On The Net - Computing News

with Chris Goh

Data projectors (Part 3)

I've been using data projection units for a decade and can't quite believe the phenomenal change in pricing and quality in the last 12 months. If you've decided to buy, have a look at online Australian stores (a few are listed below for pricing purposes). In most cases, you can use the online price as a bargaining tool at normal retail stores to get a matching or cheaper price. Prices can vary by up to $500 from the recommended retail price, so it pays to search.

We're at the business end of this series, but remember I'm only looking at sub-$3000 models.

Without a doubt, the best value-for-money projector is the Epson S1-H. It's LCD, and the cost, the 1400 Lumens rating, the strong contrast, very crisp text and its ability to throw larger images than most projectors at a short distance make it a real winner, despite more fancied rivals such as Hitachi, Toshiba, Sanyo and BenQ. The RRP is $1999, but a number of retailers are selling it for $1500. The other bonus with the Epson S1-H is the relatively cheap price of globes, at around $320. It terms of the overall running cost, it's just behind the Panasonic AE500.

But I should mention that I haven't had a chance to review the just-released NEC VT47G. It's already getting rave reviews, keep your eye out it.

One of the pioneers of cheap DLP home cinema technology was Infocus. The X1, released 12 months ago, has its fans and I don't blame them. The projector offers jaw-dropping quality, especially for high definition pictures. It has a special chip, the Faroudja DCDi, normally found only in high -end models (although Mitsubishi uses it in a model under $4,000). Search the Net for articles that do it better justice than my space here.

Hopefully you can still find it for the bargain-price of $2000. But be aware that its successor, the X2, doesn't have the chip, but if you aren't watching high definition pictures it's not an issue (although the lamp life is shorter). If HD matters, the Texas Instruments DDP2000 does a fair job and even then, you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference, except the X2 keeps better picture consistency in a brighter room.

At the price bracket, the above projects stand out against Dell's 2200MP and HP's SB21.

And that not forgetting Sony, which has dropped prices dramatically in the last six months. Their budget entry VPLES1 is great, and the automatic keystone is a nice touch, but the Epson still wins on cost

Over $2500, the field broadens, but I have to say the Dell 3300MP is probably the most underestimated projector. It retails for just under $3000, but I've seen $300 discounts. The lamp life is the best in its class lasting up to 5000 hours in Eco mode, although I think Dell would be better getting rid of the M1-DA proprietary connector to HDTV. If you want to spend a few hundred dollars more, it's the winner.

The NEC VT465, successor to the very popular VT460, is due any day and Mitsubishi is asking you to please consider the SL4U and XL4U.

I'd like to mention one more option - the Panasonic AE500, which amazed me with its quality. The RRP is $3899, but it showed me the real meaning of High Definition home cinema. The specs surprised me (850 ANSI Lumens), but in near-darkness it had deep saturated colours and I saw spots on Shrek's head I never knew were there.

If people end up with one of these beauties, with surround sound, in their home, I reckon it would spell the end of multiplex cinemas.

Hotnews

A NASA-funded program has found that phytoplankton plays a key role in creating clouds. The phytoplankton produces dimethylsulfide (DMS), which evaporates into the atmosphere and reacts with oxygen to create the dust particles that accelerate condensation and lead to cloud formation.

Well many of you've waited, and now it's here (thanks for telling me the week after I bought one Chris - Ed). This week Apple launched its 4th generation iPod, the digital music version of a Walkman. The new ones have longer battery length - up from eight hours to 12 - and improved options and extras. The price has also dropped 25% in the face of increasing competition.

Microsoft has paid Lindows $20 million to stop them using their name - they'll now be called Linspire. It's the culmination of a series of European courts cases won in tackling the Lindows name.

SCO has been arm wrestling companies to bully them into buying the SCO version of Unix by threatening non cooperative organisations with legal action. But now a US federal judge has granted Autozone a stay in proceedings launched by SCO, pending the findings of SCO's case against IBM and Novell. My hope is it means SCO will now think twice before threatening clients with legal action. If they lose (and you won't hear me crying) then it will probably mean SCO, as a company, will have a limited shelf life.

Proof of concept viruses, which shows security vulnerability and how to exploit them, have been created for Symbian PDAs (which includes a range of Nokia phones), Microsoft CE and now Pocket PC. Now the race is on between the virus authors and the security experts to fix things before wild viruses emerge.

Nokia's market share has been eroding slowly in the face of major competition from Sony-Ericsson. A recent profit downgrade has pushed down Nokia's share price.

Telstra subsidiary Sensis has launched www.sensis.com.au - an excellent local search engine that links to the other businesses it owns, the Yellow and White pages (and there are rumours it will be linked to Telstra's recently acquired, Trading Post).

Hotsites

www.iswh.com.au

I often go to International Software Warehouse for a base price for my electronic equipment. Go into the computer hardware section and on the left navigation bar choose projectors and you will find a comprehensive range of projectors at excellent prices.

www.projectorsales.com.au
www.electroboard.com.au
www.ausmedia.com.au

Three sites that have been around for a long time selling projectors to schools and the public. Use them to compare prices and models.

www.virtualbyron.com

This site seems to be modelled on the Sydney Opera House Virtual Tour, but that's no bad thing and it's good to see you can visit Byron Bay without adding to the existing crush of tourists. And it's nice for us expat city folks to visit home occasionally.