By Will Sullivan
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
True home theater geeks know that in order to get a truly cinematic home theater image, you need a front projector (FP) projecting onto a large screen—100 inches or more—in the dark, just as in a real movie theater. Think about it: a 100-inch diagonal image is the equivalent of four 50-inch plasmas! Most “brick-and-mortar” audio/video stores, however, rarely have even one FP setup, let alone side-by-side setups for comparison of FPs…so, how to decide which one is right for your dream home theater?
In a nod, perhaps, to the paintball warrior in all of us—and to the real-world front projector “shootouts” among hard-core home theater cognoscenti—online projector retailer Visual Apex has unveiled a novel virtual PJ shootout gimmick, whereby you can pick among several of your favorite home theater front projectors and pit them head-to-head, two at a time on your PC, as they run simultaneous video clips. (And the video clips are truly spectacular.) A caveat, though: there’s the obvious problem of trying to demo supposedly “hi-def” clips in tiny 2 ½-inch X 3-inch windows, with far fewer pixels than you’d have in a real demo. Still, it’s a fun demo, so, if you’re looking for a shootout, it’s worth a drive-by—just cap that link below, and then comment. How killer are those video clips, hmmm?