Jon Iverson

Runco has made great strides in projector development recently. The Union City, CA–based company unveiled three new DLP projectors in Las Vegas, all of them sporting single 16:9 HD2 chips, DVI inputs, and 1280 x 720 resolution. The least expensive of the three, the Reflection CL-720, supports the primary varieties of NTSC, PAL, and SECAM, and can be ordered from the factory with a short throw or long throw lens, for images as small as 40" diagonally or up to as large as 300". Brightness is specified at 750 ANSI Lumens when the projector is calibrated for home theater; contrast ratio is a very respectable 1500:1. The CL-720 is said to be "HDTV ready," although the product sheet handed out at the LV Convention Center doesn't list any ATSC format among those supported.

This year's CES makes one thing abundantly clear: Large cathode-ray displays are dead. There are virtually no big CRT monitors or television sets being shown here. Synonymous with the 20th century, CRTs are the electronics industry's dinosaurs.

"This," said Lew Johnson, "is home theater done the way <I>we</I> think it ought to be." The "we" in question was Conrad-Johnson and its sister company McCormack Audio, and the system under discussion included McCormack's spanking new UDP-1 Universal Disc Player ($2995).

Every few months we receive news that someone else is trying to bring 3D TV to consumers (see previous stories <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?408">1</A> and <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/shownews.cgi?362">2</A>). Last week, <A HREF="http://www.ddd.com">Dynamic Digital Depth</A> announced that it will preview its version of 3D cable television, delivered through a <A HREF="http://www.gi.com">General Instrument</A> DCT-5000+ advanced interactive digital consumer terminal, at the Western Show this week in Los Angeles.