Bad News For Canadians Considering Plus Piano

[George Bellefontaine]

Plus Piano has a revised web page up with a lot of information on the new Plus Piano 3200. Sadly,though, Canadians who had been considering the new 3200 will be awfully disappointed to learn of a drastic price change. The Plus Piano 3100 is listed for $3999. Canadian and the new 3200 is listed for $4999. That's a big difference for the addition of progressive inputs, a zoom lens, and HDTV inputs that downconverts to 480p. In the USA, the old 3100 sold for $2999 ( later reduced to $2699) and the 3200 sells for $3299. US.




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[Clive]

Now that bites the big one :evil: I even sold my wife on the fact that it was the way to go. We checked, we saw, we liked. It does seem like a lot of upgrades and technically it's still less expensive than others but now for the price, it may worth it to look at others in the same range. ouch!




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[George Bellefontaine]

Yeah, that'd be my thought, too, Uncle Clive. Have you looked into the Panasonic PTA100. It's lcd, has true 16:9 lcd panels and I believe is priced around $3000 to $3500.

One of the big drawbacks to the Piano is the fact that it isn't true 16:9, has to be re-framed within the 4:3 ratio for viewing anything non-anamorphic widescreen. That would be a pain for a fixed installation as you would have to adjust the zoom . Other drawback is the lamp. Only 1000 hours and replacement is $399.

On the pro side, it is said to have an amazing picture and exccellent contrast.




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[Clive]

I haven't looked at anything else yet because I was counting on the Piano. I understood the drawbacks but thought for the price that I could live with it for awhile. I was planning on having another set in the room for regular viewings and use the FP for big events/movie nights. Would save on bulb life. Thanks for the insight I will look into those other units.




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[John Holmes]

Any ideas as to why such a difference in price?




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[George Bellefontaine]

John and Uncle Clive.
I erred in this post. Apparently the 3100 was reduced to $3999. Cdn after the Piano 3200 was introduced. I have since been told that the CDN price of the 3100 was $4700 so that would make a difference of only $300. But no matter how you cut it, it's still a difference of $1000. when you compare the 3100 and the new 3200 today.




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[Clive]

...................so that would make a difference of only $300. But no matter how you cut it, it's still a difference of $1000.

Actually, no matter how you cut it we'll still have to wait :roll:




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HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[George Bellefontaine]

Well guess what, the new Piano is now $5299. CDN. Looks like they're pegging the price to the variance in currency value between the US and CDN buck. Question is, will the price go down if the CDN loonie goes up ? Hmmm....




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[Clive]

Keep dreaming George the price will not fluctuate. They control the prices, no store is allowed to undersell another (So they say).




CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[George Bellefontaine]

Well if they keep raising the price like this, it will kill any hopes they have of developing a Canadian market for this little projector. There are a lot of new lcd projectors hitting the market and the newer units are apparently a challenge to dlp's blacks. And they are also 16:9 panels, which the Piano is not. There's a very strong rumor that Sony will introduce a killer machine in the Fall with US pricing around the $2500. mark which would bring it in well under $4000. Cdn.




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[Clive]

Wow, well that would be nice!

What are you looking for and when?

Have you researched any other unit yet? Which ones caught your eyes?




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HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[George Bellefontaine]

I'm really in no rush, Uncle Clive. My Sony VPL400 is a widescreen lcd and is still giving me an excellent picture. It's going on 4 years old now,though, and this particular model is not known to have a long life on average. Thing is, I have seen some of todays projectors and they are only slightly better than my 400. The new Sanyo PLV70 and the Boxlight HD20 ( a clone of the PLV70) are said to be breathtaking,and are being compared to the SharpZ9000 dlp for blacklevel detail. I saw a Sharp demoed and was quite taken by the quality of the picture. I then heard that the Piano was pretty close in picture quality to the Sharp, but with lower resolution. The Piano appeared to be priced well, but I wasn't too keen on the short-throw fixed lens. When they announced the Avanti 3200 with better connectivity and a zoom lens, I started to get interested. Then the Canadian price started to go crazy.
So I am sitting back, waiting to get a chance to demo some of the new lcd PJs coming out. I paid $5999. for my Sony 3 and a half years ago and really want to stay within that price range if possible. The new Sony I mentioned could be just the thing, but the only details of this unit are on a Japanese site and the translations I saw were not very clear on specs. If it turns out to be a high resolution 16:9 panel unit, it is probably designed to compete with and better the PTA100 Panasonic widescreen projector that's selling for less than $4000. Cdn.
We'll see, Uncle Clive.




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[Clive]

George have you seen this page?

http://www.sonystyle.com/home/srch.jsp?query=front+projectors&col=&x=13&y=11

CLIVE




HEY!! Why buy movie tickets when you can own a Theater?

[George Bellefontaine]

Yeah, Uncle Clive, that's the USA site. Check out Sonystyle.ca. It lists the new 12HT at $11,999. That's scary.

Note on the US site that all projectors except the crt, the 10HT, 11Ht and 12HT, are mostly bisiness presentation projectors.




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