Friday, June 8

Hi folks,

Epson's current $500 mail in rebate puts their Home Cinema 400 home theater projector in a whole new light in terms of value for the money. So we asked for a second sample and gave it another review, updating the original review that was done last fall. At street prices of about $1100, it is now a strong contender in the entry level 720p resolution projector class.

Meanwhile, prices are falling everywhere. Panasonic's AE1000 has a $1000 rebate which knocks the price of that 1080p projector under $3,000. And Optoma's pricing is getting more aggressive too, with a new 1080p model called the HD80 being released this month for under $3,000.

If you haven't yet made a decision to go with a projector instead of a flat panel TV, now is the time to do it. A lot of people don't know they operate as televisions as well as movie projectors. Just hook the video signal from your satellite or cable box to the projector, and the audio signal to an AV receiver, and you've got very large screen TV. If its really big screen entertainment you want, it is much less expensive per diagonal inch to go with a projector than it is to go with LCD or plasma TVs.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor