The Ultimate Guide to Front Projectors 2009

The heart of the home theater — the front projector category — is doing its part to build the custom installation industry's client base.

The Ultimate Guide to Front Projectors 2009 includes a $185,000 model from Meridian as well as a $1,295 model from Sanyo. That's a broad range.

An influx of quality front projectors with sub-$5,000 MSRPs can only be a good thing for CE pros. A consumer might not consider himself a "custom" client. But once he finds that he can afford a quality projector, he suddenly has the nucleus of a home theater. A custom client is born.

"Looking back a few years ago, you could not purchase a 1080p front projector for less than $5,000, and now the market is flooded with them," says Sean McBride, product marketing manager, display for Sharp Electronics.

More affordable projectors means more installation opportunities. At the same time, manufacturers seem to be touting ease of installation almost as much as 2.35:1 capabilities in their 2009 product lines.

Wolf Cinema basically offers CE pros a line of three Digital Cinema Three Chip DLP Projectors. However, it offers two versions of each model — an FD (full dress) model and an i (integration) model.

The full dress versions have beautiful metalwork while the integration versions are designed for a hidden installation, explains the director of marketing for Sumiko, parent of Wolf Cinema. In each case, the integration model costs $7,000 less than its full dress version.

Knoll Systems, meanwhile, focuses on making calibration of its front projectors easier for installers. The Kevin Knoll High Definition calibration is designed to enable installers to "mount it, focus and walk away," says director of sales and marketing Richard Hanson. "We have done the dialing for the installer. Burned in and calibrated at the factory at the time of assembly, [it] saves installers time and hassle, increasing their profitability."

Features still matter, too, especially beyond the sub-$5,000 price points.

LED illumination is becoming increasingly relevant, according to Brian Carskadon, director of product management for Runco. LEDs, he says, can provide incredibly long light-source life, "contrast ratios that would make a CRT-lover proud," "instant on application" and "low power usage."

Other important front projector features, according to Carskadon:

• "Dynamic contrast systems that push contrast levels higher and higher"
• "Exceptional video processing that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars just for the chip years ago"
• "Higher-quality optics"
• "1080p, 24 Hz-support, enabling viewers to watch film-based content without the judder"

Click here to download The Ultimate Guide to Front Projectors 2009.

Editor's Note: CE Pro requested information from manufacturers, but not every company participated. Inevitably, there are key players missing from this list.