Epson, Panasonic add new 1080p front projectors

Epson has joined Sanyo in offering a 1080p front projector for less than $2,000, clearly the new entry-level price point for these models. 

Epson's PowerLite Home Cinema 6100, a 3LCD model with a price tag of $1,999, has a manual lens shift, six color modes, and a 2.1x optical zoom. Sanyo's new projector is the PLV-Z700, mentioned in an earlier blog.

Epson also introduced two other 1080p LCD-based projectors the step-up PowerLite Pro Cinema 7100, a sub-$3,000 projector with ISF certification, and the PowerLite Pro Cinema 7500 UB, a $4,500 LCD model with improved contrast and additional features, plus a spare bulb and ceiling mount. The 6100 has a 2-year parts and labor warranty; the 7100 and 7500 UB come with 3-year warranties.

Meanwhile Panasonic announced the LCD-based PT-AE3000, a 1080p model with a unique feature—called Lens Memory—that lets you lets you project a 2.35:1 aspect ratio (increasingly common in movies) without the use of an anamorphic lens. It will be available in October at a price of $3,500. This projector also has 120Hz "frame creation" technology, which analyzes adjacent frames to interpolate new ones, essentially doubling the frame rate to help reduce motion blur. For 24p signals, the frame rate is quadrupled to to 96 frames per second.

—James K. Willcox