Introduction Is the Marantz VP-12S4 the best single-chip DLP projector on the market? It is a question that has been asked many times before in many showrooms and many online home theater forums. The VP-12S4 at $14,499 is the latest and most expensive in Marantz’s line of VP-12 DLP projectors. The S4 builds upon the proven platform that has utilized the Texas Instruments HD2+ DLP chipset. The S4 uses the latest iteration, the DarkChip 3, which increases the fill factor by reducing the space between pixels. This chipset also features improved contrast and faster operating speed over the prior chipset (the DC2). Other major changes between the S3 and the S4 include the addition of a new lens option and a change from Faroudja to Gennum video processing. The VP-12S4 is a full-featured projector. In addition to the above described features, the S4 has three Konica-Minolta lens options to fit nearly every possible throw range, ...

Introduction Now that the market is heating up with respect to HDTV, and people’s attention is being drawn to the highest ASTC-approved HDTV resolution of 1920 x 1080p and the best way to display it, only JVC and Sony have come to market so far with commercial designs worthy of re-mortgaging your house. DLP 2K products are currently only beginning to be available at Texas Instruments-equipped movie theaters around the world, and LCD 2K products simply have not been very inspiring up to this point. JVC has, of course, been offering its LCOS (Liquid Crystal On Silicon) variation, D-ILA (Directdrive Image Light Amplifier), since 1998, but only recently have they offered a projector with a trio of 1920 x 1080p panels. JVC’s D-ILA HD2K System ($19,995 MSRP) comes with a slide projector-sized light engine (created by JVC, measuring 11-3/4 x 5-1/4 x 14-3/16 inches), which has a black plastic exterior with manual zoom and focus ...

History Since the first days of commercially available digital projectors, I have been a convert. A mere four years ago, I owned an older Sony seven-inch CRT video projector paired with the all-time classic video processor, the Faroudja LD100. The picture looked smooth and film-like. It also had no brightness, barely being able to light up a 100-inch 4:3 Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 screen, and switching inputs was a nightmare. Working on the projector required a professional technician, which means that in order to keep the sucker converged, I needed a trip from Dr. Feelgood every three to four months. While having a big screen to watch hockey games was cool, the work needed to get such a video picture was trying, to say the least. All of this changed in 2002, when I invested in a Madrigal Imaging MPD-1 video processor from Madrigal (parent company of Mark Levinson, Lexicon and Proceed). The projector ...

Introduction The H79 is the latest top-of-the-line DLP projector from Optoma and one of the first on the market to utilize Texas Instruments’ new DarkChip3. The H79 is priced at $9,999, a competitive sum for a top of the line projector with the newest video chip technology. The DarkChip3 is the latest iteration in the HD2+ series of DLP chips and improves upon the prior Mustang chip by closing the gap between panels, making the reverse side of the panels more light-absorbent, as well as removing the dimple on each of the panels. Like the prior HD2+ series chips, the DarkChip3 features a HD-capable resolution of 1,280 x 720 and a 16:9 aspect ratio. These changes increase contrast and help the H79 obtain its reported 4,500:1 contrast ratio. It was not clear how this projector was measured to get such incredibly high contrast numbers, considering that many other top projectors costing many ...

Introduction No sector of the home theater is hotter than HDTV and, with recent advances in video technologies, it is now possible for the mainstream consumer to buy a projector that is capable of beaming a gigantic picture onto a screen that is nearly twice the width of even the largest big screen sets. Historically, it cost tens of thousands of dollars to accomplish this feat in rooms that were dedicated for home theater use. Today, thanks to technologies like DLP, LCD and D-ILA, you can enjoy a bright, beautiful picture from a projector that weighs less than Paris Hilton’s dog and fits in a Jimmy Choo shoebox. The Sony Cineza HS-51 video projector is a three-chip LCD machine that is priced relatively affordably at $3,495.00. The HS-51 includes a number of unique features that contribute to its overall success as a terrific home theater projector. One of these features is the incredibly bright 135 ...