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It seems that it can be had any where from $2700 to $3000 USD here mail order. I hope some day Jeff can do a review. But I have read enough to be sure that it's quite an upgrade for the 400Q crowd.
One of the old Big Picture 400Q forum members Kronos has bought one.I asked this question on another forum and thought the 400Q members might like to read it!

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I am guessing that having 3 times the lumen must be a big upgrade.
How is the screen door and what do you think of the additional contrast .Also the added resolution must be great . Thanks John

His reply
The extra resolution is really noticeable on HDTV. Whereas HDTV looks fantastic on the 400q due more to the extra clarity in the colors, on the HS-10, you just see so much more detail due to the added resolution. It really has that looking thru a window clarity to it.

As has been reported by others, screendoor is a non issue. I couldn't see screen door from my siting position with the 400q and I certainly can't see it with the HS-10. Sitting 10' from the screen, I could see it with the 400q, but can't see it with the HS-10.

The biggest improvement in picture quality, in my opinion is in shadow detail. I had started to watch a dark movie, "The Panic Room" on my 400q and had to stop watching it. The many dark scenes were frustrating to watch because you could hardly make out any detail. Watching these same scenes on the HS-10 was like watching bright scenes on the 400q. A real night and day difference.

The HS-10 is like a perfect version of the 400q, with all of its deficiencies corrected. In addition to the picture quality improvements, the fan is almost inaudible, a big improvement. Also, the bulb is rated at 3000 hours in cinema black mode. Also, since its a UHP bulb, it still has 90% of its brightness at the end of its life. I think the 400q bulb drops to 90% brightness after only a few hundred hours of operation. I would absolutely recommend it as an upgrade for 400q owners. \\\\End of paste////

The HS-10 Has 1200 Lumen, and 1366 X 768 resolution and accepts 1080I,720P and 480P . So as you can see this seems to be a large improvement over the 400Q. Here is the spec sheet from Sony here
http://products.sel.sony.com/b2b/literature/specsheets/vplhs10.pdf

This sounds very exciting and people are having good luck with HTPC and DVI input. Cheers John

But as you say it is always better to wait and let some of the initial problems get sorted out. It does seem very promising. And the price is a bargain for that level of performance.

Thanks for the reply George. John

That is good news. I guess we just have to follow and see what happens. I remember when the VPL-VW10HT came out. What a flood of reported problems. Seems that a certain percent of them are design and others are people not used to LCD Projectors.I'm not saying Sony is perfect far from it. But having owned an LCD for the last 3 1/2 years has taught me how to put up with most of it's short comings .

I fully expect to see a rash of posts on dust on the panels after several hundred hours of usage in dusty climates. These all have work arounds for me . I can't recall one perfect projector in the last 4 years of reading about them. Happy viewing John

Thanks,

Michael

-Matt

>Are the panels 4:3 or 16:9 native? It was unclear to me from
>the PDF file. If 4:3, what is the effective resolution in
>16x9 mode?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Michael

Hope to dig up the funding as that sounds like such a great upgrade to me. Are you using theatertek DVD player and an ATI card. It was a great improvment for me on the 400Q. John

Re: Throw, I believe it is not as long a throw. I have my 400 about 18 feet on my back wall to get a 52 x 92 inch picture. According to throw distance chart from another site ( if it is correct) the HS 10 will have to be approx 16 feet from the screen to get the same size picture. This does present a problem for my setup as I cannot ceiling mount, but I may be able to get around this by making an extended shelf for the existing backwall setup.

Your comments on blacks and picture quality and fan noise are heartening indeed. This is beginning to sound like the upgrade for me.

Regards,
George

To clarify some things:

The intake is at the bottom of the unit. So putting the unit onto a towel is not such a good idea. Why would one do that anyway (except when you call her Susie ) ?!? It has two exhausts at the front: one for the lamp (left to the lens) and another one (right to the lens). The fan is not so ultra quiet as some say. It's more quiet than the one of the 400q but certainly not whisper quiet as the 11ht.
When it was set-up right behind my head, I already started thinking about replacing the ventilator (ok, I'm one of those guys who built a plexiglas cover and exhaust conduit for the 400q). But when the unit is ceiling mounted, I find it acceptable - like a computer or so. The noise is clearly coming from the wheel bearing of the ventilator, not from the air flow. So replacing it with another type can help (bye bye warranty)

I have about 60h now on the timer and it happened once in the first 10h that the unit shut-down by itself while it was set-up on a table. But not afterwards - even when watching a 4h movie. There's also a "high altitude" setting (for above 1500m) which speeds up the fan. Because the air is thinner at high altitudes, it doesn't cool as efficently as thick city air

I owned a 400q before that unit too. I had the 400q located at the rear wall, zoomed to max and the picture fit barely to my 2.7 meter screen. Same for the HS10.

I'm not suspecting dust to become a real problem. The air conduits appear well done and they used an electrostatic filter which is supposed to hold back even more dust than normal ones.

Comparing the HS10 and 400q is not really fair. But I think the 400q would look like a picture of the HS10 through sunglasses..

I took the plung and ordered a HS-10 after selling my 400Q . I am using the optional long throw lens . The hs10 fit nicely in the enclosure that I used for the 400Q .

Power on and Wow this thing is bright on my 106" HiPower screen. The depth of image <3D> and the detail is unbelieveable !
Can't coment on noise . But you do owe it to yourself to give this unit a look. My whole family is amazed ! johnathan