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Sony has announced a 3D projector for the living room, with the VPL-VW90ES from Sony Professional aimed squarely at the home cinema enthusiast.

The VPL-VW90ES offers a dynamic contract of 150,000:1 and Sony's Advanced Iris 3 technology and uses the active glasses technology in Sony's Bravia television range.

"The VPL-VW90ES has been designed to deliver an optimal 3D experience that feels natural on the eyes," explains Sony's release.

Latest step in the world vision

"The launch of our first 3D home projector marks the latest step in Sony realising its 3D World vision," said Jonathan White, Director B2B, Sony Professional.

"From capturing images in 3D, through to the production and delivery stages, Sony is uniquely placed to deliver an incredible 3D viewer experience both at home and in the cinema.

"The projector also opens up another dimension for gamers too. People will be able to play a rapidly increasing number of 3D titles such as Gran Turismo 5, and Wip3out in crystal clear high definition, something we believe is going to appeal hugely to the gaming community."

The projector offers Full HD 1080p 3D projection, and can also do 2D to 3D conversion.

The projector has been given a UK release date of November 2010, and we're told you can expect a price in the region of £6,000.

Canon has announced its 'brightest projector ever' with the LV-7590 rocking a 7000 lumen rating, 1800:1 contract and capable of displaying images of up to 813x610cm.

Canon's LV-7590 also brings a new colour control device, but, although it is compatible with five optional interchangeable lenses, is supplied with none.

With a UK release date of Setpember, the LV-7590 is a replacement for the LV-&585 and offers what Canon terms the 'highest brightness of any Canon projector to date'.

Native XGA

"The ubiquitous native XGA resolution is supported by an increased brightness of 7000 lumens and a high contrast ratio of 1800:1, while the projector also features motorised horizontal and vertical lens shift, allowing the projected images to be positioned without the compromises associated with keystone correction," adds Canon.

"Powered zoom and focus are also included - and in line with Canon's stringent image quality standards, the range of features offered by the LV-7590 has been specifically designed to ensure the best possible viewing experience for audiences in large venues."

This is really a projector for big venues – as testified by the potential 400-inch (diagonal) display and a cost of £3,352.

And you'll need to add another £391 quid to that if you want the standard lens.

Epson hasn't unveiled a 3D projector at this year's IFA, saying the market isn't ready for an influx of 3D projection products yet.

"We are not announcing a 3D projector," said Jean-Marie Lacroix, the Commerical Director of Epson Europe at a press conference this morning.

"The technology is not ready… LCD panel sales are only 3 per cent. Neither the market or content is ready but... watch this space."

Epson is the number one name in projectors worldwide and it will be a surprise to some that the company has held off. However, Lacroix suggested it wouldn't be long before Epson entered the 3D projection market.

"When the market is ready, when the content is ready and when the technology is ready we'll be there."

Instead of 3D kit, the company focused on its new 3LCD reflective projector tech with contrast ratios of 1,000,000:1, HQV processor and increased response time inside the EH-R200 and EH-R400 projectors.

The company also launched the 3LCD Epson EH-TW 3200 and EH-TW3600 Full HD projectors ideal for gaming, sports and the like.

Lacroix also hailed the strength of Epson's offering. "The reason we have been so successful is the sheer breadth of our product range. Today we are the only manufacturer with a product range [across the board] in projection." Epson has 29 per cent of the Epson home cinema projector market.

The company also announced it was spending 7 per cent of its $10.5 billion turnover in research and development.

Lacroix also tendered an interesting fact when talking about the company's reach into the print market - 50 per cent of the world's receipts are printed on an Epson printer.

At its pre-IFA event, Epson has announced the EH-R4000 and EH-R2000 Full HD projectors, priced at £3,000 and £5,000 respectively.

The EH-R4000 and EH-R2000 UK release date is November.

Both new models feature Epson's new 3LCD Reflective panel technology.

The new tech builds on the established 3LCD system, improving the dynamic contrast ratio -1,000,000:1 for the EH-R4000 and 500,000:1 for the EH-R2000.

Epson says this produces deeper blacks and brighter whites while giving richness to the colours. 3LCD Reflective technology also offers a finer gradation of colours and wide colour gamut.

The company also says the tech improves response time by up to 75 per cent over older models for smooth motion and fluid action sequences and increases the aperture ratio by 40 per cent, reducing inter-pixel spacing.

The image processor also boasts a 'super-resolution' feature which increases the quality of standard definition sources, such as DVDs.

There are also five different colour modes to suit a variety of environments.

The EH-R4000 can be controlled over a network while the remotes of both projectors can also operate other equipment, such as Blu-ray players.

Image to follow.

The Sanyo PLV-HF10000L projector has been announced, with a native 2K resolution of 2048x1080.

Sanyo, now owned by Panasonic, is pitching its latest projector at professionals or prosumers, and it is designed for large rooms.

The Sanyo PLV-HF10000L projector offers 3000:1 contrast and the QuaDrive Optical engine for accurate colour reproduction.

QuaDrive?

"Integrated QuaDrive technology provides outstanding colour reproduction. This unique technology uses a fourth panel – the Colour Control Device (CCD) – to separately control yellow light within the optical engine," explains Sanyo's release.

"The result is increased colour purity, more realistic colour reproduction and an increase in image brightness."

Several projectors can also be teamed up to create one large image with an edge blending function.

It has a UK release date of November 2010, and although the price has yet to be announced we reckon it will be fairly hefty.

Panasonic Europe chairman and CEO Laurent Abadie has insisted that the purchase of Sanyo has not created a big overlap between two electronics giants.

Sanyo was snapped up by Panasonic in December 2009, paying around £2.8 billion to acquire the controlling interest in the company.

Speaking to TechRadar, Abadie discards the notion that there is an overlap in some of the areas that both Sanyo and Panasonic were previously operating in, such as camcorders and video projectors.

No issue

"When it comes to projectors we are not working on the same type of products," he said.

"For example, Sanyo is developing short focus projectors; we are looking at bigger systems. I don't think there is an issue."

It was Sanyo's expertise with batteries that most appealed to Panasonic, and the two companies are hard at work on their vision of a more eco-friendly future.

Big-time maker of small-form kit 3M has announced an update to its pico projector range – the ultra-portable MPro150.

Weighing in at a rather lean 160 grams and measuring just 125mm long, the projector is said to be around the same size of a mobile phone and can handle piping out images for two hours.

The image that is projected is anything up 50-inches in size, which is pretty impressive. The resoultion for this is 1280x800, in VGA, SVGA, XGA and WXGA formats.

The projector can handle main Microsoft Office apps out of the box (Word, PowerPoint and Excel), so is great for the space-saving business people.

File focus

Other files which are compatible with the MPro150 include PDF docs, MPEG4 and H.264 videos and BMP and JPG photos,

There is 1GB of internal memory inside but this can be expanded with micro SD card. Or, if you fancy, you can hook up the projector to your computer, iPod or other devices.

Included in the package is flip stand, tripod and myriad input cables.

The 3M MPro150 is available to pre-order now, with an official UK release date still to be confirmed.

Acer has announced it is to return to the wonderfully small world of pico projectors, with the K11.

Announced this week at CeBit, the K11 on paper sounds like a pico on steroids. It has double the light power of the K10 – at 200 ANSI Lumens – and also packs a punch when it comes to memory and connectivity. This comes in the form of an integrated USB and SDHC card reader and an HDMI port.

Compact and bright

The lamp technology is again LED which means that you should get around 20,000 hours use out of it.

Size-wise, the K11 is more than compact, measuring a dinky 122x116 mm. It also weighs a mere 0.61Kg.

There was a bit of a niggle on the K10 when it came to display sizes but this has been rectified in the K11. The pico projector now pipes content out at a multitude of display ratios, including the movie-popular 4:3 and 16:9 formats.

Add to this ColorSafe and DLP technology and what you have is a projector that looks like it can compete with the big boys.

There's no pricing for the projector as of yet, but the Acer K11 does have a UK release date of May.

Samsung has been coy about the release of its H03 pico projector. TechRadar first locked eyes on the diminutive device back in CES 2010.

Even though this was in January, the company didn't disclose the name to us – instead just let us hold it and look at it in awe.

At its European conference earlier this week, we finally found out that it's called the Samsung H03 pico projector and it also comes in black.

The Ho3 offers up 30 ANSI lumens of brightness and is equipped with a USB port and a microSD card slot.

The bulb inside the projector will last a whopping 30,000 hours and you will be able to use the H03 for two hours before you have to charge it up.

Perfect then for those who want to show off a variety of documents but don't want to lug around a laptop and a projector.

You won't need the laptop if you are showing off Office documents, as the projector has this software built inside. It will also project any PDFs you have as well.

The H03 pico fits directly in your hand and ways a mere 200 grams.

Other connections on the device include PC/Composite and whole there is some internal storage, we reckon you will want to use the microSD if you are thinking of storing movies on the device.

We're still no cleared to a UK release date for the Samsung H03 but as it was shown off in Europe, at least we know it will be coming to the UK market – hopefully sometime this spring.

LG caused a little stir when it outed a Full 1080p HD 3D projector at its press conference yesterday. Sadly the CF3D isn't exactly going to be readily available – it's expected that it will cost $10,000 when it goes on sale in the States later this year.

The projector is the only 3D projector in the world to produce a single image rather than separate images for left and right.

We took these quick snaps of the CF3D, though it was sadly stuck behind glass. But we can tell you that it's absolutely massive while LG had a working model in a room next-door. The unit uses LG's Dual Engine 3D Processor. It also uses LG's TruMotion 120Hz technology.

As you'd expect, the specs are fully competent – 2,500 lumens of brightness and 7,000:1 contrast. There are also three HDMI ports.

Cinemas are going through something of a renaissance of late, with a little thing called 3D bringing the public back to the big screen in their droves.

With the launch of Avatar set for 18 December, the UK's cinema chains are geared up for what should be a three-dimensional Christmas. But, with 3D being the norm for most cinema screens up and down the country, what makes a particular cinema stand out any more?

There's one thing that's allowing the smaller independent chains to compete with the big boys and that's the advent of digital screens.

London saw the launch of its first Sony 4K digital cinema system this week, with the Apollo Cinema chain unveiling the Art Cinealta 4K projection setup to journalists at its Piccadilly branch.

The move is a significant one for the whole of the cinema-going public in the UK, as it brings in unrivalled picture quality to the big screen, with it the ability to play 3D movies in the best possible way.

At the event there were a number of industry heads and analysts discussing the technology and the industry as a whole. Among them was film producer and politician Lord David Putnam who called the advent of 3D digital cinemas in the UK nothing less than game changing.

"The growth in cinema and box-office revenue is remarkable," Putnam explained.

"2008 saw £170 million in sales, the best since 2004, and 3D is part of this. There is every indication that when films are shown in 3D and 2D, 3D is favoured by the public four to one. I do believe that in every sense that digital and 3D projection in general is the game changer in cinema."

REAL-ITY: RealD is one company bringing 3D to the big screen

So, what exactly does make digital cinema game changing? Despite the obvious draw of picture quality for the consumer, Putman believes the lowering of costs for the cinemas themselves is also key.

"Digital cinema means lower print costs, and the fact you can update trailers at short notice, say in the awards season. This is something that was impossible in the days of 35mm."

Others in the industry also put cost as a major factor, not for the cinema owners but from the cinema-goers.

3D movies are hitting cinemas at an impressive rate. In 2010 there will more than 30 3D movies hitting the big screen. Given that the technology brings with it a premium viewing experience, the industry expects that audiences are willing to pay that little bit more.

"Being able to attract and maintain a higher ticket price for 3D is huge," says Bob Mason, Managing Director of RealD, one of the companies equipping cinemas with the tech to play 3D movies.

"It's bringing back people to cinema who haven't been for a very long time. 3D is completely beating 2D at box office at the moment, so that highlights how crucial it is."

4 PLAY: Sony's digital 4K CineAlta system

When it comes to digital cinema, the minimum specification for screen resolution is 2K. This was something that Hollywood agreed on back in 2005.

Since then, every man and his dog has bought a Full HD TV, which essentially brings the same sort of image quality to the home: 1,920 x 1,080 pixels compared to 2K's 2,048 x 1,080 pixels.

Sony is hoping that its 4K cinema systems – which boasts 4x the pixel count of a 2K setup – brings picture quality exclusivity back to the cinema screen.

"The Holy Grail of digital was to create a new standard for images in cinema. That is why the DCI [Digital Cinema Initiatives] standard was created," says Oliver Pasch, Head of Digital Cinema Europe for Sony.

"So, why has Apollo gone straight to 4K? The Apollo auditoriums are built so you are sitting close to a large screen, so you really benefit from the detail which can be seen."

Pasch was quick to explain that, despite Sony playing the pixel-count game at the moment, we aren't likely to see 4K surpassed soon: "We are not going into the digital camera arena where megapixel count is increased every Christmas – it's all about quality."

SONY DEAL: Apollo Cinemas is installing the tech into 83 venues

The CineAlta 4K digital cinema is very much a forward-looking creation, and one that goes against the whole 'further away you are, the better the picture' notion which is what is used in the home.

On-screen pixel size for 4K is extremely small, approximately one quarter the size of pixels displayed by equivalent HD and 2K projectors. Essentially this means that if you are in the front two rows of an Apollo cinema kitted out with this technology, then picture quality shouldn't diminish.

"Having 4K as an image is a differential to the quality you can see in the cinema and what you can see in the home," explains Robert Arthur, Managing Director, Apollo Cinemas.

"So, having a 4K image means the images are better than in the home. If you don't have a 4K image [in your cinema], then there is not much difference to what you will see in the home."

In all there will be 83 Apollo Cinema screens in the UK which will be equipped with the Sony CineAlta 4K systems, a third of these will be 3D capable.

When asked whether the screens would survive if 3D wasn't an option in the cinema, Arthur noted: "4K works without 3D, but it will help bolster the box office."

SPECS APPEAL: More than 30 movies will be in 3D in 2010

Compared to the US, the UK digital cinema sector is a small one. When it comes to Sony-equipped screens, America's biggest cinema chain Regal announced earlier this year that it was installing the technology into all of its locations (all 6,763 screens) within the next three to five years.

Also AMC Theatres is another partner, with 4,628 of its screens to get the 4K treatment by 2012.

The UK is getting there. With 500 screens already digital-enabled and more to come, Lord Putnam is positive that digital cinema is key to the UK film industry, believing that the technology "will be at the heart of the digital budget due to be reviewed soon."

It's not just picture quality and 3D that are set to bring in audiences, however. Both Sony and Apollo Cinemas are thinking about other ways to entice the punters. It looks as if they are looking at what the US is doing and taking a whole new approach to cinema going.

"From a Sony point of view we are already in the States bringing in music artists to cinemas and the launch of games on the big screen in Sony 4K. The ability for people to see the game on the big screen in 4K is amazing," explains Pasch.

CLOSE CALL: Even close-up, the benefits of digital are there

While Arthur is looking at the indie market: "having digital makes it easier to get the independents in. This isn't just a recipe for Hollywood but a wide range of things."

Whatever steps are made to bring people kicking and screaming from their TV sets to the multiplex, Putnam is very much in awe with just how much cinema has changed in the last 20 years: "It was a cold November day back in 1985 when I cut the ribbon of the first AMC multiplex in Milton Keynes – how things have come on since then."