“Integrated” is such a great word when used to describe projectors. The more features that are integrated into a projector, generally the better it becomes, especially with Epson’s new EMP-TWD3. While being just a regular WVGA (854 x 480) home cinema projector with its 1200 lumens and 1000:1 contrast, it almost appears lackluster. However, Epson integrated a DVD Player into the projector so as to simplify the troubles of watching a movie. Not only that, they’ve integrated two 10 watt stereo speakers into the projector as well. If 10 watts just isn’t enough, there is a subwoofer output jack and other audio options to hook it into your home stereo system. This will be shipping shortly in Japan for around $1299.00 USD
[via Engadget]

It has been long speculated that Optoma was going to release their first 1080p around this time of the year, and sure enough, they did. We first heard about the HD81 from Optoma back in the winter, when they promised a single chip DLP projector and video processor combination aimed at the high-end home cinema. With their official announcement today, they finally started to ship the HD81 to certain markets. Between the projector and the combined video processor, we’re looking at some massive power here. At 1300 lumens it’s fairly bright as home cinema projectors go, and the contrast of 12,000:1 is also amazingly high. While the projector only has a single HDMI input, the video processor that is included with the projector has three of them, along with a wide range of other connectivity options. We should see this monster in North America shortly, but it is available in Taiwan now for 299,000 TWD. (~$9,114.00 USD)

[via Digitimes]

With the IFA Consumer Electronics Show going on this week and CEDIA coming in less than two weeks, we’re going to be seeing quite a few new home cinema projectors coming our way. Since Panasonic and Sanyo had their day, it’s now Hitachi’s turn to step up and show off. The Hitachi PJ-TX300 is their newest 720p High-Definition projector geared towards your home cinema. The 150W UHB lamp gives out a brightness of 1200 lumens and the three 0.7″ LCD panels allows for a contrast up to 10,000:1. Lastly, the 10-bit video processing does over 1 billion colors. As for connectivity, it has the necessary HDMI and component RCA jacks, so it’s good to go for all those next-gen gadgets. No word on the price however, but knowing Hitachi you can expect that it’ll be priced competitively against the Sanyo Z5 and Panasonic AX-100.

[via Hitachi]

There have been plenty of small leaks about Panasonic’s upcoming replacement to the amazingly popular PT-AE900U home cinema projector, but nothing really solid. Well, not to be outdone by Sanyo’s new PLV-Z5, Panasonic’s global website published all sorts of information and about their newest midrange home cinema LCD projector, the PT-AX100. While both are 720p LCD projectors, the PT-AX100 gets quite a boost over its predecessor, especially in its brightness: a blazing 2000 ANSI lumens; making it bright enough to be used even in a large volume of ambient light and is being touted as the brightest home cinema projector of that class. Panasonic is heavily promoting the other features of their new midrange projector as well, emphasizing their Dynamic Sharpness Control, Cinema Color Management, and Smooth Screen 2 technology. On top of that, the Dynamic Iris gives it a contrast ratio of 5500:1. They’ve even added lens shift adjustment, which is that weird-looking knob on the projector next to the lens. The AX100 hits Germany right in time for Oktoberfest but won’t be in North America until they’re done celebrating later in the month and for about $2199.00 USD.
[via Panasonic]

Sanyo is letting loose their new PLV-Z5 720p home cinema projector in Germany and elsewhere at the end of September. Being the eventual successor to their widely popular PLV-Z4 projector, the PLV-Z5 has many improvements over the Z4. While staying closely the same in their core specifications, the Z5 offers slightly improved contrast and a higher brightness rating. Other improvements come as adding an extra HDMI port and color calibration. The cost should be close to the Z4 with an estimated $2299.00 USD.

[via i4u]