Hitachi isn’t a name you hear as often in the consumer electronics realm as Sony or Samsung. Despite that, Hitachi makes some fantastic home theater and AV products. I own one of their plasma TVs and it is by far the best set I have tested. Hitachi is branching into the professional market with its latest AV projector.

The projector is called the CP-X10000 and offers a whopping 7,500 lumens of brightness and a contrast ratio of 2500:1. The projector offers ultra-wide range lens shift and a 10-bit full digital video processor along with a 10,000-hour filter.

With some projectors that are used in the classroom or living room, getting a large image on the screen or a wall means needing a big room so the projector can be far enough from the surface the image is on. If you are in a smaller room that means you can end up with a smaller than ideal image.

This is where short throw projectors are perfect. Mitsubishi has announced a new short throw projector called the WD500U-ST that can throw an image 50-inches in size from only 28-inches from the screen or whiteboard.

Ask most people about projectors and they think of home theater setups, but many professionals use projectors to give presentations for business. This type of user doesn’t care as much about resolution as they do brightness and how compact the projector is.

Mitsubishi has a new projector that just launched called the XD95U that weighs only 3.3 pounds and is smaller than a normal sheet of notebook paper. The small size makes it easy to carry on the bus, train or in an airplane when working on the road.

One thing that many projectors have in common is large size, high cost, and long startup/shut down times. The startup and shutdown times can be a big hassle if you are in a hurry to get a presentation or movie going or in a hurry to get home after a big presentation is done.

Sanyo has introduced a new projector called the PLC-XW57 that is very portable with dimensions of (W x H x D) 13-inches x 3.15-inches x 9.3-inches and weighs 6.4 pounds. Despite the smaller size of the projector, it has 2000 lumens of brightness and a 1.2x optical zoom short throw lens. Fast start up allows the projector to work with a cold bulb and users don’t have to wait for the bulb to cool at shutdown.

When it comes to affordable, big picture widescreen movies and gaming the route to take is a projector. With a projector, you can get HD images as large as traditional HDTVs for a fraction of the cost. To get a 100-inch image on a plasma or LCD TV would run tens of thousands of dollars where a projector can easily do it for a few thousand dollars.

ViewSonic has introduced a new projector aimed at used looking for widescreen resolution and full 1080p image quality. The projector is called the PJ359w and offers 2000 lumens of brightness and a 1280 x 800 WXGA resolution.

If you’re looking to fill your living room wall with HD video, here’s some good news. Epson just launched the PowerLite Cinema 700, a 720p home theater projector that retails for $799. It’s a decent deal, with 2,000 lumens and a 2,000:1 contrast ratio. It’s all ready to gift to yourself this holiday season via Epson’s online store, but at the moment it appears to be sold out. Hopefully they’ll have some more in stock soon. In this economy, that’s a great price to fill your wall with HD video.

Those who tote around a portable projector for presentations will appreciate this one. Connecting to your computer with a VGA or DVI cable is very clumsy. The great advantage of the Epson EX70 is that you can connect via a USB cable. There are maybe one or two other projectors that can do this. If you want that convenience, check out the Epson EX70 for $799. You’ll like the fact that a USB cable is pretty easy to carry with you rather then a DVI or VGA cable. It makes setting things up a breeze.

The WXGA 1,280 by 800 resolution will go good with widescreen notebooks and the EX70 is easy to carry around. You can even show presentations without a computer, using an SD card or a USB drive. All of the ports are easily identified. Even a monkey could do it.

Many of us remember when projectors were bulky things the size of a suitcase. Not anymore. Now they are phone sized. NTT Docomo is getting into the act too. They unveiled a prototype cell phone that doubles as a video projector and demonstrated it at CEATEC JAPAN 2008. The projector would give you a 20-inch image from a distance of about 80 centimeters and roughly 100 minutes of viewing time, which is enough to watch TV shows, podcasts and short films, if not 2 hour movies.

Red, green and blue LEDs are used as the light source. Pixel count is 480 × 320 (HVGA), and its luminance is 7.5lm. The power consumption is about 3W. The company plans to have a working version of the device ready for market in about three years. The way the tech in these projector phones is shaping up, I wouldn’t be surprised if it took half that time.

If you have ever worked with your laptop on an airplane, bus or in another crowded area you have probably glanced up to see someone nearby looking at whatever you are working on. This may not be a big deal if you are sitting at Starbucks writing, we all know you have to be seen writing to be a writer. However, if you are working on something confidential, nosey people can be a big problem.

Dell has addressed this problem for users of its Latitude E6400 notebook. Dell has announced that it is now offering software with the notebooks that reduces the viewing angles of the screen to keep people from the side from being able to read what is on the screen.

If you want a really big picture for your home theater, there are several ways to go about it. You can spend tens of thousands on a really big LCD of plasma TV screen. That’s far outside the capability of most of us. Or you can opt for a projector and get about 100-inches or more of home theater goodness.

Sanyo has announced a new projector called the PLV-Z3000 that would make for a great home theater. The Z3000 can throw an image 100-inches from 10 to 20 feet away from the screen. The projector also features the first utilization of 5:5 pull down that allows users to watch broadcast TV and more in movie theater quality.

When Moti Barzilay had to design something iconic in the Apple universe of products, something he felt was missing, the iShow was the end result. It’s a portable projector designed for Apple’s line of iPods, iPhones, and MacBooks.

The body turns on when you pull the two discs apart to reveal a pico projector and some ports. The projection system is LED based. Not very many details other then that, but since it’s a concept we can hope for HD resolution and the ability to roll itself around and take a charge by becoming a yo-yo and offering up some nice tricks with the string. That would be something to see Steve Jobs play with on stage.

If I had the space in my house, I would definitely prefer to have a projector set up rather than a normal HDTV. With a projector, you can get a giant size HD image that you can’t get with a LCD or plasma TV, short of spending $100k.

Sony has introduced a pair of new home theater projectors at CEDIA in Denver. One of the projectors is high-end and intended for custom installations. The custom install projector is called the VPL-VW70. It has a 60,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 800 ANSI lumens of brightness. It can also use an optional Anamorphic lens to provide large screen sizes with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The VW70 will retail for $8,000.

Epson announced their latest addition to the MovieMate line up, the MovieMate 55. The 55 model will have the same WVGA (854 x 480) resolution as the 50 model, but with a brighter 1200 ANSI lumens. The MovieMate 55 will also have a built-in DVD player inside the projector, which will play standard DVDs and CDs. If you want HD quality you can connect an external player.

It’s able to display an image up to 150 inches, diagonally, from a projection distance of less than 15 feet, making it an ideal portable to take movie night with you wherever you go. It also sports 8 watt stereo speakers with Dolby 5.1 Digital DTS technology for the best sound possible. The MovieMate 55 is already available for purchase on the Epson website and will retail for $699.

It’s no R2-D2 projector clock, but Coby’s CR-A78 alarm clock is pretty cool in it’s own right, having kind of a 2001/Robot head with a laser look. In addition to the built-in projector that creates a virtual red LED time display on the targeted surface, the clock also has an AM/FM tuner, music alarm option, and a timer function. When I first saw this I thought the price would be expensive, but it’s only a very cheap $13.50. This one will fit right in with all of your other Futuristic looking gadgets.

Another day, another R2-D2 doo-dad to clutter up our lives. We’ll add this one to the droid dossier we’re compiling on the little guy. And for once, R2’s dome is intact and not decapitated. Just barter with some Jawas, bring this clock home to the moisture farm and have him project the time onto your wall.

At least having the time projected onto your wall makes it easy to see at night, plus you don’t have any shelf space left since your shelves have become a landing pad for Star Wars vehicles. The R2-D2 Projection Alarm Clock from Wesco Limited will be released in October and can now be pre-ordered. Should you be cleaning him one day with a screwdriver, just ignore any holographic messages he plays. Because the hot chick is probably your sister anyway and it will all lead to a lot of planet hopping, Jedi training and bad prequels. Wouldn’t you rather just kick back and have some blue milk?