I hope I covered some products not otherwise noted.
Regards,
Steve
Synergy MultiMedia, LLC
