Scott Wilkinson

Projectiondesign's press conference concentrated on the Optix SuperWide 235 (around $39,000 with a standard lens), whose DLP imaging chip boasts a native resolution of 2560x1600, though this model uses only 1080 horizontal lines. This projector can display any aspect ratio from 1.33:1 to 2.40:1 at constant height without needing an anamorphic lens or zoom memories, which rob the image of brightness. For wide-screen Blu-rays, it scales the image vertically and horizontally using Sigma Designs VXP processing and two custom FPGA (field-programmable gate array) chips to fill the 2560x1080 pixel structure and maintain a 12-bit color depth per channel.

The demo was shown on a 13-foot-wide Da-Lite Affinity screen (1.1 gain) with a hand-built prototype with only one of two lamps in operation, so we were seeing a peak-level of about 7.5 foot-lamberts. Clips from Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Spider-Man 3 looked quite good, though I would not have chosen Paul Blart—what an awful movie!

Among all the super-expensive projectors at CEDIA, some of the biggest buzz has been about Epson's entry into the LCoS market, which turns out not to be entirely true. In fact, Epson has developed a new but related imaging technology it calls "3LCD Reflective," which is basically liquid crystal on quartz instead of silicon. (Keep in mind that quartz is silicon dioxide, so maybe it's not that different after all.)

Famous for in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, SpeakerCraft decided to go back to its founders' roots with the new Roots standalone speakers, which include three 2-way satellites and two subwoofers (one of which is shown in red here). A similar design aesthetic was applied to the FloBox, which combines the Vital 250 integrated amp with a speaker system that includes a 5.25-inch woofer, two 3-inch midrange drivers, and two 0.75-inch tweeters.

A 3D-capable, single-chip DLP projector was on static display at Sharp's press conference. The XV-X17000 boasts a contrast ratio of 30,000:1 and 1600 ANSI lumens of light output. It will ship in the first quarter of 2011 with two pairs of active glasses.