So what. Buy a Sony HW15 for under 3K, can do about he same thing. Who buys this stuff?

^ easy. people with more money than brains. but tread lightly, as this is the "ULTIMATE" gear area, where some will justify anything, including sacrificing your first-born so long that you even think you hear or see a difference.

Its very sad that UAV is missing the great moment in the projector´s competition (great and cheap lcd projectors). Instead, they show us no sense "bargains" wich only rap singers can be interested in.

"This requires the video processor to compensate for the lens' horizontal stretch when displaying 16:9 content" That's a polite way of saying that the horizontal resolution gets thrown into the trash, because the outer part of the display chips can't be used. And, no, no amount of cleverness in the processor can recover the lost detail. It's funny how these boutique-brand products are permitted to have flaws that would result in a "lesser" brand's products being (rightly) crucified by reviewers...

Long time lurker, thought I would say hello! I really dont post much but thanks for the good times I have here. Love this place.. When I was hurt in that truck accident my life would be changed for all time. Unfortunately that driver had no car insurance and I was going to be in pain for ever. This was not time for me to start and guess what to do. I had to find a good personal injury lawyer to help me get what I needed. After all, my family was counting on me. How rotten was it? I has bedridden for 4 months, I had to have constant care and my hospital bills went through the roof! Fortunately, I found a good referral site to help me. I will post more later this afternoon to tell you more about what I have been going through. Anwyas thanks for the good work keep it up!

Yikes! It's difficult to read any comments suggesting someone buy a Sony projector! Egads. Have you ever tried to calibrate one of those dogs? I don't care who Sony pays off to speak well of them, their projectors are cheap in quality. Everyone wants better stuff. Many of us tell ourselves that what we own is "good enough". But when did so many people begin believing that McDonald's sells steak?

Tim, you clearly don't get what this blog is all about, which is the fun of drooling over extreme products. Yes, there are some great low-cost LCD projectors, but I don't cover them here. Peter, you're right, I was trying to be polite, but remember, this isn't a review, so I can't say exactly how much the processing affects the resolution. Of course it will affect resolution to one degree or another, but I don't know how much, and I'm not going to trash a product without seeing it. I've seen some processors do amazing things to improve low-res images, so who knows how well this one preserves high-res detail? Jhammill1, I disagree that all Sony projectors are dogs. Tom Norton recently reviewed the VPL-VW85 ($8000) and found it to be exceptional, with no particular calibration problems. Granted, the VPL-HW15 ($3000) is probably no match for the BlackWing Four, but that doesn't mean all Sony projectors are junk.

its called ultimate AV Mag for a reason folks. most people cant afford this, but it is still nice to see what the new bleeding edge products are and - of course, this means we will see the functionality of these units within 5 or so years for our type of price. :)

Thanks, Chris! That's it exactly...

I'm going to offer a prediction: broadly speaking, there's two key parts to any digital projector: (1) the digital stage-- i.e., the chips for processing the video (e.g., HQV) and displaying it (e.g., LCoS, DLP); and (2) the optical stage -- the lens and any associated mirrors, filters, etc. [In addition, of course, there's the case, bulb, and power supply.] The digital components improve in performance following something akin to Moore's law, but high-quality optical components (esp. the lens) continue to be very expensive. Consequently, in (say) a decade, even entry-level projectors will have digital stages far exceeding the performance of those in today's $100K models, but the lenses will not have changed much. Thus, increasingly, what will really separate entry-level models from the high end will be -- to zeroth order -- *just* the optical stage, particularly the lens.

Aron, well said! You're exactly right that digital electronics continually improve while getting less expensive, but high-quality optics will always be expensive.

Will top quality optics always be as expensive as they are now (after adjusted for inflation, of course)? I have no in-depth knowledge of the optics industry,certainly not enough to know if the inroads of computerization and automation have helped raise productivity. Or how much potential there is for them to do so. Certainly these things have helped in the mid-quality range--the lenses for digital cameras and such. But in the quality required of the types of lenses we're talking about here, which traditionally have required premium glass, extensive hand-grinding, and almost obsessive quality control, I'm not so certain. If any readers have that sort of knowledge, feel free to share.

Specs look like a JVC with a highly recessed lens. The Schneider lens (what it looks like) is marked up 100% and has to pushed into the projector. No way to use a lens slide for those who want the lens out of the light path for 16:9 and 4:3 material. It does have a good throw range for use with the lens, but it appears the lens cannot be tilted to fit the beam. This limits the vertical placement of the projector relative to the screen. I'll keep my Sony for now. What I want in a new projector something with a long throw, a lens in the center (no offset), a lens that protrudes enabling using a small A-Lens and a not such a high price tag. Something simple and functional. Kind of describes my Sony.