It was disappointing back in the middle of August when I received the newsletter/note from the Outlaws with info about 950 problems and several other items. In particular the word that new products in the foreseeable future would not include a DLP projector was what caught my eye. Since my 950 is cruising along, no noise, I was hopping for a matching video mate in the form of a quality HD DLP projector without the absorbent overhead cost present in retail products. Unfortunately for many of us, it looks like the Outlaws will only target electronic components, which is obviously where most of their expertise lies. But even so, reading the "new product" discussions on the website from those promoting digital amps are the real hoot. It is funny and sad to see those exclaiming they can hear big differences in amps (when they are not clipping - less that .1 % THD, IMD and SRD - and the same peak output capability). Sorry - you're dreaming folks. They should focus on really hard problems like reproducing accurate and controlled sound fields in a room, or projecting a high quality video image at a cost well south of the price of an average compact car.

There has been a lot of discussion over the past few weeks on the web about new projectors from Panasonic, Epson, and Sony with retail prices under $3K and up to $4K. All will be LCD based, and only a couple units qualify as barely HD at 1280x720p native on the screen. Several people attended CEDIA last week and posted reports. The word from local retailers in Chicago is the Sony will market their contributions as "multimedia" and not for home theater - not sure why, but marketing guys make mistakes all of the time. The largest in the area (Abt) said they would not carry the cost effective versions, but rather they will stick to the VW12HT at the very high side ($7K+). (Look at the AVS site if you have not all ready or are interested in the speculation on HTPC, scalers, progressive scanner, performance, etc.) The only new DLPs in the actual HD realm (1280x720p - HD2 - single chip 12 deg. Mirrors - LVDS - DDR) are $10K plus. The price is primarily due to mark-up for all the "out-stretched hands" in the middle since its not likely that the BOM for any of the exhibits is greater than $1K. That's not to say the published spec's don't look good - they do - but the $9K mark-up from actual cost to the user is way to big a chunk to swallow. I guess they (TI) are continuing to target several thousand products per year in HT and not substantial volumes. The prime example is the new InFocus Screenplay 720 using the new HD2 chip set from TI. The spec's look great - but, at $9995- sorry, no sale! There are several manufacturers trying to pawn off 1024x768 DLPs using last years parts at $5K and more - $2500 maybe for old stuff, but not at $5K+.

This unfortunate state of affairs in the front projector product line-up is especially disappointing with an understanding of what is possible. I wonder if TI demands a specific retail price, and freezes out manufacturers who potentially would not hold the line and actually compete with other manufacturers. No one wants competition, just a monopoly in all businesses, although they seldom admit to it in public. Ask good old SBC (al la Ameritech) here in the Windy city where they have a dis-information campaign to say they should not have to allow other local competitors to use "their" wires, and "oh yea, by the way" they need a lot more money from us for the privilege. SBC conveniently forgets that the wires were built and paid for in another era by a captured user group without options for competition and at the cost of "no progress" in telecom technology, but that's a debate for another discussion and another day. Maybe Sony will perfect their light grating projection system in the next couple years and inject a little competition into the high quality, digital projector marketplace. Since the Outlaws will not enter the projector fray, it looks like the marketplace is several years away from being a buyers market with actual competition. My problem is the old FP Mits' is getting a little old and may die any day.