July 17, 2006

Hi folks,

There is quite a lot of new product release activity going on in the 1280x768 WXGA format. Overall, this is still a relatively rare format in the projector world with less than 20 models featuring it. But among the latest arrivals are the Mitsubishi WD2000U, the Optoma EP1690, and even the little 4.4 lb Boxlight Broadview, which is the first projector in this resolution to go under five pounds. We are spending a lot of review time with these units this week, and will get comments/reviews posted on them as soon as possible.

By the way, in case you missed it, Optoma has announced an estimated street price of just $5,999 for the new HD81, which is their first 1080p resolution product. Optoma has traditionally been aggressive in pushing prices on all resolutions down. Their HD72 was the first DLP projector in the WXGA class to go below $2,000 street prices. It appears that Optoma intends to lead the industry in the pricing of 1080p DLP projectors as well. We are still waiting for news of the exact ship dates, but with a little luck we will be seeing it before the end of next month.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor