Keep in mind though, that as the camera shifts between the two screens, some brightness may be lost for a couple seconds while the camera lens adjusts.  Also, when the video is compressed into flash video for the web, there might be some artifacts visible.  These artifacts are strictly the byproducts of the compression and have nothing to do with the way the projectors perform.  There are problems with filming projectors work but I think this video does an incredible job of comparing the two projectors visually which is not a luxury most people are afforded.

So what does it all come down to?If you are looking to get into the full HD home theater projector market but have a limited budget, you can spend $1000 and get a 1080p 300-inch picture with really good black levels in a small easy to transport case, if you’re willing to sacrifice features.  On the other hand, if you are looking at upgrading to a full HD theater projector with an incredibly crisp image, some flexibility in how and where you install the projector due to a 2x zoom and lens shift, then the higher end LCD home theater projectors are what you are looking for.

Personally, I think that if you were to spend $999 on an Optoma HD20, a projector that’s truly worth the $999 price tag, you might as well spend the extra $300 and get a $5,000 projector in the Viewsonic PRO8100. I have said it before but this is in my opinion the best price going for a quality home theater projector.

If for some reason you have an aversion to ViewSonic, or you simply don’t have the extra $300 to drop on it, here are the links for the most popular high end LCD and entry level DLP home theater projectors.

High End LCD Home Theater Projectors

• Viewsonic PRO8100 (My favorite deal going right now. A $5,000 projector for $1,300)
• Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 6500UB(also a great projector for the price, but the price is twice as much)
• Panasonic PT-AE3000U(this one is a fan favorite for a reason, there isn’t a single rating less than five star on Amazon)

New Entry Level DLP Projectors

• Optoma HD20(seems to be the favorite, but it’s the only one currently shipping)
• Vivitek h3080FD(my pick for entry level DLP HD projectors, from stats only)
• BenQ W1000(big fan of BenQ and really looking forward to this little guy’s arrival)

All that being said, I look forward to this low-end 1080p projector more than any other this year. According to BenQ’s released statistics, it doesn’t quite measure up to the HD20’s contrast ratio, but as I’ve said many times before, and will say many times in the future, you simply can not trust manufacturer’s statistics. All three of the sub $1,000 DLP 1080p projectors sport the TI DLP chip so they are all very similar. Where they will differ though is in lenses and basically everything else that goes into making a projector.

I really can’t get enough of the case. Look at that faux leather texture on the silver part of the casing; it is stunning. The W1000 is by far my favorite of the cheap 1080p projectors aesthetically but we’ll have to wait to see if it outperforms the Optoma HD20 and Vivitek h3080FD. All three projectors should be on the market and shipping to happy households by the end of October but we should be able to compare the W1000 to the HD20 on October 5th. Be sure we’ll keep you posted.

The Viewsonic PRO8100 mocks others with it’s incredible 1080p resolution, 2Fine liquid crystal panel, the ever impressive silicon optix reon-VX high perormance video processor sporting the Hollywood Quality Video stamp of approval. It makes for stunning HD movies, videos and television while letting you control it with IR and RS-232 remotes for absolute unification with your current system. The PRO8100 also makes use of ViewSonic’s Percision Colour System technology to provide a very advanced and customizable colour tuning studio that is capable of 3D colour management, auto contrast and 33 levels of gamma correction. Among the other input ports on the back are two HDMI 1.3 and two component video inputs to make sure you can get everything plugged in.

My guess is that ViewSonic wants to take a nibble at the low priced 1080p projector pie. As the name behind the product gets better, the prices do get higher though. Vivtek stars us out with the h308FD at $999, followed by Optoma with the HD20 at $1099 and now ViewSonic with the PRO8100 at $1,346.06. I have to say that the ViewSonic PRO8100 is the best projector that you can buy for under $1,500. This is one of the best deals in home theater projector history. If you were looking, you’re not anymore. Go pick it up.

The new A600 is splashed with a glossy black finish and sports the same rounded edges as the A800 and A900. Samsung is trying to please everyone with this projector so in addition to the full HD capabilities, they made it weigh less than 13 pounds and kept it extremely quiet. The lamp is said to consume 220 watts of energy and last for 4,000 hours in economy mode and 3,000 hours at full brightness. It is also capable of an incredibly short throw ratio of just 1.99 which makes it perfect for mounting on the roof or playing from a table in front of you.

As per usual, Samsung makes sure it’s quite easy for you to plug your goodies into it. There are two HDMI inputs, an S-Video input, and both composite and component inputs. It’s also incredibly easy to connect to your PC. They have inputs for the much loved 15-pin VGA style input which makes it perfect for work presentations or streaming video from the web. Samsung’s new projector boasts 1,000 ANSI lumens blasting through a DLP optical engine with a 3,000:1 contrast ratio and a 6 segment colour wheel.

And all this from a company you trust for just $1795. When they start showing up on the internet, you know I’ll be the first one to show you where.

I guess not really much is known about this bad boy yet but the important stats are out. It will force 1300 lumens through a 1080p digital light processor to make one of InFocus’ clearest pictures to date.  It boasts an insane contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and promises to deliver stunning clarity, color, and vibrancy, recreating the cinematic experience in 1080p with unparalleled realism.

Utilizing InFocus’ DLP® DarkChip technology with InFocus BrilliantColor™ the blacks promise to be blacker and the colours amazingly bright and accurate. That sentence doesn’t even make sense but it sounded cool when I read it back with all their trademarked and copywritten jargon. Marketing home theater projectors to men is somewhat similar to marketing shampoo to women.

Regardless, if InFocus is releasing a new flagship projector, there’s no reason to believe that it will be anything less than spectacular.

Although InFocus has released some statistics and is pushing this beautiful little projector pretty hard, there’s no real concrete date slated for its release.  This is an amazon page for the InFocus ScreenPlay 8602 but pre-orders aren’t even available. Keep checking back though because when they are available you can bet we’ll show you where.

If you’re in this league, there’s really no other projector that can come close to the Panasonic PT-AE3000U for the price.

So, after looking at the projector, at the stats, and reading a few customer reviews, you’re asking yourself how in the world Optoma can do all this for a thousand bucks. It is a fact that technology is cheap. Buying LCD’s, circuit boards and fans in bulk is really cheap. Finding someone to put it all together is also cheap. The only stage of electronic production that isn’t cheap is the research and development and advertising. Optoma doesn’t spend very much on either of those things. They know their product extremely well, stay on top of new innovations in their field and then let the product do the advertising for them. It is this reason that they can build such a quality product for $1,000.

The Optoma HD20 is a shining example of when a company puts its nose to the grindstone and concentrates solely on releasing a quality product for the lowest price possible to its customers. This is a company I have no problem supporting because in the past, they have produced an incredible product that the likes of Sony just couldn’t compete with because of their low overheads. If you have heard about this projector, consider yourself lucky and pick one up.