With HDTV now becoming mainstream it boggles my mind that we don't have a slew of 1920x1080 projectors out there.

I've given though to putting on some shows and being more-or-less limited to about 1024x768 is more than I can take.

I'm kind of think about using a large (>50 inch) LCD or Plasma display for this purpose and wonder if anyone else has contemplated this?


Thanks,

Brian

Brian:

There actually are quite a few 1080p projectors that just came on the market in the past few months, lots of them under three grand. I just switched my workshop projector to one of these and have been amazed at not only the image quality (with no "screen door effect") but also how quiet this projector is. I set the projector up in the middle of my students and the one I have does not make a sound. I always do a bunch of big slide programs in the fall when a new picture book comes out and this year I'm going to make the show 1080p. The only issue I have with them is that they are not nearly as bright as my old Epson XGA projectors, but I'm hoping I'll be able to get the auditoriums dark enough so it won't matter. I got a Panasonic PT-AE2000U and use a normal projection screen (I have three of them that I travel with, up to 9' x 12' - I won't be using the entire screen now so perhaps I will need to get a wider one!)...

Tim Ernst in Arkansas
http://www.Cloudland.net

Thanks Tim, I just checked B&H and it looks like your model is going for about $2500 now -- lower in the usual questionable places...


Brian

There are in fact nowadays probably more full HD projects available in Tokyo's electronic store shelves than 720p projectors.

They are indeed still at a price premium, but prices are going down fast.

I will personnally wait at least 6 months until they come down to around 1500 US$ together with the anticipated take off of full HD players.

The problem is the associated cost since I am looking for unified gear offering not only high quality images, but also high quality sound (high quality Blue Ray player...).

Regards,
Bernard

The problem with projectors has always been an issue of brightness and contrast ratio. For best results you need a darkened room like a cinema theatre. In order to enhance the contrast ratio, some enthusiasts seem to spend almost as much again on a screen.

I'm surprised at how much the price of Full HD plasma screens have fallen during the few months I was out of the country recently. There's a Samsung 1080p 50" plasma TV with built-in HD tuner selling over here for A$3150. I'm sorely tempted.

I can't find much in the way of detailed reviews of this model and my first impression, looking at the specs, was that maybe the reason for the low price was the 18 bit color. That's 6 bit per channel, isn't it? The sort of bit depth that cheap LCD monitors have (or used to have).

Apparently not, if the comments on the internet are accurate. I see references to so many trillion colors this TV is capabale of displaying. This display has apparently gone beyond the 16 bit per channel photoshop processing level. (Model PS50P91FDX).

If you have enough room for one of these monsters, then they are indeed very interesting propositions.

I do personnally love the rendering of the Pionneer Kuro 50 inch full HD, but that one is still about 5000 US$... and I don't have that kind of space.

Cheers,
Bernard