DLP projector pricing

[Siamese Cat]

There's a piece over on Projectorpoint this morning that says that NEC in the USA have reduced the price on the HT1100 to $1995. Now whilst this is quite an old design, at that price it is an absolute bargain. I wouldn't have thought that NEC in the UK are going to sell too many unless they follow suit

If they do reduce it to something similar to their US counterparts then this and the introduction of the BenQ PE7700 could affect the prices of the DLP market as a whole. The BenQ at £1450 or so for a high def machine undercuts the most usual price for a similar spec competitor by £2000. Some of those competitors might be a little better but they sure aren't £2000 better. Similarly a NEC HT1100 at £1200 to £1400, even if it is a bit old murders lots of machines more expensive than it. Here are two manufacturers that are probably rather smaller players in the UK setting new price points.

Major changes in the structure of marketplaces tend to happen in steps. An event triggers what is known as a tipping point which triggers a step change, a significant movement in short period of time that influences all in that market.

I wonder if these two, BENQ and NEC, are significant enough to be a tipping point that reduces the prices of all the major manufacturers. From their point of view that would probably lead to a major increase in volume as they would have become much more affordable.

The next few months should be interesting. I'd be suprised if, by Christmas, the general level of prices is not significantly lower than now.

It's going to be interesting to watch.

[PJTX100]

I think the price of HD LCD's has been a tipping point for DLP...PJ

[Gary Lightfoot]

The HT1100 can achieve a genuine 2000:1 CR (due to it's modified colour wheel compared to the HT1000) which is more than many newer machines, and if the image quality is the same as the HT1000 then it does indeed give a very filmic image in low lamp mode with the iris shut.

It will be interesting to compare the Benq to the NEC because I think the 7700 will have less contrast and may not look as filmlike. From a seating distance further back the NEC may actually look like it has a higher res due to it's extra contrast, so if it ever happened, it would be an interesting comparison if done right.

Gary.