Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

After a 10 week hiatus, What The Future Holds, a column written by Adam Berger, that introduces tomorrow’s technology and trends today, returns to it’s weekly Thursday postings.

Imagine sitting down in your living room, bedroom, or dedicated home theater in your home, and watching a movie. Now this isn’t any regular picture, the video you see is not only equal to that clarity and sharpness in the local move theater, it almost surpasses it. Marantz, with their new VP-11S1 projector, is offering consumers the option of never going to the movie theater again.

The VP-11S1 is a single-chip DLP Projector featuring full up-conversion capability for all video sources to 1080p HD resolution. It offers full uncompressed HDTV 1920x1080 pixel resolution via a new TI processor that is the first that will natively display full 1,080p (at 24 fps and 60 fps) signals. The projector will offer over 68 billion colors without the rainbow effect by spinning a color wheel at a speed of 10,800 rpms but yet as quiet as a mouse--like a PC hard drive.

What makes this projector so amazing is the technology that is shares with top-end digital cinema projectors (for movie theaters and studio viewing rooms). The Gennum VXP processor performs de-interlacing, scaling, noise reduction, detail enhancement and color correction all in a minute fraction of a second (think how long that would take to do to a clip of video on your PC). Moreover, the unit’s contrast ratio is listed at 6,500:1 and brightness is rated at between 600 to 700 lumens. The VP-11S1 also features the die-cast aluminum chassis of Marantz acclaimed VP-12 series, coupled with the latest in custom fully sealed 13 element all-glass optics from Konica-Minolta.

Noted Kevin Zarow, Vice President, Marketing and Product Development, Marantz America, Inc: The VP-11S1 is a groundbreaking home version of a true professional digital cinema projector. Our engineering team designed this product from the ground-up in order to make it ideal for maximum viewing enjoyment of all the latest high-definition formats, including both Blu-Ray and HD DVD. With the VP-11S1, users can be assured that no matter how big the image or how close they sit to the screen, the image will approach true film quality in its smoothness and unprecedented realism.

Inputs include dual HDMI, HD component video, S-video, composite video and analog RGB. Also included is an RS-232 serial control port for integrated operation in custom installations. The best feature maybe the, the VP-11S1’s Vertical Stretch mode that eliminates the black borders on widescreen movies when viewed on a 2.35.1 screen. An additional lens will be required but it will certainly be worth it, to fill your screen.

The VP-11S1 is now shipping to dealers and will be available to consumers in July for a suggested retail price of $19,999. Now while this may not be in the reach of many consumers today, I can only image how home theaters will transform, it is what the future holds.