CEDIA 2007 - Day 3: Marantz, JVC and Samsung Projector Wrap-up
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 8, 2007 2:03 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Marantz VP-15S1
At your request, we paid Marantz a visit to check out the new VP-15S1. The 15S1 is Marantz' more "affordable" single-chip 1080p DLP, using TI's DarkChip 3 and priced at $9,995.
As an example of anamorphic lens pricing at its best, the $6K ISCO III lens is offered as an option with the 15S1 with motorized sled for a mere $12,995 - $3K more than the projector itself.
The ISCO III
Now Marantz won the award for best overall home theater experience at the show. The VP-15S1 was setup in a real home theater, complete with Marantz THX Ultra 2 speakers driven by a high end Marantz receiver. The ISCO III lens was used to stretch the 16:9 image to fill the 10' 2.35:1 screen we watched Cars on.
The image was gorgeous but the overall experience was quite possibly even more impressive. Instead of simply putting a projector and a screen in a room, Marantz made sure the home theater experience was complete, with a speaker setup that left us temporarily deaf.
The VP-11S2 was also at Marantz' booth but not running, that model uses TI's recently announced DarkChip 4 DLP.
Final Words
That's it for our coverage of CEDIA, we'll see you in a few months at CES in Las Vegas.
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zemane - Saturday, September 8, 2007 - link
I've asked this on CEDIA Day 2 article but got no response so here it goes again: Is it too difficult to manufacture a native 2.35:1 projector? This way only 16:9 and 4:3 movies would have black bars on each side. Imagine, a true 2538x1080 image... :-)Anand Lal Shimpi - Sunday, September 9, 2007 - link
What a coincidence, I asked JVC this exact question :)The problem with native 2.35:1 is that very few users actually want it, the market is too small to justify a company like JVC/Panasonic/Sony making such a projector. The other thing is that you end up sacrificing brightness by going the more pixels route, it's simply easier to use the stretch + anamorphic lens option at this point.
Looking further down the road however, just as TVs made the transition to 16:9, the time may come when everyone starts wanting 2.35:1. That day looks to be very far from now, so until then I think the best we can hope for are cheaper anamorphic lens options.
Take care,
Anand
zemane - Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - link
Thanks Anand!MGSsancho - Saturday, September 8, 2007 - link
would be cool if you could group some of these together. like sub $5k, the 5-10k, 10-20k, 20k+ or something. its great to read a particular model was your fav. but priced at 23K... yeah i love dreaming too. but something under $5k is a little more reasonable. however, this convention was all about the greatest projectors.oh and any pics of mantraz receiver porn? =P