High quality projection screens usually aren’t anything too special to report on, with subtle changes in screen gain being the only difference between them or maybe a screen is made from a high contrast grey vinyl material instead of white vinyl, nothing special, right? Except that there is a problem with vinyl in that it is toxic. Vinyl screens aren’t toxic in themselves, but the manufacturing process releases dioxins as does incinerating a vinyl projection screen. Knowing this, the Kikuchi Corporation of Japan decided to go “green” with two of their new projection screens. Instead of vinyl, Kikuchi is using a polyester fiber material referred to as “Ecological Matte Advance” for the screen. Polyester is much safer to manufacture and releases no dioxins when burned. Even the rolling mechanism at the top of the screen is ECO-friendly - made partly from a corn starch that will disassemble and break down when buried. The screens will be available in 100 inch and 80 inch diagonals and will have a fairly small screen gain of 0.8. They will provide a viewing angle of 85°, and are only available in a 16:9 aspect ratio, so they’re geared more towards home cinemas. Lastly, they’ll only be available in Japan this February and for an unknown price. One important question left unanswered, though, is that while they may not release dioxins during incineration, are these new ECO-Screens flame-retardant like a large majority of vinyl screens on the market, and would you be willing to risk having a flammable screen in your home cinema?

[via Kikuchi]

Mitsubishi released two new projectors today that should excite the business world. The XL650U is Mitsubishi’s latest large venue projector, sporting three XGA (1024 x 768) LCD panels with a bonus of a micro lens array. At 4200 ANSI lumens, it’s considerably bright, so bright even that it’s able to project up to a 300 inch screen. Connectivity is very good for a business-oriented projector with a DVI, two D-Sub 15 Pin inputs, S-video, Composite RCA, and an Ethernet jack thrown in for good measure. That DVI plug is HDCP compliant and the projector does accept HDTV signals. The XL650U is available now with an MSRP of $5995.00 USD.

On the other side of the business world, Mitsubishi let loose a small and inexpensive portable projector, the SD105U. This small SVGA (800 x 600) DLP projector isn’t as bright as the XL650U, but at 1600 lumens for only 6.39 lbs, it’s a pretty decent trade-off. Connectivity isn’t as robust either, with the SD105U only having a single D-sub 15 pin, S-Video, and Composite RCA input. But they definitely do well with the price at only $599.00 USD. Lastly, Lamp life also makes both of these projectors inviting, with the XL650U having a typical 2000 hours at standard operation, but a whopping 5000 hrs in economy mode. The SD105U’s lamp lasts 3000 hrs typically and 4000 hrs in economy mode.
[via businesswire]

Runco has been known for having some of the best Home Cinema projectors, and they’re continuing to uphold that reputation by introducing five new DLP projectors all of which are to become the first THX certified projectors to the market. Each of these new behemoths vary in specifications and price, with the most modest being the Video Xtreme VX-2000d which is a single (1920 x 1080) HD DLP chip for only $16,995. Also available with a single DLP chip is the Video Xtreme VX-6000d for $34,995. If money is no object, you can go for the three-chip DLP flavor and pick up a Video Xtreme VX-22d for $44,995, a Video Xtreme VX-44d for $79,995, or a Video Xtreme VX-55d for $99,995. And don’t forget to add in the 2.35:1 Cinemascope lens so that you can watch all those movies the way they were meant to be shown.

[via Engadget]

One of the most popular electronics gifts this holiday season would be the Apple iPod, ranking #2 as the most popular electronics item on Amazon and about the same for nearly every other electronics retailer. Of course, while the biggest selling point of the iPod is it’s small size, this becomes a problem when displaying video to friends. Ion Audio’s iProjector allows for users to plug in their video iPods and display content on a 30 ~ 90 inch screen, allowing for everyone to view the video. Clocking in at 1000 ANSI Lumens and a SVGA (800 x 600) resolution, the iProjector looks like an interesting deviation from standard front projectors. However, the cost of the iProjector or when it will be available, is still unknown.

[via Consumer Electronics Daily]

Engadget finally wraps up their series on building their own LCD projector with an excellent finish. They have finished assembly of the final product and only ran into one problem in the whole process. After setting in the Fresnel lens, they noticed that it didn’t quite fit as intended and used some creativity in solving the problem. The final projector runs cool and projects a pretty decent image, so it definitely delivers as promised - and looks to be fun.

[Read How-To: Build your own HD projector (Part 6)]