We came away from the Sony Press Conference at CEDIA this afternoon with a realization that the entire pricing structure for state of the art Front Projectors has been completely decimated.
They introduced their brand new 1080p SXRD (LCoS) 3 chip projector - the VPL-VW50 (nicknamed the "Pearl" after its older sibling, the $10,000 VPL-VW100 - The "Ruby" -) with the following specifications:
1080p resolution (1920 x 1080)
3 Chip SXRD (LCoS) technology
2 1080p HDMI inputs with full support for 24fps!
And here's where it gets interesting:
List Price $4999!!!
That's half the price of last years FP with some added capabilities. There are some differences (a UHP lamp instead of a Xenon lamp) but on first glance the plusses greatly outweigh the minuses.
Naturally, we will be visiting both the SONY booth and the STEWART SCREENS booth (they announced a SONY/STEWART home theater partnership at the conference as well) to do some extensive hands on viewing, etc. with the actual unit. And, as I write this, Ron and Parker are working on getting the video of the press conference on line here at the HTF so you can see the announcements unfold. There are some other goodies there as well (including the fact that the Sony Blu-ray player will output 1080p/24 which is very good news for the best presentation of film material.) Watch for an announcement when the video becomes available.
And for those who want a little "taste" of what was, up to now, a "rumor"
here's a link to some of the specs.
Look for our video.
Look for additional specs as they are posted on the web.
Sony says the unit will be available from them "immediately" (whatever that means.)
$4995 list price.
The game has changed and the ripple effect has to make other projectors cheaper from top to bottom. Otherwise it's a no brainer for people who were looking for an FP option.
Much more to follow.