The name PLUS Corporation of America is synonymous with ultra-portable projectors. Having established themselves as the leader in projector miniaturization for the mobile presentation market, they have now announced their first entry into the home theater market, the HE-3100, a.k.a. the Piano.

The Piano is the smallest home theater projector we've seen yet, weighing only 4.4 lbs with a footprint smaller than a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. It is scheduled for delivery this fall and pricing is not yet announced. However, PLUS is positioning it as a strong entry-level product for the first-time home theater buyer, so pricing is expected to be aggressive.

Feature overview

At the heart of the Piano's light engine is the new 848 x 600 DLP chip. This allows two modes of operation. One is the standard 4:3 aspect ratio SVGA resolution, 800 x 600, and the other is a 16:9 format using a pixel matrix of 848 x 480. The advantage of this format is that there is no scaling required to accommodate 480-line video. So the picture is sharp and clear, being free of scaling fuzziness and artifacts.

Picture quality is further enhanced by absolutely superb deinterlacing. A straight S-video feed looks like it's been through an expensive external line doubler. Videophiles will read the specs and be dismayed at the lack of 480p compatibility. But given the quality of the internal deinterlacer, most users won't feel the need for analog 480p at all. However, if you want to get the maximum performance from the Piano, use a home theater PC with DVI output as this projector will take that digital progressive signal. If you want HDTV, look elsewhere. This is an entry level machine designed for standard TV and DVD. HDTV is not supported.

One of the problems DLP-based portables have had thus far is noise--both fan noise and the whine of the color wheel. With the Piano, noise is a non-issue. The projector is almost silent.

The Piano has an ANSI lumen rating of 450, and a full on/off contrast rating of 600:1. The lumen output is low relative to just about any digital projector on the market, but higher than most CRTs. Since the market is conditioned to think in terms of ANSI lumen output as a key indicator of projector performance, the 450-lumen rating on this product will cause many people to balk. And indeed, if you want to light up a 10-foot wide screen, this isn't the solution. If you have uncontrolled ambient light, this isn't the right product for you either. However, if you want a six-foot wide image and you have a dark room, the Piano has sufficient contrast to deliver a very impressive image. For those who are skeptical, bear in mind that in 1998 the Chisholm CineMaster was listed as "Projector of the Year" by Home Theater Buyer's Guide. That projector was rated at 370 ANSI lumens.

For an entry-level product, the PLUS HE-3100 Piano shows a lot of promise. At the right price it should do extremely well among first-time home theater buyers.