So you finally bought that shiny new front projector. The choices for watching your first movie with it are simple: either unpack it, set it on the box, and use the wall for a screen or skip the instant gratification and be shocked by how incredible the image can look from a properly installed projector.
We look at three 1080p LCDs that offer a little something for everyone.
I'm going to let you in on a little secret: The performance gap between LCD TVs is shrinking. Of course, there are enough differences to keep us reviewer types employed (at least for now); we see variations in color temperature, black level, light output, and processing. Still, it's been a while since I encountered an LCD that simply performed poorly, at least from a reputable manufacturer. Let's face it—you really have to screw up to make HDTV and high-definition DVD look bad. As you try to decide which LCD deserves your money, it has become less a question of good versus bad performance and more a question of fit and price: Which model offers the performance and features set to suit your needs at a price you can afford?
I drink green tea the way some people drink water. I make it in large batches, keep it in the fridge, and guzzle it all day. Such are the dimensions of this innocuous drug habit that I blend teas, often adding a pinch of Butterfly Sencha (with peach and sunflower petals) to a standard Sencha, creating something more subtle than the former and more interesting than the latter. (The Tea Squad may burst through the door to arrest me at any moment.) I do the same with surround equipment. This month, I've deliberately brought together a receiver brand that prides itself on neutrality with a speaker brand that obsesses about the purity and phase coherence of high frequencies. Marantz, meet Tannoy. Tannoy, meet Marantz. What will happen next?
Consumers aren't happy with their TV providers. Cable and satellite television companies have scored the lowest of any sector of industry in the latest American Consumer Satisfaction Index.
Used to be even the most basic receiver came with two accessories: a cheap wire dipole FM antenna and a plastic-loop AM job (which most often seemed to degrade reception). You still get the antennae, even if nobody except dental-office denizens listens to much terrestrial radio anymore. But you get a lot more with your receiver today.
Front projectors have long been considered an exotic way to experience movies at home, but they're quickly becoming a more mainstream option. That's because prices for 1080p-resolution front projectors have sunk below three grand, while flat-panel sets with screen sizes 60 inches and up that offer similar resolution have yet to become affordable.
