CEDIA 2010 Atlanta – Epson introduced at CEDIA Expo a range of new 1080p home theater projectors including three models targeting the custom installer channel.
The high-end models include the PowerLite Pro Cinema 61000, 31000, and Home Cinema 21000. All are slated to ship in December, and feature advanced optics and HDMI 1.4 inputs.
The flagship Pro Cinema 61000 will be offered at an under-$7,000 suggested retail, the company said.
All three feature the company’s new 3LCD Reflective technology, and Epson’s UltraBlack technology for high contrast performance.
The Home Cinema 21000 (carrying a less than $3,300 suggested retail) and Pro Cinema 31000 (under $4,500) are each listed with dynamic contrast ratios of 500,000:1 while the dynamic contrast ratio on the Pro Cinema 61000 is said to be 1,000,000:1.
The 1080p models also feature a dual-layer auto iris technology to boost contrast performance, the company said. The flagship Pro Cinema 61000 has an “ultra-fast” dual-layered auto iris system.
The projectors also include Epson’s 3LCD Reflective technology, which was said to have been based on its transmissive HTPS system. In addition to higher contrast performance, the technology is said to deliver richer colors, smoother gradation and enhanced black levels.
The Pro Cinema 31000 model offers a 500,000:1 contrast ratio, ISF Certification and higher end color tools. The Home Cinema 21000 features a white cabinet design and omits the professional-level color tools of the other models.
At an even more affordable end of the spectrum, the company also introduced the Home Cinema 8350 (under $1,300) and 8700UB (under $2,200) models, which are slated to ship later this month.
The Home Cinema 8350 features Epson’s C2Fine chip set offering a contrast ratio of 50,000:1 and 2,000 lumens of color and white light output.
It also features a dynamic iris system that controls light on a frame-by-frame basis at up to 60 times per second.
The Home Cinema 8700 UB offers 1080p resolution, 1,600 lumens of brightness, a dual-layered auto-iris, Epson’s D7 chip set and UltraBlack technology. The projector also includes Super-resolution technology for enhanced picture quality and FineFrame technology for smoother frame interpolation.
Built-in video processing is handled with Silicon Optix’ HQV Reon-VX video processor and PW390 scaler.
It also features pre-set color space selection to set color gamut according to geography and source material.
In addition, the projector comes equipped with anamorphic lens mode to enable anamorphic viewing without an external processor for true 2.35:1 and 2.40:1 widescreen images without the black bars above and below the picture.
