Thanks for the 950
It was welcome respite from the winter in Chicago a few months ago to get Outlaw News on the 950 in January, February, March, and April on the progress toward shipping the 950. I was on the list, but not near the top I assumed, since I did not register until later on registration day. (But that is OK according to my wife because it saves the AmX card from inevitable pain.) I found it somewhat amusing over the past few months reading many of the comments on the forum. It seems that a number of the Outlaw customers are in need of a support group as their lives seem to be too closely linked with the delivery of a new video control preamp albeit a well made and finely engineered one (I am sure). I also sense that most have never designed or manufactured anything either. Since I was also waiting for sources in China (delayed by the New Year) to deliver crucial component parts of a new electronic systems (not in the high-fidelity audio market) for introduction in a couple months, I understood completely the situation. The decision to make the 950 correct before shipping was the right one, and I am sure the Outlaws will be rewarded in the end for the delay.

I received my 950 last week. It’s installed and running just fine. I am still learning the ins’ n outs of operation and expect that to continue for several weeks. The 950 looks good and sounds good, and I expect that to be the case for several years to come. I claim the 950 technology meets the application requirements at 90% for 90% of the home systems out there for at least the next 3 years if not 5 years. The Outlaws are not addressing the 10% fringe who would pay 4 to 5 times the cost for 10% improvement in performance, i.e., the “more money than sense” crowd. Frankly speaking, the audio chain is not the problem for the cinema experience in the home - may be 10 years ago, but not now.

What the World Needs now:
But the 950 is not my reason for writing this note, rather it is to jog The Outlaws and the forum on the progress towards a cost effective and high quality video projector. I have noticed that interest on the forum for this subject has waned, but I must assume that this is still in the Outlaw “headlights” as eminent. Oh yes, and Outlaw's, do not listen to the complainers about announcing product in advance of shipping. Many of us can plan and wait, and we appreciate the heads-up info. (i.e., we are grown-ups). It would be great interaction, as it was for the 950 to keep your past and future customers informed as to the progress of new product. The “whiners” on the fringe are useful but not the benchmark for product planning. I remember fighting for Laser disc in the 80’s when the world was enamored with VHS, so whiners are useful in the long run.

The 90% market needs presentation products that address the current home theater AV sources, which are primarily over-the-air and cable NTSC that at best are EDTV, the coming HDTV, and pre-recorded DVD sources as 480p. These are the sources now and for the next 3 years at least. Satellite is growing but will never be more than 30% of the market if the majority of their broadcast do not delivery more zing in performance (and content to some extent) than cable. Blue-Ray and D-VHS are nice but not relevant until at least the 2005-2007 time frame. Gary Reber and WSR have placed considerable promotion behind D-VHS, and no doubt it’s a fine example of the great engineering that JVC has become known for, but it is not relevant until the price drops to at least $599 for the deck and parity with DVD for the source (disk). There are several “as good as needed for the source” DVD players out there in the $200 - $400 price range. A much higher price for a terminal source such as DVD is questionable. Smart money does not need cast aluminum frames, fancy feet, and esoteric materials for DVD. But what 90% of videophiles do need are a couple cost effective projectors. For a real home theater experience, the picture needs to be projected from the front, meet very good performance standards for the next 5 years, be reasonably priced, and be small in size as compared to the majority of today’s solutions. I believe the outline below states what is needed.

And Now the Details:
With a new projector in mind, I would like to suggest my product proposal again (from last years correspondence) as follows (A.K.A., 20 points to video happiness):
1. Use DLP as the digital-to-optics core
2. Build two projectors with the same base/motherboard for electronics
3. Use the same optics front-end for both projectors
4. Use a low-cost bent metal chassis as the primary element for stability and cost
5. Weight under 20 lbs. for both projectors, 10 – 12 lbs. would be the best
6. The lower cost unit should use the 848x600(480ip) DMD and the other uses the 1280x720p DMD
7. Use the new TI chipset for control (HD-1 and HD-2?)
8. Both should use at least the 6 segment 4x speed color wheel at 240 Hz equiv. Or greater
9. Lens with focus and throw for 8’ – 18’ from screen with 60” – 100” diagonal
10. On screen selectable 4:3 or 16:9 with letterbox and super letterbox wide screen loosing scan lines (not the best, but a cost effective compromise)
11. At least 800 L on the screen and 600:1 contrast for all video sources
12. Use the Faroudja DCDi chip for progressive scan from DVD
13. 3:2 pull-down option (part of the DCDi) for cinema
14. Manual focus standard, remote control an option
15. Sync to 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i for NTSC and HD video input
16. Inputs selectable on remote (optional) as composite, S-video, and component/RGB (the first and third on quality RCA jacks)
17. Don’t worry about computers, they have plenty of projectors to work with, so no computer interface please
18. Don’t make a projector for only the rich videophiles and zealots, they also have enough to choose from (i.e., Runco, etc.)
19. Forget about the DVI interface for the next three years (but maybe as a future retro-fit option on the better projector), 10% of the 25 million + DVD players out there could care less (as a potential customer pool)
20. Target DVD 480p, over-the-air EDTV and HDTV broadcast, normal S-VHS, a handful of direct satellite channels, and maybe D-VHS by 2004 if the price comes down.

Explanations:
The list above enumerates the important elements; all others that impact cost are unjustified features. The retail price from The Outlaws (direct) for the smaller unit should be $1900 - $2200, and for the second, higher resolution unit, it could be $3400 - $3800 for the initial rollout. More than this cost will not be market relevant now or over the long run. The smaller unit would be primarily for the DVD crowd while the (barely) HD unit is for over-the-air/satellite/digital HD tape video sources. SIM2, Runco, and others announced new projectors a few months ago (and apparently started deliver recently) retailing at $10K and $15K using the above components. They cannot have any market impact at that cost level, and represent limited perceived value to the consumer. I have seen both and the Yamaha and Sharp projectors – they are not worth the usual $10K+ asking price. I would stick with DLP since it looks like LCOS technology cannot ship unless the cost is much higher and the performance is lower than anticipated. (No one can apparently make LCOS with sufficient process yield.) Do not worry about multiple lense choices or super high performance – remember the source. (There is no true anamorphic source material on DVD - for example - that I know of.) If we can get at least 500+ line horizontal video resolution on the lower cost projector and 1000+ lines on the better unit on the screen, then they will considerably more value for the price than available now. These relatively small and straightforward projectors cannot cost 4 times the price of big furniture boxes, mirrors, and CRT RPTV boxes with essentially 50-year-old technology. Well that’s the outline – any comments.


[This message has been edited by JDB001 (edited May 21, 2002).]