Studio Experience 30HD (Matterhorn Chip) Teaser

[Sonnie Parker]

Not too far from being on the market is Studio Experience's new 30HD DLP Front Projector. This could be the price break for a quality DLP that a lot of folks have been waiting for. The 30HD is exclusive to Studio Experience just like the 50HD (not a Sanyo rebrand).












SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

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[aud19]

It's cool, especially for folks wanting to take a small leap in to FP's but... I'll get excited when they offer true HD resolutions (either one!) at "intro" prices.

Jason




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[Bent]

Sonnie, when the 2HD was being discontinued, SE indicated that they were pursuing an alternative prokjector to replace it...

Is the Premier 30HD that projector?, and if so, have they indicated anything w.r.t. an MSRP? ....and, are they intending to make it competitively priced with the 848 X 480 DLP chipped pj that InFocus is to be marketing as the Screenplay 4805?

[Glen]

Very interesting. Let us know if you get to see one in action and what the street price might be.

Thanks for the info.

[Sonnie Parker]

I'm not familiar with the 4805.

I believe this will be the pj that will replace the 2HD although they could still have a few 2HD's available after the 30HD is released.

It's been tossed around that the street price will be in the $3K range but I imagine you would be able to find one for around the mid 2's. Retail will probably be in the $4k range.






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[George Bellefontaine]

The matterhorn chip with its 1024 x 576 resolution is the same as my NEC HT1000 when set to 16:9. And I'll tell you, I saw HD material on the NEC and an Infocus 7200, which has 1280 x720 hdtv resolution, and there wasn't much difference. You really had to look close to see any difference in detail. I believe the 30HD could be a big seller if priced right. I'll be interested in seeing what the throw distance on this baby is.




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[Bent]

...And image offset, the HT1000 allows you to "walk" the image up or down the panel, if the '30 winds up with a convenient offset - it will certainly e a winer.

Plus, I really like the dark putty colour...

[Glen]

Any idea what the speed or the number of segments for the color wheel will be on this unit?

[Glen]

I think I found my own answer. I saw it listed somewhere as 6 segment 5 speed color wheel and a MSRP of $4999.99.

[Sonnie Parker]

I believe Glen is right on here with his info. There's a huge mark up in these pj's that are produced exclusively to Studio Experience. The Sanyo rebranded units have less because SE is paying Sanyo a premium for them. There's several Sanyo models available on the net for less than dealer cost on the same SE models. SE wants to get away from the rebrands so I think we'll start seeing more exclusive models from them.

Initially I think street prices are going to be $3-$3500... maybe even upper 3's but it won't be long before you'll see dealers offering them in the mid 2... maybe mid-upper 2 range. It won't be long before we know.






SONNIE

Cedar Creek Cinema

DVD Collection

BFD Comprehensive Setup Guide

[JonMarsh]

could be a nice unit

This is another of the current crop of DLP projectors that is hitting a pretty reasonable combination of resolution, color balance, and contrast ratio at an attractive price.

Unfortunately for me, my "corrected" vision with glasses is 20/15. While I agree that there's not a bunch of difference between 1024X576 and 1280X720, unless I'm sitting way back from the screen I can often see pixels unless I de-focus the projector. Even 1366X768 is similarly problematic. Of course, I have the same problem at the movie theatre when they're using one of the Christie Digital DLP's for the pre-movie entertainment and ads. They're 1280X1024, and even sitting a third of the way back in the seats, that's not good enough.

I've seen one of the Tohsiba 1080P LCOS RPTVs, before they dropped those, and that looked very good, IMO. I'm wondering how the TI HD3 chips will look; they use some kind of technology to try to double the effective horizontal resolution; the mirror resolution is 960 horizontal, and 1080 vertical.

Sometimes I think I'll be waiting quite a while before buying my next digital projector. Either that, or maybe I'll get lucky like ThomasW (not likely!) and have a great deal on a large tube CRT FPTV dropped in my lap! He's upgrading the end of this month, but I'll leave that to him to disclose and describe.... :B

Best regards,

Jon

[Brandon B]

I believe Glen is right on here with his info. There's a huge mark up in these pj's that are produced exclusively to Studio Experience. The Sanyo rebranded units have less because SE is paying Sanyo a premium for them. There's several Sanyo models available on the net for less than dealer cost on the same SE models. SE wants to get away from the rebrands so I think we'll start seeing more exclusive models from them.

You can get SE's for a LOT less than their MSRP. I got my 20HD (a simple rebadged sanyo), one of the very first batch produced, through the "other" forum, for the same price everyone else paid for the Sanyo version at the same time, about $3K less than list. Although, I agree with Sonnie, they are almost certainly looking to have products with a better margin.

Also, even these new PJs are only somewhat exclusive. Not up to speed on the one discussed here, but the 50HD was based on a PJ by NexGen that was sold by NexgGen themseleves, sold by Immersive as the Virtuoso, and by SE as the 50, and some other incarnations I don't remember. Each had a few subtle variations and tweaks unique to the vendor, so it was not a simple rebadge, but they were near to being the same machine. SE in that case pushed the e-warp thing as their differentiating feature.

BB

[Sonnie Parker]

Yep... a 20HD can be had for about $4200 now but they will be saying bye-bye or the price will get much lower when the 30HD comes out.

The new BenQ PE7800 has very similar specs to the 30HD although they are different... the retail is $5499 with street prices in the mid 3's. I don't believe the 30HD will have quite as high of a retail.