At last year's CEDIA Expo, Epson showed off the Pro Cinema 61000: a home theater projector that featured a new variation of LCD imaging technology that Epson calls "3LCD Reflective" or Liquid Crystal on Quartz (but don't call it LCOQ, particularly not out loud, unless you don a black mask and a red cape -- "Evil Doers Beware! I am El Coque. Taste my cold quartz blade!"). But I digress...
Unfortunately this promising technology did not see the light of day in 2010. Epson says it needed a bit more refinement and testing than they had expected. But they're back at CEDIA 2011 to give it one more try. This year the company is showing off the Pro Cinema 61000 again. It's still an LCOQ, er... LCD-R based projector with full HD 1080p resolution, impressive specs and a host of home theater-friendly features. And they're going on the record to say it will ship in October of 2011 at a list price of "under $5,000" including a mount and spare bulb.
Unlike most of the other projectors announced and shown at CEDIA, the Pro Cinema 61000 is a strictly 2D affair. But considering the continued lack of enthusiasm in the general public for 3D at home, maybe this is not such a big deal? The Pro Cinema 61000 does have some great specs and features to make up for the lack of the third dimension. For one, it offers a zoom lens memory feature that allows the projector to fully exploit fixed height screen installations with CinemaScope aspect ratios (e.g., 2.35:1 and 2.4:1). With this feature, the projector can eliminate the black bars on ultrawide content without the need for an expensive outboard anamorphic processor and lens.
In terms of performance, Epson says the combination of 3LCD-R and a dynamic iris enables the projector to attain a dynamic contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. The brightness is rated as 1,200 Lumens.
In a live demo in Epson's booth at CEDIA 2011, the projector produced some nice bright, colorful images with strong black level performance. Also, the transition between 16:9 and 2.35:1 content was quick and seamless as the projector adjusted its zoom, lens shift and focus at the press of a button. 16:9 content was displayed at 16:9, and CinemaScope content was displayed at 2.4:1, filling the width of the screen for a truly cinematic feel.
We hope to see more of this projector in the near future. Second time's a charm?
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