Home Theater

At CEDIA this week, Runco unveiled the first-ever LED home theater projectors - the QuantumColor Q-750i and Q-750d. The QuantumColor projectors use Runco's new InfiniLight lampless LED illumination technology to create energy-efficient systems with beautiful projection performance.

Both projectors also feature Runco's new Personal Color Equalizer, a six-axis (R, G, B, C, Y, M) color adjustment that works like an audio equalizer and allows colors to be individually dialed up and down for every video source.

"Runco has been innovating and changing projection technology for years," says Joel Silver, founder and president of the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF™). "An LED lampless light source is clearly the next step in front projection, and Runco's investment in color gamut and customization puts its QuantomColor projectors well ahead of the pack. The innovation offered by Runco's Personal Color Equalizer easily enables accurate color gamut for all current sources."Read more

JVC unveiled six new D-ILA home theater projectors at CEDIA today – the top model featuring a native contrast ratio of 70,000:1 – the highest of all currently available home theater projectors. The new projectors are the DLA-RS35, DLA-RS25, DLA-RS15, DLA-HD990, DLA-HD950 and DLA-HD550. All six projectors feature the same D-ILA technology and features found in previous models, but add improvements such as ISF certification, high speed frame rate and more.

JVC begins delivering their D-ILA projectors to dealers in this month (September 2009) at the following prices:

• DLA-RS35/DLA-HD990: $10,000.00
• DLA-RS25/DLA-HD950: $8,000.00
• DLA-RS15: $5,500.00
• DLA-HD550: $5,000.00

Epson just announced four new 3LCD 1080p high-definition home theater projectors at CEDIA – the PowerLite Home Cinema 8100 and 8500 UB, and Pro Cinema 9100 and 9500 UB.

The Home Cinema 8100 is designed for home entertainment and AV enthusiasts with a budget in mind. Priced at just $1599, this projector has a contrast ratio of up to 36,000:1 (double that of previous models) and brightness of 1,800 lumens for beautiful image quality in either a dark or lighted room. The Epson Home Cinema 8100 will be available in late-October.Read more

Today, NETGEAR announced the availability of their Digital Entertainer Live (EVA2000) -- an Internet-connected set-top box that plays digital home media and streams Internet videos on big-screen TVs.

With this device, you can access movies, videos, music and photos from USB drives, computers and network attached storage; YouTube; Roxio CinemaNow On-demand Movies; Hulu; Netflix; and more.

The Digital Entertainer Live features an integrated network port, so you can access digital media content stored on your computer and network storage devices in your home network, as well as Internet content over the web. If you don't have an Ethernet connection near the TV, an optional Digital Entertainer Live Wireless USB Adapter (EVAW111) is available that connects the Digital Entertainer Live to the Internet and the home network via Wi-Fi. Read more

Toshiba today announced their first Blu-ray player. The BDX2000 supports BD-Live, outputs 1080p at 24 frames per second, and has the REGZA-LINK function which connects the player with a REGZA LCD TV via HDMI cable to watch content using a single remote control. The BDX2000 also includes an SD slot so photos and videos can be viewed.

Additional Features:

• AVCHD Playback
• Support for enhanced audio formats from Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio | Essential Playback
• Bonus View
• ENERGY STAR Certified

The Toshiba BDX2000 will be available in November for $249.99. Read more

Think you can't get an HD DLP home theater projector for under $1,000? Think again. Optoma recently announced their new HD20 1080p DLP home theater projector, priced at just $999.

The HD20 has many features found on more expensive home theater projectors. It delivers 1700 ANSI lumens and a 4000:1 contrast ratio, and features two HDMI inputs as well as VGA, component and composite video inputs. The projector operates at a native 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels), and is also compatible with UXGA, WXGA, SXGA+, SXGA, XGA, SVGA, VGA resized, VESA, PC and Macintosh computer formats. The HD20 also accepts common global video inputs and video formats up to 1080p (HDTV, EDTV, SDTV, NTSC, PAL, SECAM).

The HD20 projector weighs just 6.4 pounds and comes with a backlit remote control (batteries included) and a composite video cable. The projection lamp is rated to last up to 4000 hours in standard mode or 3000 hours in bright mode, and the DLP engine operates without filters, keeping maintenance costs low. The HD20 has a one-year parts and labor warranty, with the lamp being covered for 90 days.

Bottom line: the Optoma HD20 is ideal for those seeking Hi-Def home theater performance at a more affordable price.

Onkyo today announced three network-and-internet-radio-capable, 9.2-channel THX Ultra2 Plus certified A/V receivers - the Onkyo TX-NR1007, TX-NR3007, and top-of-the-line TX-NR5007.

All three receivers include a rear-panel Ethernet port, and can stream music from Pandora, Rhapsody, vTuner, and Sirius Internet Radio services. Each receiver is Windows 7 compatible, and carries DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) 1.5 certification. They also include dual parallel HDMI outputs and ISF Certified Calibration Controls (ISFccc) for independent optimization and fine-grain adjustments of a full range of video sources.

The Onkyo receivers will be available in September at suggested retail prices of $2,699 for the TX-NR5007, $2,099 for the TX-NR3007, and $1,599 for the TX-NR1007. Read more