By David Ponce

There are these gadgets that are just so boring to write about because, lets face it, all they ever do is gradually improve on their specs: smaller, faster, cheaper. I’m not a big fan of slow evolution in consumer electronics, but then again not everything can be revolutionary. It’s interesting to see manufacturers trying, and the BryteWerks ModelOne Projector is a stab in the right direction. It’s really just a nice projector with a full fledged media center machine fuzed to it. The media center part comes with a “Core i3, i5, or i7 CPU and it also packs in a slot-loaded Blu-ray player, up to 2 terabytes of storage – including a 500 gigabyte Solid State Drive, plus built-in Wi-fi and Ethernet.” The software is handled through a customized version of XBMC, which I’m a big fan on. On the projector side you get “ultra-wide 105 mm adjustable prime lens, an ultra-high brightness of 6,000 – 11,000 lumens, a 1000:1 True Contrast Ratio, a 1:1 throw of 1 foot to 50 feet, and it’s capable of producing a full 16:10 widescreen HD 1080p resolution.” There’s a small 720p touchscreen on the back though most interaction with the machine is probably done right on your projection screen. Rounding out the specs and justifying its price tag you have “dual HDMI and USB ports and 5.1 individual analog surround sound outputs.”

Now for the sticker shock: $2,449.00, $2,999.00, $3,999.00 and $5,999.00. Available from January 9th, right when CES kicks off.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If there’s one thing almost every gamer wants, it’s to game on the biggest screen possible. For a lot of people, that means hooking up their console or PC to the TV in the living room. Sure, a 40 or 50-inch TV is nice, but wouldn’t it be great if you could take up an entire wall? That’s where projectors come in. Of course, not every projector is meant to be gamed on. Most of them are built for either viewing boring charts, or movies. Well Optoma has a few that are aimed straight at gamers.

The Optoma GT750E is a gaming projector that can display games at a native 720p, and in 3D, no less. It’s also a short-throw projector, which means that you don’t have to set it clear on the other side of the room. In fact, during testing, it only had to sit a mere 50 inches from the screen to produce an 80-inch (diagonal) picture. The real question is whether or not it performs. Head over to GamerFront for the full review, and find out for yourself.

[ Optoma ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

By David Ponce

The situations in which we’d find ourselves needing to project images from our iPhones onto some surface are few and far between. Still, we’re not all created equal and we can imagine there are those who would indeed enjoy the ability to do just that. For those people, the Monolith case by Century gives you the ability to project images in 640×360 resolution, with a 1000:1 contrast ratio and 12 lumens of brightness. The largest projection size recommended is 60 inches (not 60cm as others have stated, unless the info in the promotional video is incorrect), although at 12 lumens, you better be in a dark environment. The Monolith also does double duty as an external battery pack, raising your phone’s life by an estimated 50%. It will require 4 hours to fully charge although it shouldn’t impact your phone’s charge time.

Sadly again, it’s Japan only at the moment and costs around $260.

Hit the jump for a couple more pictures and a video with totally not annoying music. At all.

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By Andrew Liszewski

It’s one thing to say your hardware is iOS compatible, but it’s another thing to actually make hooking them up easy to do. So while the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch can technically be used with a lot of projectors as long as you have the right cabling, Epson has made it dead-easy by including a pop-out dock on their new Megaplex MG-850HD model. Using 3LCD technology it projects a 720P image with 2800 lumens of brightness, more than adequate for home or office use. It’s also got a pair of 10-watt speakers, with a mic input if you’re making a presentation to a large room. Plus all the video hookups you’ll need for modern gear and laptops including HDMI.

Projecting content from your iDevice is as easy as sticking it in the MG-850HD’s pop-out dock, where it will also charge while connected. But it’s just as easy for other devices as well. You can of course connect your laptop using a VGA hookup, but USB is supported as well. That is, as long as you’re sticking with slideshows and PowerPoint presentations. You can even skip the laptop and run a slide show off of a USB flash drive, since I’m assuming the projector can natively read and display PP files. All-in-all it looks like a pretty great solution for work or home use, and will be available sometime in September for a reasonable $799.

[ Epson Megaplex MG-850HD Projector ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

To enjoy a digitally projected movie at 4K resolutions you have to visit your local cinem’o'plex and deal with hoodrats, sticky floors and annoying commercials before the feature. That is until Sony unleashes their new VPL-VW1000ES 4K digital projector which is specifically designed for home theater use. That’s right, 4K at home, perfect for all of that 4K content none of us have. So the VPL-VW1000ES of course does its own internal upressing of your SD and HD video so it looks slightly fuzzy but overly sharpened.

While the $3,699.99 price tag is a bit high for your average home theater, it’s not unreasonable if you consider yourself a true aficionado. Or, if you’re completely obsessed with 2001: A Space Odyssey and have always wanted an unblinking HAL-like electronic eye watching your every move.

*Update: The $3,699.99 price tag is actually for Sony’s VPL-HW30AES 3D projector introduced earlier this Summer. The price tag for the 4K VPL-VW1000ES has yet to be officially announced.

[ PR - Sony Raises The Bar At CEDIA 2011 With New Home Theater Innovations For High-End Enthusiasts ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

During my brief, but enjoyable, vacation last week, Nikon unloaded a bunch of new digital cameras on the market, including the Coolpix S1200pj which caught my pico projector loving eye. The S1200pj is actually Nikon’s third projector-equipped compact P&S camera, but improves on the previous models with a 40% increase in brightness (an impressive 20 lumens) and three times the contrast. Facilitating a projected image up to 60 inches in size, in ideal conditions of course. It’s also competently capable as a P&S with a 14.1MP sensor, 5X optical zoom with lens-shift stabilization, ISO settings up to 6400 and a 3-inch HVGA display on the back.

But sharing movies and videos of your mundane daily activities with friends and family is going to wear on them at some point, so Nikon has also made the S1200pj iOS friendly. Using an included cable you can connect your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to the camera, letting you project content from any of those devices. And making the S1200pj a far more valuable companion for those who travel a lot. Available sometime in September for $429.95 in black and hot pink metal finishes.

[ Nikon Coolpix S1200pj ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Pico projectors might not provide the same level of image quality and luminance as their larger counterparts, but in their current state they’re certainly good enough in the right conditions. Particularly given their size allows them to be crammed into other small electronics. Nikon led the charge with their projector-equipped Coolpix S1000pj a couple of years ago, and now Sony has decided they want to play too. But they’ve chosen to stick a pico projector inside their HDR-PJ50 camcorder instead.

They claim the projector is able to throw an image up to 60-inches in size on any flat surface, through from experience we know that’s highly dependent on where you’re actually using it. If you’re in a room that’s pitch black I’m sure a projection that size is definitely viewable. But if you’re using it somewhere with even a little bit of ambient light in the room, you’ll want to be a bit less ambitious with the projection size to improve the contrast and visibility. As for the HDR-PJ50′s other features? It captures full 1920×1080 HD video to a built-in 220GB hard drive, though capturing to Memory Sticks or SD cards for easy camera<->PC swapping is also supported. It also captures audio in Dolby Digital 5.1, though I don’t know how impressive the surround sound effect will be with just a stereo camera mounted microphone.

You also get 12X optical zoom which is always one of the advantages of using a larger format camcorder like this, instead of the pocket-friendly Flip variety. Stills are captured at 7.1MP, and to keep your videos as smooth as possible there’s built-in image stabilization as well. As for pricing and availability? While the camcorder was just released in India, B&H does appear to list it (with a basic accessory kit) for $1,201.95.

[ Sony Asia - Handycam Camcorder HDR-PJ50 ] VIA [ TechTree ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Mr. Beam (Mo Assem & Ruben van Esterik) is a small company based out of the Netherlands that specializes in giant lighting installations that use powerful video projectors to map graphics and animations over large buildings. But they’ve recently taken their expertise indoors with their fun Living Room concept.

Using only 2 projectors and some extremely careful planning and mapping, they’re able to project an entire 360° decor onto a living room filled with white furniture. This includes projected wallpaper and even carpeting. The concept, which is not unlike Michel Gondry’s Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground video for The White Stripes (RIP) could make it really easy for interior decorators to try out an infinite number of pattern and color combinations before committing to a new decor in a room. That is if Mr. Beam ever decides to commercialize it.

[ Mr. Beam's Living Room Concept ] VIA [ Toxel ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Today SANYO announced their excitingly-named PLC-WL2503 ultra-short throw projector which allows for interactivity on any surface, no longer requiring a dedicated whiteboard full of sensors. Instead, a camera module located on the front of the projector is able to determine the location of the included IR transmitter-equipped pen or pointer used by the presenter when they press on the projected surface. This positional data is transmitted back to the PC via a USB connection on the projector, allowing them to interact with what’s being presented.

As for the projector’s other deets: It’s able to project an 80-inch, XGA (1280×800) resolution image from a distance of just 34 inches from a wall. Which not only makes it ideal for small spaces, but it also allows presenters to stand in front of the projection without having to constantly look into the blinding beam. And since it’s designed to be used so close to a wall, its 2500 lumens should produce a particularly bright image. Other notable feathers in the PLC-WL2503′s cap include full networking for remote monitoring and operation, an easy on/off function which powers on the projector as soon as it’s plugged in, and a late January price tag of $1695.99.

[ SANYO PLC-WL2503 Ultra-Short Throw Interactive Projector ]