Written on August 22, 2008 – 8:00 am | by Bogdan Alex |

DLP Projector prices have taken a dive lately, but in this case the price really measures up to the actual quality you are getting. You have a strict budget? You get what you pay for, namely less features and nothing to boast about. The thing is projectors haven’t yet been embraced as a true competitor for LCD and plasma TVs, since their specs still have to be improved. But with the Super Hi-Vision chips that will allow for images 6 times wider than the 1080p standard I think this is all going to change. Talking of advanced DLP Projectors, here’s a new model from Planar.

Planar Viper is a 3-chip DLP projector which knows how to handle true HD support for screens larger than 110-inches. Although its native resolution is 1280 x 720, it supports a wide variety of standards, including 1080p, 1080p-24, 1080i, 720p, 576p and 480p. Capable of contrast rates around 10,000:1 at 2,000 lumens brightness, the projector integrates a 10-bit independent dual image and motion adaptive processing system.

According to Slashgear, Planar teamed up with Texas Instruments to develop better performing DLP chips especially for the Viper. This way, the high-end model is can display a more detailed picture when connected to a 1080i source.

Among other options we find a five lens system which allows for improved power zoom and focus, plus horizontal and vertical lens shift, as well as an RS-232 automation interface with discrete on/off, input selection and aspect ratio control. Viper comes equipped with only two HDMI 1.3 connectors that are compliant with the Deep Color standard and will set you back $15,495.