New projector announcements

[Brain Sturgeon]

It's CEDIA time, which usually means a slew of new front projectors; so I thought I'd start a thread on new announcements.

JVC has announced the RS-15, RS-25, and RS-35. The RS-15 and RS-25 appear to be very similar to the RS-10 ad RS-20 in performance, with light output and other measurables (on/off contrast) virtually identical. The new units appear to have improvements in the CMS and have added "Clearmotion" which is JVC's implementation of Frame Interpolation. There is also a mention of improvements in the lens with improvement in ANSI contrast. The RS-35 will be a "select" version of the RS-25 with hand picked/matched optics/polarizers/chips and improved convergence. These will reportedly have better on/off performance as well.

MSRPs are $5495 for the RS-15, $7995 for the RS-25, and $9995 for the RS-35. Jason Turk has a great early review of the units here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1174409

Sim2 has announced the Mico 50 single DarkChip 4 DLP projector incorporating an LED light source with expected lifespan of 30,000 hours (!). Lumens output has not been announced, although it sounds like it will be about 1000. Contrast ratio stated put to 100,000:1, although I'll believe it when I see it. Here's Sim2's page on the projector: http://www.sim2usa.com/home/us/grand-cinema-mico/mico50

MSRP has not been announced.

Sim2 has also announced the C3X Lumis, which is basically a single unit version of the Lumis HOST (which placed much of the electronic innards in a separate box from the projector itself). I would expect performance to be identical to the Lumis HOST. MSRP has not been announced.

Sim2 may also be announcing an addition to it's high end line. Reportedly the HT6000 will be north of $100k.

Epson will be announcing 4 new 1080p units, including the 8500UB which will reportedly sport a 200,000:1 on/off contrast ratio (again, I'll believe it when I see it), as well as an upgraded frame interpolation system, which was reportedly one of the weaknesses of the 7500UB. The European version of it (TW5500) will be listing at €3200 ($4640). Here are a couple of pages on these:
http://www.aboutprojectors.com/news/...new-flagships/
http://www.aboutprojectors.com/Epson...projector.html
http://www.projectorreviews.com/blog...ails/#more-461

The Epson 6500UB has been EOL'd and will not be available much longer.

Panasonic has announced the PT-AE4000, which adds a new "rich red lamp" and an improved dynamic iris, reportedly increasing on/off to 80,000:1 (yada, yada, yada). MSRP appears unchanged from the AE3000. A couple of other details:

• a new optical system
• 100Hz Intelligent Frame Creation
• an enhanced Lens Memory 2 system, able to store up to six zoom/focus positions
• automatic switching between 16:9 and 2.35:1 content using signal aspect detection
• Advanced Gamma Adjustment
• intelligent power management system, able to reduce lamp output in scenes where full brightness isn't required

Here's a page on it: http://www.trustedreviews.com/home-c...or-Unveiled/p1

Any others you guys have heard? I'm pretty sure Sony has some new models coming. I'll post these and any others as I hear/read them.

[kpkelley]

The Epson 8100 is rumored to have an MSRP of about $1599, which would be the lowest they've had for their entry-level 1080p projectors. If it improves upon it's predecessor it will be a terrific value(even if it doesn't it still woule be a great buy).

[Trogdor2010]

I remember that someone was stating JVCs new high end product would sport a native of 80,000:1 contrast ratio, but looks like it's going to be the same as the previous generation (but with frame interpolation), and the prices are the same , but great to see progress.

About Sim2 new LED projector sounds great but I'm not sure if it will be cheap, as the Vivitek H9080D LED DLP cost $15000 and Sim2 isn't in to making cheap projectors.

Thanks for the report.

[Oddiophile]

Originally Posted by Trogdor2010

I remember that someone was stating JVCs new high end product would sport a native of 80,000:1 contrast ratio, but looks like it's going to be the same as the previous generation (but with frame interpolation), and the prices are the same , but great to see progress.

About Sim2 new LED projector sounds great but I'm not sure if it will be cheap, as the Vivitek H9080D LED DLP cost $15000 and Sim2 isn't in to making cheap projectors.

Thanks for the report.

The rumored on/off contrast for the RS25 was 80,000:1 & RS35 was 70,000:1. JVC later shot down this rumor announcing the RS25 would have the same contrast as the RS20 it replaced at 50,000:1, but the new RS35 would have 70,000:1 on/off, a new achievement in native contrast for JVC.

Last year during IFA & CEDIA JVC announced the RS10 & RS20 at 15,000:1 & 30,000:1 contrast. Then later after CEDIA JVC announced the RS10 was now 30,000:1 and the RS20 50,000:1. The RS15 & RS25 have already been tested and confirmed at there numbers but so far no one has seen the RS35 yet. There is a pre-production sample that is being hand carried over from JVC Japan for CEDIA that some are speculating may see a rise in specified contrast from JVC after CEDIA.
Well see.

The RS35/HD990 is a limited production piece retailing at $9,999.95.
It is basically an RS25 but has the best of the best. All of the RS35's components are hand picked offering the best performance JVC can offer. Being the RS35 is limited each one will come with a build certificate.

[singhcr]

I have a question.

These new projectors are supposed to have automatic 16:9/ 2.35:1 detection, but since all BD movies are in 16:9, how can the PJ tell what is what?

[Swede]

Originally Posted by singhcr

I have a question.

These new projectors are supposed to have automatic 16:9/ 2.35:1 detection, but since all BD movies are in 16:9, how can the PJ tell what is what?

I wish. Unfortunately so far the only projector that I have heard will have this feature is the new Panasonic AE4000. Hopefully there will be a few more coming out with a similar feature this year...

I'm assuming you mean encoded as anamorphic 16:9, since a lot of BD movies if not most are actually displayed as 2.35:1. I don't know if there are flags that can be set on a blu-ray disc for 2.35:1 format discs (probably not), so my guess would be that the AE4000 detects aspect ratio from the image itself that is displayed. There is apparently a delay of x seconds as well so that the projector does not change aspect ratio incorrectly. If anyone knows more about this please chime in...

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by kpkelley

The Epson 8100 is rumored to have an MSRP of about $1599, which would be the lowest they've had for their entry-level 1080p projectors. If it improves upon it's predecessor it will be a terrific value(even if it doesn't it still woule be a great buy).

This is very tempting for me. I'll be in the market very soon...

[Disky76]

Originally Posted by Brain Sturgeon

It's CEDIA time, which usually means a slew of new front projectors; so I thought I'd start a thread on new announcements.

JVC has announced the RS-15, RS-25, and RS-35. The RS-15 and RS-25 appear to be very similar to the RS-10 ad RS-20 in performance, with light output and other measurables (on/off contrast) virtually identical. The new units appear to have improvements in the CMS and have added "Clearmotion" which is JVC's implementation of Frame Interpolation. There is also a mention of improvements in the lens with improvement in ANSI contrast. The RS-35 will be a "select" version of the RS-25 with hand picked/matched optics/polarizers/chips and improved convergence. These will reportedly have better on/off performance as well.

MSRPs are $5495 for the RS-15, $7995 for the RS-25, and $9995 for the RS-35. Jason Turk has a great early review of the units here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1174409

Sim2 has announced the Mico 50 single DarkChip 4 DLP projector incorporating an LED light source with expected lifespan of 30,000 hours (!). Lumens output has not been announced, although it sounds like it will be about 1000. Contrast ratio stated put to 100,000:1, although I'll believe it when I see it. Here's Sim2's page on the projector: http://www.sim2usa.com/home/us/grand-cinema-mico/mico50

MSRP has not been announced.

Sim2 has also announced the C3X Lumis, which is basically a single unit version of the Lumis HOST (which placed much of the electronic innards in a separate box from the projector itself). I would expect performance to be identical to the Lumis HOST. MSRP has not been announced.

Sim2 may also be announcing an addition to it's high end line. Reportedly the HT6000 will be north of $100k.

Epson will be announcing 4 new 1080p units, including the 8500UB which will reportedly sport a 200,000:1 on/off contrast ratio (again, I'll believe it when I see it), as well as an upgraded frame interpolation system, which was reportedly one of the weaknesses of the 7500UB. The European version of it (TW5500) will be listing at €3200 ($4640). Here are a couple of pages on these:
http://www.aboutprojectors.com/news/...new-flagships/
http://www.aboutprojectors.com/Epson...projector.html
http://www.projectorreviews.com/blog...ails/#more-461

The Epson 6500UB has been EOL'd and will not be available much longer.

Panasonic has announced the PT-AE4000, which adds a new "rich red lamp" and an improved dynamic iris, reportedly increasing on/off to 80,000:1 (yada, yada, yada). MSRP appears unchanged from the AE3000. A couple of other details:

• a new optical system
• 100Hz Intelligent Frame Creation
• an enhanced Lens Memory 2 system, able to store up to six zoom/focus positions
• automatic switching between 16:9 and 2.35:1 content using signal aspect detection
• Advanced Gamma Adjustment
• intelligent power management system, able to reduce lamp output in scenes where full brightness isn't required

Here's a page on it: http://www.trustedreviews.com/home-c...or-Unveiled/p1

Any others you guys have heard? I'm pretty sure Sony has some new models coming. I'll post these and any others as I hear/read them.

Very interesting, thank you, Brain. I like the automatic switching between ratios. So will anamorphic lenses be phased out?