1080p projector for $999

[Trogdor2010]

For those that are curious, recently announced are two 1080p projectors under a grand, and not discounted.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/proj...0&entry_id=282

The Optoma HD20 is a Full HD (1080p) DLP projector, with 1700 lumens, making it good for some ambient life, or for larger screens (It claims screens sizes over 300 inches, but you want to know the brightness in D6500, so this will not determine it's actual brightness, wait for reviews), 4000:1 full on/off contrast ratio, it is worth mentioning DLPs typically have higher ANSI contrast and better grayscale tracking than typical LCDs, and it is smaller than previous 1080p projectors and weigh less than them (It weighs at 6.4 pounds) making it great for portability. It is availible in from some dealers such as apex, as posted below.

http://www.visualapex.com/Optoma/Pro...entral&KW=HD20

The vivitek H1080FD is also a Full HD (1080p) DLP projector costing as much as the optoma HD20, but there is limited distribution of the product compared to the optoma, however it claims higher specs than the optoma, such as 1800 Lumens, 5000:1 full on/ off contrast and is even smaller than the optoma HD20 (Weighs 5.7 pounds). It should be subtle however. Vivitek is also releasing the H9080HD LED DLP projector, which replaces the usual mercury lamp with an LED Bulb claiming far longer life than previous bulbs (20,000 hours) and claims higher contrast ratios of 100,000:1 (It's the equivilent of what LED backlight for Local dimming is to LCDs), and is 800 lumens, far brighter than previous LED projectors. It does come at a premium price of $15,000, but pray that in a couple of years they come down to about $1000-$3000. I mentioned this because the same article mentioned this projector.

[hardcorefrokid]

Sweet.

[talstarone]

That is what I like hearing.Prices on 1080 projectors going down further and further.Thanks for the Heads Up.

[DragonSarc]

awesome good find!!! im about to bite on a 720p good thing ive seen this

[Fors*]

I have a question, but when new projector models come out, are they good to go out of the box, or are they sometimes "buggy" and need updates to run properly? I'm just starting my research into projectors now and I'll more than likely pull the trigger in a couple of months.

[ijokr]

great info, but would it be better to get the cheapest 1080p projectors like these two or a good 720?

[loco]

Hey trogdor that led Vivitek looks very interesting although at 15k it is competing directly with the sim2 c3x 720p. Although I contend that that price will come down when other manufacturers come up with their own led dlp's. I would love to own an led dlp. I am of the opinion that it would even trump 3 chip dlp solutions because it would not have to contend with ccd convergance issues.

[Trogdor2010]

Originally Posted by forsberg21

I have a question, but when new projector models come out, are they good to go out of the box, or are they sometimes "buggy" and need updates to run properly? I'm just starting my research into projectors now and I'll more than likely pull the trigger in a couple of months.

The newest models tend to not be the most reliable depending on the reports of owners that immediately buy it, but it is not always true if they are a reliable brand. I myself do own a 1080p projector and have not had any major problems with it, but that was a discounted model and it did cost $2300 a year ago (Lucky I got it at $1200 from compusa.com).

[Trogdor2010]

Originally Posted by ijokr

great info, but would it be better to get the cheapest 1080p projectors like these two or a good 720?

The Optoma HD20 retrospectively, should be comparable to the Optoma HD65, but with 1080p resolution. So it should be comparable to some of the better 720p projectors around. There are no reviews on this, but expect it to be comparable to the HD65. The Vivitek I do not know much of, but they make higher end products (Such as the LED DLP H9080HD I mentioned) so we hope it will perform more akin to their higher end products.

[Trogdor2010]

Originally Posted by loco

Hey trogdor that led Vivitek looks very interesting although at 15k it is competing directly with the sim2 c3x 720p. Although I contend that that price will come down when other manufacturers come up with their own led dlp's. I would love to own an led dlp. I am of the opinion that it would even trump 3 chip dlp solutions because it would not have to contend with ccd convergance issues.

It is more of a developing technology right now, but if you got the cash to burn, I would highly reccomend the Vivitek, but I wouldn't say it would smoke the Sim2 c3x in terms of picture quality, brightness and performance, and that's because I haven't seen it in action, but I can tell you the LED will last longer than the bulb (It's 20,000 hours of use) and that it can produce outstanding contrast. If you are on a budget, I would wait for cheaper models, unless if they can't cheapen the technology (Like 3 chip DLPs).

[BluePotato]

Why not get the Viewsonic Pro8100 for $1,209 after Bing cashback from Tigerdirect.com instead of going for a budget projector only $200 cheaper?

2 hdmi, 2 component, auto-iris (which has been much improved in a recent firmware update), incredible placement capabilities, native support of 24fps.

Review here.

[ijokr]

It looks like the HD20 has a uniformity of 70%, I once read to look for a projector with uniformity of 85% or above. How true is this?

[loco]

Hey trogdor how you doin, check this out...


http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/re...P-Projector/p1

[Trogdor2010]

Originally Posted by loco

Hey trogdor how you doin, check this out...


http://www.trustedreviews.com/tvs/re...P-Projector/p1

Good, Thanks for the review, but again, it is very expensive, and again, I'm betting they will cheapen the technology, provide more lumens and even better contrast. I honestly don't get why people need to increase the color gamut, it does not make the color space any more accurate (or better). But do they provide a color space to be more to the 709. rec color space. Time will tell.

[loco]

i agree with you on the price bit, at the moment it is expensive...but then all technology is expensive for the early adopters. As soon as competitors rise, tech usually drops down dramatically in price. With vivitek being the only led dlp player in the market, it is bound to keep the prices high. In addition, it is never a good idea to buy the first generation of any newly developed tech. Be it in cars, projectors, motorcycles, microwaves, whatever. The first generation of any product is when the engineers and designers learn about any design flaws attributed to real life operations. Its the 2nd generation that is usually more stable and hence 'sellable'.
What excites me about the vivitek led projector is that the first generation is finally here, and it holds a lot of promise...now we just have to sit and watch the picture quality go up and the prices come down.