First of all, I hope that Outlaw goes through with their plans for a DLP projector. We need a good affordable HT projector on the market.

A great place for finding info on what users are looking for is www.avsforum.com in the DLP,LCD, D-ILA projectors forum.

Look at the topic:

NOTICE: NEW OUTLAW HT DLP projector-high quality & low price point!

Here's a quick list that was put together a couple of weeks ago by a forum poster:

Excellent de-interlacing and scaling (HTPC quality would be fine)
No clear section on the color wheel
High speed color wheel (4-6x)
Accurate colors
Long Bulb life (4000hrs. min.)
800:1 or better contrast (w/ good black levels)
1000-1500 lumens (pre calibration)
Optical Keystone Correction
16:9 XGA or higher resolution
User definable gamma curve (with enough adjustments to make it useful)
Component Video inputs
DVI or Firewire inputs

Also, take a look at the InFocus HT DLP projector at www.infocushome.com It has an external switch box with just a single signal cable running to the projector.

Finally, $3000 would be a great price point.

If 16x9 panels are going to be too scarce for a year or so, how about an integral anamorphic lens mount? Some kind of hinged housing surrounding the actual lens which will swing the anamorphic lens over it when needed.

And if you're going to have a 16x9 imager, then you need a special mode in the scaler that will pull out the middle 360 lines in a 2.35 anamorphic DVD, scale them precisely by 2, and produce a 720p 1.85 to 1 image; then adding an anamorphic lens will produce a 720 by 800 Cinemascope image that's just a little too wide. Still, it should be artifact-free.

Oh yeah, one more thing.

Make sure to use a good scaler like the Silicon Image Sil 503. If you can get it to scan at greater than 60 fps, that'd be good too.

-phil

Given that some (many?) people have external scalers/HTPC's, does it really make sense to add a lot of cost with a great internal scaler? I believe that most people with external scalers would not want to have to pay anything for an internal scaler that they're just going to bypass.

Maybe make the included scaler external, and optional?

Outlaws: I think you have an excellent mission statement for a new home theater projector. Here are my thoughts. I'm not sure what you actually mean by "affordable system price". I guess it depends on the market you are trying to tap. If it's the same market as the one your 1050 receiver is aimed at I would expect an affordable price would be the 3-5k range. The consumer profile would be someone who wants to be able to display DVD's at their best resolution and display HDTV at the "common" resolutions. Now, I'm going to ruffle some feathers, but here goes. The projector should not require "add-ons" to get this quality. HTPC's, external scalers, anamorphic lenses are the tools of hobbyists and serious enthusiasts. They represent a niche market. The best analogy I can think of would be the difference between those that buy a receiver and those that buy monoblock amps, preamps, tuners, etc. If your market is those that buy receivers, then the projector should be "plug & play". Those are my thoughts and I look forward to more information as it becomes available.

[This message has been edited by David James (edited March 19, 2001).]

How does the Infocus DLP projector
compare to a Mitsubishi HTDV rear-projection
TV? (Since they cost about the same)

My comments on above "projector wish lists". $3,000 is IMO unrealistic for a first-rate projector. $7,000-$8,000 would probably be more attainable, even still a bit optimistic at this stage of the digital projector evolution. If a cheap projector is what you're looking for, there are plenty on the market already (and several soon to be even cheaper with the next-generation projectors starting to appear).

As mflaster stated, a packaged external processor is the way to go; allowing all connections at the equipment rack and providing for one-stop/plug-n-play shopping. Make the projector available "solo" for those who already have a substantial investment in a processor (broadening your customer base too).

As for projector noise, don't the manufacturers listen to their customers... or their projectors? How many projector owners do you know that are NOT concerned about projector noise? Not very many I'd guess. Some just accept it as unavoidable, but many spend hundreds of dollars tweaking and building hush boxes to muffle it. This should be designed in, not an option that gets cuts from the budget to meet a price-point. Surely it cost less to design it in than it does for the customer to tweak on his own.

Same goes for "light-leakage". A projector that leaks light out the front vents is severely flawed. C'mon guys, this is sloppy and unacceptable.

Personally, I own a RPTV because (5 years ago) it was the only affordable option (and FPTVs were not). I'm listening and learning a lot about FPTV thanks to forums like this and AVS. I'm now convinced that FPTV is definitely in my home theater future. Just waiting for that perfect deal.

Keep telling the manufacturers what we want, and eventually they'll get it (and get my business) right . Thanks

One would think (at least this one thinks) that active noise cancellation would be an ideal technology for quieting projectors.

For those who haven't heard of active noise cancellation it is, in a nutshell, a microphone that listens to the ambient noise, a little dsp that basically produces and inverted copy of the ambient noise, and then a speaker to emit the inverted copy of the noise. The net effect is that the noise is cancelled out.

Pilots have been using ANC headsets for years to cancel the engine and air noise while in flight. ANC works best in two cases, placing the cancellation close to the ears (as in the headset itself) and when placed at the source of noise itself. This second case would be ideal for a noise projector - most of the noise would be emitted from the cooling vent(s), so placing the ANC at the vent would kill the noise at its source.

I'll get shot full o' holes for this, but here goes: don't do a projector. That project will drain your resources unless you just develop a set of specs and get the major manufacturers to bid on it and then you do an O.E.M. deal and have them take one of their models, tweak it to your specs and re-badge it with your logo. Even that will require major resource dedication. I know: my company has done this for a few years and we are developing some advanced proprietary projectors of our own currently. Our market is the meetings and presentations market, not home theater, but I'm involved daily and I think your resources would be better spent (with better return) focusing on the audio portion of HT, where you've been so successful. I look forward to your pre/pros!