Battle of the affordable 1080p D7 LCD projectors

The 3 latest and greatest LCD projectors based on Epson-manufactured D7 Panels with C2 Fine Technology are selling at below $3000 with no rebate. The lowest price is Sanyo PLV-Z2000, street price at $2450 + $300 rebate and it's going for much quiet operation at 19db, Dynamic CR of 15,000:1 and 1200 lumens. This is their first entry in 1080p LCD, least aggressive spec compare to the rest but has a neat direct access to blow dust blob on the go.

The Panasonic successor is the PT-AE2000u, equipped with 16,000:1 Dynamic CR and 1500 lumens for the price of $2699. It has brilliant out-of-the-box color accuracy, grayscale and pixel-free with smoothscreen technology. Advantage features included split screen and waveform adjustment.

The highly anticipate Epson is only available at Japan as of now and expected to reach here before Christmas with price tag of $2699 (Home version). The Epson claims a drastic increase of dynamic 50000:1CR with their Ultra Black technology. About 3 times compare to their clients that using the same panel, that's quite a breakthrough for a LCD projector not mention rivaling their competitors! Is Epson keeping a better panel for its own? Or it is better engineered than the competitors. We'll find out in few weeks. If you can't decide which to get, perhaps the 3 years warranty on Sanyo can change your mind. Epson has 2 years while the Panasonic is providing the least 1 year warranty like always.