Video for the Home Theatre

Front Projection

I currently have the Sony VPL-VW50 projector which is usually referred to as the "Pearl" which I believe was it's internal development name.  It is the Third Sony SXRD projector in a series that started with the Qualia $35,000 1080p projector of 2 years ago.  Last year this was replaced by the "Ruby" (VW100) at about $7500 and I finally broke down and got this years "Pearl" at $4200.  An order of magnitude decrease in price in 2 years.   All of these feature SXRD (liquid crystal on silicon =LCOS) display panels and active IRIS systems for deep black level capabilities.  The native 1920x1080 panels offer true HD resolution and it shows.  This projector throws an incredible image.

It has 2 HDMI inputs that match up with my new Toshiba XA1 HD-DVD player and my existing HTPC using MCE.  I've had no trouble at all with the HDMI/HDCP connections.  The Pearl is almost completely silent in operation.

HD-DVD's on this projector throw the best images I've ever seen on anything at any price.

Games

New for Sept, 2003 I've installed an XBOX with the HDTV adapter that allows specific games such as Enter the Matrix to run in either 480p,720p or 1080i widescreen modes.  This is an upgrade to the now defunct Sega Dreamcast system of several years ago that could also do 480p with a little known VGA adapter and appropriate games.

The XBOX is more modern and obviously better supported.  Installation was a snap and everything worked right out of the box.  (a far cry from configuring and using PC based games).  For me having a plug and play gaming system like this allows the HTPC to be configured just for HDTV and DVD playback.