Yesterday NST (Tech&U) has an article on the new Hitachi PJ-TX300 projector. Not many here are aware of projectors from Hitachi but it is one of the best for the price range. Just a year ago I bought my PJ-TX200 in HK as I can't find it affordable locally.

I started to research and audition many projectors in late 2005 (such as AE900, Z4, TW600, and many DLPs). At that time the most affordable projector to my budget (<$6.5K) is the AE900 but it has its share of cons (as discuss in AVS forum). Sanyo, Epson, and Hitachi are price at >$8K locally. In the end I choose Hitachi for its superior quality and flexibility as well as its price (I got for <$6K in HK). Now the prices have drop tremendously.

I think so too... The prj prices are getting more reasonable nowadays compare to a year or more ago. Perhaps there are more awareness and popularity in the prj experience. Nowadays most night time mamak stalls sure have prj with some cheapo screen.

I'm very satisfy with my Hitachi as it never stop impress my friends with its picture quality. I have the whole systems setup in a medium size room with lights control. For me no matter how brighter the prj can be, it is still best to view in darkened room. Otherwise you won't view black as black.

DLP still won't produce perfect black like a CRT does. I think the LCD technology has improved so much on this (ex. Sony prj).

I have done alot of reading from AVS forum. All projectors do have some fair share of problems but the Panasonic has a serious problem with the lamp life. The customer services is very bad too (but it may not be relevant here).

However, since I bought my projector I stop reading the forum and reviews. Just enjoy your projector and ignore any shortcomings. Newer and better models are produce every year end. Maybe in another year or 2 my projector might consider old technology.

For LCD, you have the choice of Panasonic AX100, Sanyo Z5, Epson TW700, and Hitachi TX300.

Not sure the black level from LCD can surpass the DLP. But it is all personal. A good DLP (with more color wheels) can be very expensive and beyond ones budget. But it does help to eliminate RBE.