For those of us who want and can afford the absolute best in home cinema, you won’t get much better than a three-chip DLP projector, and Digital Projection just delivered a new High-Definition home cinema three-chip to the market. The Titan 1080p-250 uses three 0.95″ Dark Metal Digital Micromirror Devices to create amazing 1080p images up to 16 ft. wide. The 250w HID lamp provides 2000 ANSI lumens brightness and there are multiple lenses available, most notably a 2.35:1 Theaterscope lens. The connectivity is rather standard, DVI, BNC, Component RCA, etc. But not to worry, since they also released their VIP 2000 video processor today, which has all the connectivity you’ll need including 2 HDMI ports. As for a price, Digital Projection is keeping with their “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” marketing.

[via hiddenwires]

Because it is so highly anticipated, there has been a lot of buzz around the Sony VPL-VW50 Pearl for its low cost and high performance. The VPL-VW50’s official Japanese page was posted and we were able to translate some more details about the projector. Amongst other things, one of the more important details we’ve found out is the wide range of inputs offered in the projector, including two HDMI, an analog RGB input, component and composite RCA inputs, and an S-Video input. We also know the intended price for the projector: roughly $6300 USD. Also inexpensive are the replacement lamps, with the LMP-H200 costing $349 USD. The VPL-VW50 will definitely put the Mitsubishi HC5000 on its guard now, as both are very comparable. However, the Pearl won’t be available until October 20th, 2006 at the earliest.

[via HD Beat]

While I’m not a big fan of Do-It-Yourself projection screens, Engadget has posted an amazingly inexpensive way to build your own 2.35:1 screen for home cinema purposes. Their total cost of materials was around $35 USD, which is about one-third of the cost of most DIY screens, making this much more economic as opposed to buying a screen. Still despite the low cost, the black-out cloth used does not perform as well as a vinyl screen by screen manufacturers, and really should be seen more as a temporary fix than a permanent solution. If you are handy with tools, this might be a fun project to do on the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

[Read How-To: Make a custom projector screen]

It’s the time of the year when we see a lot of new digital projectors, ranging from home cinema, large venue, office, and portable projectors. Today seems to be a portable day, with Toshiba releasing their 6.6 lb TDP-T45U DLP projector. The TDP-T45U is replacing its predecessor, the TDP-T40U, with some big improvements in this new model. They bumped up the brightness from 1800 to 2500 ANSI lumens, making it bright enough for any classroom, office, or boardroom. On top of that, it has a wide variety of inputs including two 15-pin VGA terminals, a composite video terminal, and an s-video terminal. While it does offer HDTV compatibility, you probably shouldn’t think of it as home cinema projector, since it does lack the necessary component RCA, DVI, and HDMI connectors, as well as not being in a widescreen format, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring it home and watch a full-screen movie on it after a hard day at the office. Still, for the price, you can’t argue with having an XGA (1024 x 768) resolution and 2000:1 contrast ratio. It’s available now for $1,199 USD.

[via businesswire]

Coming in September, Epson will be releasing their newest High-Definition projector: the PowerLite Cinema 400. This WXGA (1280 x 720) LCD projector is fairly bright as far as home cinema projectors go with its 1500 lumens. Also uncharacteristically high for traditional LCD projectors is the 5000:1 contrast ratio thanks to its Dynamic Eye Iris technology. Among the many input connectors will be an HDMI connector for HD-DVD and BLU-RAY players, and next generation video game consoles, making this an appealing choice for any newly built home cinema. Putting it right in line with similar projectors at $1599.00 USD, this projector will also be appealing to the pocketbook as well.

[via PRnewswire]

Today, Sim2 officially began shipping their first 1080p Projector, the HT3000, with some more details about the projector being released. Other than the 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution, we know it to have a contrast ratio of 5000:1 and a seven-segment DLP color wheel. Also noted is the connectivity, which consists of two HDMI terminals, a vga terminal, component and composite RCA jacks, and an RS232 port. No official statement on how bright the projector is, but the speculation estimates about 700 ~ 1000 lumens. There is no speculation on the price though, which has been dropped considerably from when it was first announced; with an original price of ~$20,995 USD, it can now be had for $15,995 USD.

[via ecoustics]

For when you have more information than screen to display it on, Epson released four new projectors in Japan today all with video wall capabilities. Using Epson’s EasyMP software, the EMP-1700, EMP-1705, EMP-1710, and EMP-1715 LCD projectors can display up to four different screens from the same computer. The projectors can be mounted in any array of the owner’s choosing, even by placing four projectors side-by-side to create an ultra-wide 16:3 screen. While each projector is only your standard 4:3 screen with an XGA (1024 x 768) resolution, even separated, they are still very powerful individually. They all share very similar specifications, with the only separating attributes being the 1700 and 1705’s brightness of 2200 lumens against the 1710 and 1715’s brightness of 2700 lumens. Lastly, the EMP-1715 has 802.11a/b/g wireless capabilities, allowing it to create a video wall without the need to run a video cable to the projectors.

[via Epson Japan]

It has been known for a while that Mitsubishi had some new projectors in development, one of which was the HC5000. However, we were expecting them to hide any significant details about them until CEDIA in September, but it looks like that they debuted them a little bit early yesterday in Japan. In what will be one of the hottest projectors of the year, the HC5000 has had nearly all of its specifications published, confirming that it will be 1000 ANSI lumens bright, have a 10,000:1 contrast ratio, and have three 1080p LCD chips. The most anticipated part of the projector is the price, which has been confirmed to be approximately $3899 USD, making it the only 1080p projector below $4k. Also announced were the specifications for the HC1100 and HC3100 DLP projectors. The HC1100 and HC3100 will have a native 720p DLP chip and a brightness of 1000 ANSI lumens. The differences between the two range from contrast ratios and the type of 720p DLP chip used as well as the cost, with the HC3100 costing approximately $1599 and the HC1100 costing approximately $2099. If Mitsubishi can keep up with the demand, you should be able to find these available at the end of September hopefully.

[via engadget]

EISA (European Imaging and Sound Association) has announced the 2007 award winning audio, video, mobile, and photo technologies, with a few projectors receiving excellent marks. Up first would be the Infocus IN76 which took the best video projector award, this makes the third year in a row that Infocus has been awarded that honor. For the Home Theater Innovation award, LG’s AN110 flat projector took the title because of its design and functionality. The last projector to receive a reward was the Sony VPL-W100, which took the High-End Video Projector award. The judges were most likely impressed with the VPL-W100’s SXRD technology and 1080p native resolution.

If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of wiring cables around your house to connect your DVD player to your projector and to your stereo, Toshiba introduced a new projector today that combines all of that hardware. The TDP-ET20U is an inexpensive and portable home cinema projector, with its WVGA (854 x 480) DLP chip, 1100 ANSI lumens, and 2000:1 contrast ratio. Along with the integrated DVD player, the ET20U also has 5.1 channel Dolby Digital Surround Sound speakers. It even offers HDMI and Component RCA terminals for HD-DVD players, video game consoles, and other entertainment devices. While this is obviously not meant for the high-end home cinema, it does fit into the niche of those projectors that are demanded for their simplicity and ease of use, and is available now for only $1399 USD.

[via ToshibaDirect]