Epson to Ship Front Projectors with New Reflective LCD Panels, Drops Ensemble HD System

Epson will ship a home theater projector in December featuring a new 0.74-inch reflective LCD that delivers deeper blacks and better contrast ratios to challenge LCoS technology championed by Sony and JVC, Epson officials said.

LCoS is gaining interest with the arrival of 3D since the technology’s high contrast can help offset reduced brightness inherent with 3D, industry officials said. Epson’s 1080p 0.74-inch LCD is at the heart of the Pro Cinema 61000 ($7,500), Pro Cinema 31000 ($4,500) and Home Cinema 21000 ($3,500) that contain 1,200 lumens and deliver 1,000,000:1 and 500,000:1 contrast ratios. The LCDs are made using quartz substrate glass. LCoS panels are carved from silicon.

The reflective LCD technology differs from conventional high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) in that the polarized light rays don’t pass through the panel, but rather are reflected back at a different angle than they came in on. The approach is similar with LCoS where light enters and exits panels at different angles.

Although Epson’s technology requires a more complex polarized beam splitter to combine red, green and blue images, it takes semiconductor controllers out of the optical path and puts them behind individual pixels. The approach enlarges the available imaging area. On the new panel, pixel pitch is increased to 8.5 micrometers, larger than on similar-sized HTPS chips, Epson officials said. The fill factor is increased 40 percent to handle fast motion better, with less blurring. LCoS has long been a favorite of movie buffs for providing film-like quality because of the way liquid crystals respond to changes in driving voltage.

"We have the same benefits that they have had over us all this time, and we're getting into the game with deeper blacks and better contrast ratio,” an Epson executive said last week at the CEDIA conference in Atlanta. While a reflective LCD chip has many of the same benefits as LCoS, it’s made using HTPS technology that Epson has “developed and refined over the last 20 years,” an spokeswoman told us at IFA this month. A JVC spokesman declined to comment on Epson’s use of reflective technology.

The three new projectors use a 200-watt Epson-developed lamp. The top-end Pro Cinema 61000 contains network management technology that can be designed to send an e-mail when a bulb needs to be replaced or another issue arises, Epson officials said. The Pro Cinema 61000 and Pro Cinema 31000 have a fixed anamorphic lens option ($3,000), and the Home Cinema 21000 requires an additional sled ($6,000 with the lens). The projectors also have a Fujinon multi-lens optics system with a 2.1 zoom ratio and two HDMI 1.4 connectors. There also are five different color modes including dynamic and living room. A spare lamp, ceiling mount and cable cover are packaged with the Pro Cinema 61000 and 31000, the company said.

Whether Epson will OEM the reflective LCD panel for other companies hasn’t been decided, said an executive of the company. Epson and Sony are the two largest suppliers of LCD panels for front projectors. “We're in the business of making money, but right now we're not sure about that,” the executive said. “That’s up to our parent company in Japan.” But Epson will be the first company to bring to market front-projectors using the panel, he said.

Epson also unveiled two 1080p-capable front projectors at CEDIA, the Home Cinema 8350 and 8700 UB. The 8350 features a 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 2,000 lumens, and the 8700 has 1,600 lumens and 200,000:1. The 8700 contains Integrated Device Technology’s HQV Reon-VX processor and a Pixelworks 390 scaler. The projector also features pre-set color space selection. Two additional models, the PowerLite Pro Cinema 9350 and 9700 UB offer many features of the Home Cinema projectors but are designed for the custom installation. The projectors also have HDMI 1.3 connectors and manual zoom.

As Epson readies new projectors, it’s dropping the Ensemble HD Home Cinema System, which first shipped in Q3 2008 after being delayed several times. The system combined Epson Home Cinema 6100 and 6500 front projectors with Atlantic Technology speakers. The 1080p package ($7,999) featured the front projectors with 0.7” LCDs, a HMDI 1.3 connector, ceiling mount cradle with two four-inch full-range drivers delivering 70 watts. The system had a 100-inch motorized 1.0 gain that was attached to left, right and center channel speakers 4.5-inch drivers and 1-inch titanium horn tweeter. It also had an AV controller, remote and DVD upconverting player. The Ensemble was sold through more than 100 dealers. The projection containing the speakers will continue to be sold with the remote at $1,999, company officials said. While the projectors and speakers worked well with the system, “there were some issues” with the other components of it, said a retail executive, whose chain sold the system.

While Epson is discontinuing Ensemble, it’s not abandoning the concept, said Jason Palmer, marketing and channel manager for home entertainment products. Epson has “some things on the horizon that will meet what our goals were” for the Ensemble system, he said. “We think we can meet the Ensemble mission statement in an even more compelling way. I think it was a matter of its being a little ahead of its time.”