Mark Henninger

This year at CEDIA Sony had a huge booth containing three home theater demo rooms. There’s the mega-system with the VPL-GTZ380, which I describe in this post. But that projector’s $80,000 price point and 10,000-lumen output are beyond what most home theater owners want to spend or need in terms of output. However, the company is quick to point out that in terms of how the image is created—with three of its new 4K-native 2160 x 3840 resolution SXRD chips its Z-Phosphor light source, and the X1 Ultimate for projector processor—the three new laser models share the same hardware with the big pro model.

Samsung’s MS1A is a 110” 4K micro-LED TV. It uses the same direct-view LED technology as modular, professional video walls that are used for billboards, giant video displays like you see in sports arenas, and super high-end home theaters. What Samsung has done is shrunk the LEDs to the point where 4K worth of pixels fits in a 110” screen and packaged it as a TV, no assembly required.

The highlight of my visit to Sony’s booth at CEDIA 2022 consisted of a high-powered demo session in a blacked-out theater, featuring the 10,000-lumen VPL-GTZ380 4K projector featuring Sony’s own SXRD three-chip projection technology as well as the X1 Ultimate for Projector processor.

The custom installation industry is squarely aimed at affluent customers willing to pay the price of early adoption. So, it is perhaps fitting that LG chose CEDIA 2022 to mark the U.S. debut of its G2 97” OLED. This epic TV brings a home theater-like viewing experience to any room and offers image quality that even the most advanced home theater projectors will struggle to emulate.