Premiere Design

If you want a really big picture, you need a front projector. But the brightness of any projected image decreases as the screen size increases, and after a certain point, the picture is too dim to be fully satisfying, even in a dark room. Many home-theater projectors can't deliver adequate amounts of light to screens measuring more than, say, 10 feet wide or so, but not the new Force One from Cineversum, which the company claims can light up screens as large as 49 feet wide.

With 1920x1080 resolution, the Force One incorporates a 3-chip DLP imaging engine and dual 200W lamps that pump out up to 6000 ANSI lumens of light. The native full-on/full-off contrast ratio is said to be 2500:1, while a high-performance dynamic iris boosts it to 10,000:1, making this the first consumer projector to achieve a 5-digit ratio on a 49-foot-wide screen. Even more impressive, the ANSI contrast—measured using a white/back checkerboard pattern—is specified at 650:1, much higher than most home-theater projectors can claim.

Four circuit-board slots let you equip the projector with a variety of inputs, including HDMI, DVI, SDI, and analog video. The stock configuration fills two of these slots with an RGB/component input using pro-grade BNC connectors and a dual-input board with DVI and VGA connectors.

As you might surmise, generating such a large image is an expensive proposition—the Force One will set you back $95,000, and that's without a lens. There are several fixed and motorized-zoom lenses available, ranging in price from $15,000 to $19,000, and Cineversum is working on an anamorphic-lens option, though no pricing has been announced yet. In any event, when you include the cost of a large screen, you're deep into six figures, but if you have a huge home theater, this system should provide the ultimate cinematic experience without the sticky floors or rude cell-phone yackers.