April 12, 2004

Hi folks,

In response to many emails on the subject, we are indeed planning reviews of both the Optoma H30 and the upgraded BenQ PE8700. These are the next home theater projectors in the review schedule.

As a point of clarification, at the CES show in January BenQ indicated that an upgraded edition of the PE8700 was due this spring. The new unit would feature HD2+ DLP chipset and would be known as the PE8710. However, as it got closer to release they decided not to change the model number. Thus the newly upgraded model is still being marketed as the PE8700. All of the original PE8700s featuring the HD2 chip have been shipped from BenQ, and the company has been shipping the upgraded version for several weeks. However at this time there are still some of the older units on dealer shelves which can be distinguished by serial number. All units with serial number 99J5877B2140300017H and higher contain the new, higher contrast HD2+ DLP chipset. The manufacturer's contrast specification has been changed from 2000:1 on the original model to 2500:1 on the updated edition. Other than this, there are no other differences between the two versions of the PE8700.

We are continuing to work on the screen review. Since there is a lot of interest in paint as an alternative to a professional screen, we are experimenting with a couple paint solutions to see how they compare to screen products. We hope this will answer a lot of the questions we get regarding which screens are right for which applications.

Your comments and feedback are always appreciated. If you have something you'd like to see us address, or any constructive comments in general, please use the comments@projectorcentral.com email address to get your message to us.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell