New Epson LS12000 launch
Epson is not one simply to bring out iterative updates of its projectors, so when a major new model arrives, you can expect something special. The new Pro Cinema LS12000 4K PRO-UHD laser projector certainly makes such promises, with the company calling it “possibly our best Pro Cinema Projector ever”, and running it under a slogan of “Theatre. Redefined.”
The ‘laser’ component of its name indicates an all-new Laser Array Light Source, using true multi-array laser diodes to power the 3-chip 3LCD Projector Engine, achieving 2700 lumens of both white and colour brightness. The three individual LCD chips continuously display 100% of the RGB colour signal for every frame, and no rainbow effect. Full 10-bit HDR colour processing uses 100% of the HDR source information to faithfully reproduce HDR, HDR10+ and HLG content, while refresh rates up to 120Hz allow for smoother motion for supported games content while providing the option for frame interpolation for content below 120Hz.
In charge of such processing is Epson’s most advanced video processing technology to date, the proprietary 36-bit Epson ZX Picture
Processor; this handles real-time colour, contrast, HDR, frame interpolation and resolution enhancement.
Resolution is quoted as UHD (3840×2160), though this uses Epson’s 4K PRO-UHD method of pixel-shifting panels of an unstated lower resolution to deliver the final UHD pixel count. Rather than the flipping micromirrors of DLP, this uses a digitallycontrolled ‘Precision Shift Glass Plate’ to precisely refract pixel light to multiple positions on the screen.
The glass is also impressive, with the Epson VRX Cinema Lens having a proprietary 15-element precision glass structure designed for zero-light leakage, high image clarity and edge-to-edge focus uniformity.
Gaming is supported at up to 4K at 120 frames per second with input lag times below 20 millseconds, and the HDMI inputs have eARC support. Finally, this being Epson, there is great attention to all-of-life eco features, including recyclability and RoHS compliance.
The Epson Pro Cinema LS12000 4K PRO-UHD laser projector launches with an RRP of $8999. For more information visit www.epson.com.au
TV releases from Samsung include six new 8K Neo QLED models and 13 4K Neo QLED models, another 12 standard QLED TVs, six ‘Crystal UHD’s, and upgraded lifestyle ‘Frame’ models too. The replacement for our current top Sound+Image award-winning 8K TV is the $7999 QA75QN900BWXXY pictured above (the 75-inch Q900B for short), with an 85-incher at $11,999 and a 65-incher at $5799. Those prices are significantly down from last year’s launches, when the 75-inch was closer to this year’s 85-inch price, yet the new models gain an updated Neo Quantum Processor which introduces a new Shape Adaptive Light technology that the company says can “analyse lines, shapes and surfaces and control the shape of light from the advanced Quantum Mini LED backlight, maximising the brightness and accuracy of shapes on the screen”. A ‘Real Depth Enhancer’ “processes an object on the screen against its background to create a sense of depth”, while the built-in light sensor now adds local sunset/sunrise information in efforts to optimise light and tone. There’s also 14-bit HDR processing over the 2021 models’ 12-bit, though the TVs support only 10-bit HDR as an input, Samsung confirming to us that the processor is then “upsclling from HDR 10-bit content upwards”, to produce the resulting 16,384 levels of grayscale.
Audio is also upgraded, supporting Dolby Atmos with upwards- and side-firing speakers on the TV itself, and able to send Dolby Atmos wirelessly to one of Samsung’s 2022 soundbars. Samsung confirms the audio bitrate of the Wireless Atmos at 1.68Mbps, “safely covering Dolby Atmos DDPlus content”, it notes, with “between -45ms~132ms regular AV latency between TV/Soundbar when connected wirelessly, regardless of Atmos” and “automatically adjusted with no setting required by the consumer”.
An interesting addition to all Samsung’s Smart TVs this year is the ability to calibrate colours using a “compatible smartphone”. A basic mode will calibrate the screen within 30 seconds, while Professional mode further optimises the screens over 10 minutes or so.
Other innovations include “cutting-edge anti-glare and anti-reflection technology” added to new models of The Frame, The Serif and The Sero; there’s also an Auto Rotating Wall Mount and Stand for the Sero to service a new vertical viewing mode. More info: www.samsung.com.au
Portugal-based artnovian has made a specialty of pushing the boundaries of acoustic engineering while also delivering solutions that don’t look as if you’ve stuck eggboxes all over the walls. Your custom installer will likely select the precise solutions needed in any particular room to deliver the best acoustic experience, but at a recent online event artnovian introduced a new Cinema Series, part of an effort to simplify its residential and hi-fi solutions into two new ranges: Home Cinema & Media Rooms, and Hi-Fi & Living Rooms. The latter retains artnovian’s standard acoustic solutions of hybrid panels, custom prints and different flavours of diffusion. The new Home Cinema & Media Room collection — some of it pictured above — will launch as a modular panel system with four core types: an absorber, a diffuser, a bass trap, and a speaker core, all with with different designs that can be changed and swapped. These, along with new wood, lacquer, weave and suede finishes, should reach Australia around July, via the distributor here, Cogworks. Info: cogworks.io