Price: $26,000 with outboard processor

Highlights: Three-chip 1080p D-ILA with optional outboard Faroudja processing and color and gamma optimization by William Phelps.

While a premium three-chip 1080p DLP will apparently start at around $40K in most instances, and rapidly rise in price, Meridian's 1080p D-ILA looks like a relative bargain at just $26,999. Meridian now implements and markets Faroudja's consumer products, so the outboard processing here is Faroudja's latest and greatest and the chassis is JVC's latest 1080p D-ILA rig. Gamma and color are tweezed to the nines by William Phelps and the image quality at CEDIA '06 was one of the best sights to be seen at the entire show. Shipping now.