Big Picture Big Sound

It's Just So Big (Part IV)

The Price of Admission to HDTV Just Keeps Dropping

In their ongoing effort to bring large-screen HDTV to the masses, Sanyo had their new PLV-Z3 ($2499, available now) 3-chip 720p LCD projector on display, making fine-looking movies on a Stewart Firehawk screen. An upgrade of their popular Z2 model, the Z3 offers a dynamic iris for enhanced contrast, a new HDMI input and an extra component video or VGA input, 10-bit video processing (vs. 8-bit on the Z2) plus a unique feature - user-accessible LCD panel cleaning. One of the annoyances of fixed panel projectors without a fully sealed light engine is that dust can enter the chamber, settle on the LCD panel, and cause dark blobs to appear in the projected picture. On the Z2, Sanyo covers the cost of panel cleanings for the duration of the warranty but shipping the unit back to Sanyo can be inconvenient.

On Sanyo's PLV-Z3, the user can now pop out a couple of gaskets on the bottom of the unit, blow out the area with the supplied hand pump, seal it back up and be good to go. If you prefer, you can still send the unit back to Sanyo for a cleaning, but it's nice to have other options, particularly after the warranty expires.


Once again this year, Sony sponsored a massive display showcasing all manner of digital technology. First up, they had a "home theater" rig consisting of no less than 3 (THREE) stacked Qualia 004 projectors ($27,000 each) lighting up an enormous screen at least 30 feet diagonally. The picture was stunning, extremely bright with vivid accurate colors and no visible motion artifacts, not even any visible pixels. Sony was using this killer rig to tease us with some of their new products on display in the next room, which included...

The new Qualia 006 ($13,000, available "early this year"), a stunning 1080p rear projector, featured Sony's SXRD (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display™) technology, which is their version of LCOS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon). The same technology could be found in the above-mentioned Qualia 004 front projector. Picture quality of the Qualia 006 was on par with the best plasmas, if not better, with better blacks and crisp "through a window" like clarity.


Also on display was Sony's 500 Gigabyte High Def PVR, the DHG-HDD500 (List Price: $999, availability: TBD) which can record up to 60 hours of High Def content or 400 hours of SD content from broadcast or cable with integrated ATSC and NTSC tuners, built-in TV Guide Online program guide and on-board CableCard support. It features HDMI and component video HD outputs as well as SD outputs (composite and S-video). I want one!


As in previous years, Sony teased us with their prototype Blu-ray Disc recorder, which was happily providing HD content to their Qualia projector. Blu-ray disc players, available now in Japan, are expected to be released later this year in North America, however it remains to be seen how ugly and drawn out the battle will be with rival format HD-DVD.


Sony also had on display a unique new DVD camcorder, the DCR-DVD403 (price: around $1000, available Spring, 2005) that featured widescreen (anamorphic) recording on DVD, a 16:9 color viewscreen and, get this, a built-in multi-directional microphone for recording in true Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Their demo recording of a backdoor barbecue made you feel like part of the action with voices and the sound of sizzling hotdogs coming from the front and wind chimes and other conversations behind you. A very immersive experience! Oh, and please pass the mustard.



Off the beaten path, but worth a trip to one of the upstairs corridors in the Convention Center was DTS Entertainment, where patient show attendees waited in line to check out clips from the new DTS demo disc (and pick up a copy for themselves, of course). Volume 9 of the DTS demo disc features killer demo clips from "Return of the King," "Master and Commander" and the "Kill Bill" flicks, multi-channel audio clips from Simple Minds and The Polyphonic Spree, and more fun audio/video stuff. Big news from DTS included their recent acquisition of Lowry Digital Images - the masterminds behind the phenomenal recent restoration/remastering of many films including the Star Wars Trilogy and many of the James Bond titles. So now DTS has their hands in high-end audio and video. This, along with the requirement of DTS support in both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats, should make for some stunning HD material in these new formats. Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled.


In addition to providing high quality soundtracks for movies in theaters and on DVDs, DTS also remains committed to multi-channel music with regular DVD-Audio releases. Recent DTS DVD-Audio titles include The Polyphonic Spree's "Together We're Heavy," The Crystal Method's "Legion of Boom" and a new Frank Zappa collection of some of his experimental quadraphonic work called "QuAUDIOPHILIAc." All sounded great on my system back home. And while the demise of multi-channel music is something thought by some to be a foregone conclusion, I remain optimistic. Once you've heard a well-mixed SACD or DVD-Audio disc, it's tough to go back to plain ole' stereo.

Show your support and go out and buy something! If your local record store doesn't have them, then check out Amazon's selection of DVD-Audio and SACD discs or J&R Music World's extensive selection of DVD-Audio discs and SACDs. Taking my own advice, I recently went on a buying spree and picked up DVD-Audio discs by Queen, Fleetwood Mac, The Corrs and The Eagles, plus SACD discs by Roxy Music, Pink Floyd and Norah Jones. Each ran circles (literally) around their CD counterparts. What are you waiting for?

And Now For Something REALLY BIG

Size was a recurrent theme at CES. Things were either getting really small, or really big. In the really big department, Samsung had on display a pre-production sample of their upcoming 80 inch PDP plasma screen HDTV, the HP-R8082. Expected to sell for "under $50,000" and to be available "before the end of the year," with 1080p resolution (1920X1080 pixels), I had to admit that this was a pretty impressive feat of engineering...



impressive that was... until I saw this:


Yes, my friends, apparently inspired by a size war with rival, LG Electronics (who previously ruled the roost with a 71 inch plasma screen), Samsung said "Oh, YEAH?" and made what they hope to be the definitive statement in screen size (for now) with a functional plasma HDTV prototype measuring in at a whopping 102 inches (8 1/2 feet) diagonally. The piece may never be commercially produced but still... WOW! Then again, you can get a damn good picture well over 102 inches in size with a nice DLP, CRT, LCOS, or even LCD front projector and screen (like the afore-mentioned Sanyo Z3) and you can use the money you save to buy stuff to watch on it.

But then, that's the real problem with screens this big, isn't it? You just can't watch regular TV, or even DVDs, and expect to be able to take advantage of all those pretty pixels. And in response to that, this year's CES featured a number of prototype players and recorders of next generation High Definition discs, both Blu-ray Disc (such as the Sony player mentioned earlier) and HD-DVD. Manufacturers were a bit evasive on pricing and availability but the general line from both camps is that players of each format will be available before the end of 2005 at prices below $1,000. We shall see...






For those interested in a more mature recordable disc technology, recordable DVD is now entering its fourth generation with recorders from the likes of Panasonic and Pioneer.




And for those of us with a hankering for a fix for our audiophile cravings, a huge selection of DVD-Audio, SACD, CD and yes, even vinyl records was available over at the Alexis Park's Parthenon.


The good folks from Telarc Records were on hand to sell their wares and show off brand new SACD recordings from the Turtle Island String Quartet, Ivan Lins and Michael Camilo plus a new recording of Mozart's flute concertos by Martin Pearlman and the Boston Baroque.


See? I told you multi-channel music was alive and well!
Well that's a wrap for this year folks. Hope you enjoyed the ride!

Just joining us, why not start at the beginning in Part I of this report?