Las Vegas – Sam Runco has a surprise for the high-end video crowd tonight.
In a presentation at The Beach restaurant, Runco will unveil a sub-$10,000 42-inch plasma display and a sub-$6,000 HD-capable 16:9 DLP projector. While these are not the lowest prices on these products, they are new price points for Runco. According to Runco, the company is expanding its price points “because we can.” Details will be revealed at tonight’s event.
The lower-priced products come on the heels of the company’s unveiling of its Reflexion VX-1000c 16:9 DLP projector ($16,995), which started shipping to dealers Tuesday. Runco is the second manufacturer to stores with a 16:9 DLP projector; Sharp announced its projector last fall. Dwin, Marantz and Selco (Sim2) also are demonstrating 16:9 DLP projectors at their South Hall booths.
The VX-1000c has a native resolution of 1280 x 720 and can resolve 720p sources. According to company literature, the projector is capable of achieving 1500 ANSI lumens and a 1000:1 contrast radio. To demonstrate the VX-1000c’s high-contrast capability, Runco is running a demonstration using clips from “Swordfish” and a high-definition dark dungeon scene from “Gladiator.”
Runco’s projector uses the same HD1 DLP chip from Texas Instruments, but is controlled by Runco’s proprietary ViViX Pixel for Pixel (PFP) video processor. “Processing doesn’t get the attention that it needs,” Runco insisted. “People take the position that projectors using the same chip look alike. Not true. It’s like saying TVs with the same tube look alike.”
According to Runco, the PFP technology matches the native resolution of the projector to achieve images free of scaling artifacts, upgraded video processing and aspect ratio control.
