Thomas J. Norton

New developments in video displays are cropping up almost faster than we can keep up with them. Many have been exclusive to flat panel LCD and plasma sets. The once-dominant rear projection models are now relegated to the low end of most manufacturers' lines. Yes, there are RPTVs with dynamic irises, LED backlighting, and creative color adjustments, but these refinements are usually reserved for the few high-end models still on the market.

Panasonic has been making pro video projectors for years, but its first home theater projector to catch my eye was the PT-AE700U. Both that model and its follow-up, the PT-AE900U, were competent 720p LCD designs in deceptively small, businesslike black boxes that offered good value for the money.

All videophiles are looking for the holy grail—a video projector that will blow everything else out of the water and cost next to nothing. Short of the industry adopting the business model used for computer printers (charging $100 for the projector and $4000 for a replacement lamp), that next-to-nothing price will likely remain a dream. But manufacturers are competing hard to make good home theater projectors much more affordable, if not exactly cheap.

It Keeps Getting Better

When I visited Panasonic in Japan in the fall of 2004, with a gaggle of other journalists, plasma was the dominant flat-panel technology. But it was still pricey. On that visit, Panasonic told us that its goal was to get plasma prices down to $100 per diagonal inch.