Featured Projection Reviews

Audioholics has reviewed 3D projectors in the past, but this one is from Acer, a company well-known for their notebooks, netbooks and PCs... but they also have a line of excellent projectors. Well, excellent if you're really into black levels and have a budget of around $1500. But let's back up. We took on this review because Acer is a company we've had a lot of contact with in the past. Let's face it, they make some really excellent products in the PC world and they have a reputation for value. What we didn't know was how well the H9500BD would hold up to the rather wide playing field of competitive products - I mean, there are a lot of projectors in that price range.

Elite Screens has produced an almost innumerable variety of screens. In that way they have something for nearly any application you can imagine. But what's really amazing is that they typically price their products at a considerably higher value than some of the other major custom-installer-centric manufacturers. The CineTension2 Series is one of their more user-friendly models, appealing to both the professional user and the enthusiast. It's, as the name implies, a tab tensioned screen. That is to say that it has a tensioning system that pulls rigidly along the loops that come out from the sides of the 2" black surround material of the screen. This keeps the screen from curling up along the edges as well as from waving in the middle and makes for an extremely flat (and thus more enjoyable) viewing experience. When you're wanting to lose yourself in the movie experience, and a motorized solution is required, tab-tensioned screens are where it's at.

The BenQ W7000 sports a lot of the technology found in the bigger, more expensive BenQ projectors. But that doesn't mean it is cheap. With a MSRP of just under $4k, it could be a wallet-buster for an Audioholic on a budget. We've already seen the projector's street price $1500 less than that, so make sure you shop around. Incorporating many of the latest technologies, including DLP Link for syncing the active glasses, tons of features for making placement easy, REC 709 True Color, and ICFccc certification, the BenQ W7000 certainly looks to have a lot of features for the money. We'd love to see what this projector can do. We're betting it will be impressive.

We seem to be hitting a lot of projectors this year, but it's no surprise since most manufacturers are releasing new 3D models that can do justice to the newest 3D Blu-ray movies. The Home Cinema 5010 is Epson's 1080p 3D projector that targets the enthusiast... make that the premier enthusiast. The 5010 is the highest model in Epson's Home Cinema lineup and it's designed to produce the richest blacks, the highest contrast ratios and the most detailed picture possible. We utilize the company's 9700UB, which is the professional model of the 8700UB, which this projector replaces. The 5010 ups the output of its predecessor to 2400 lumens. Now while we don't typically need that much light in home theaters, in 3D mode you lose a significant amount of the brightness due to the way the glasses are constantly closing and opening over each eye. With 2400 lumens and custom calibration options for 3D, Epson takes care of that and lets you calibrate the set for optimal 3D performance.

A couple years ago, Optoma redefined the projector market by introducing a 1080p model for under $1000. That was unheard of. What's equally unheard of is a 3D projector under $3000 - except that Optoma has now broken down that barrier again, too. And this is the model that did it, the HD33. And, you know, you'd think that doing this would result in a projector that meets the 3D spec, but perhaps drops a lot of features and sacrifices quality to do it. That's where it gets weird, in a good way, because the HD33 is actually a good projector. In fact, it's a great projector. There are several stand-out features that I'd like to point out. First, color is incredible, right out of the box. We used the Cinema mode and set the lamp to Standard to reduce light output. This gave us just under 700 lumens, perfect for our light-controlled room and a configuration that gave us deep, rich black levels.

It's hard to get excited about an electric projector screen... until you find one that's priced ridiculously low and includes features that should have it costing twice as much as it does. Then you begin to wonder if you've stumbled onto something... something big. Visual Apex' new VApex screens are something big. They are specially-branded "in-house" screens that the company is now offering to its customers. After all, shouldn't a company that has provided excellent customer service and sales support for years know exactly what makes a good projector screen? We figured they did but wanted to install one and go through the process to see if the quality of workmanship and attention to detail lived up to our expectations. Read on and you'll see that this screen might just change the way you think about build quality, ease-of-installation, attention to detail and optional accessories.

Almost every complaint we had with the BenQ Joybee GP1 was addressed with the Joybee GP2. They've greatly expanded the number and types of connections. They've included a carrying case for the power supply (and even added an optional battery). The only thing we don't know is if they've reduced the size of the power supply and if the fan noise is still an issue. With 2 gigs of internal memory, HDMI connection, Made for iPhone/iPod dock, doubling of the brightness, and so much more, it's unlikely to matter. If you thought the BenQ Joybee GP1 LED Mini Projector sounded like a good deal, for $50 more, the Joybee GP2 is an absolute steal.

We can't stress enough the price. At $230, a price that is sure to come down closer to Christmas, the Optoma PT105 hovers around the cost of a replacement bulb for your dedicated home theater projector. We can see a dual projector setup with the Optoma PT105 used as a day-to-day projector providing a decent picture that is much larger and much cheaper than any flat panel on the market. Plus, you now have a portable projector which has more uses than we can count. At this size and price, the Optoma PT105 is practically a stocking-stuffer for a home theater enthusiast.

We've long taken the stance that the biggest screen you can get for your hard-earned money is a front projection system. Where it gets dicey is when you factor in the cost of a decent quality screen. If you want a tab-tensioned model on top of that, you're looking at even more and the cost benefits become less and less obvious. Visual Apex' new VApex screens (Visual Apex = VApex, get it?) are moving towards eliminating everything we know about what a projector screen should cost. The VApex line comes in three lines: Fixed Frame, Standard Electric, and Tensioned Electric. For this review we checked out the Tensioned Electric in their largest size: 120" diagonal. To say we were "stunned" by what we got for the money would be an understatement.