All-In-One Home Entertainment Projectors

Toshiba ET-20 - a new entry - claim to fame is that it has a very, very, short throw lens so can be placed only a few feet back from the screen (or white wall). Speakers built in, DVD player is technically optional, but I expect it will be hard to find the ET20 without the DVD player. Note, 3M also offers an all-in-one, that is essentially identical to the Toshiba ET-20.

Click to Enlarge. So close.

I just finished reviewing the ET20. While it may not be the ultimate in performance (none of these is a hands down winner in picture quality). In my opinion, the Toshiba is the common sense purchase of the group. When I first unboxed the ET20, I already knew it had a very, very short lens throw (it sits much, much closer to screen than the others). That is a real plus for most buyers of all-in-one home entertainment projector systems because almost anyone can setup a small table near their screen, screen wall, or any old white wall. Positioning a projector further back is normally more challenging for most rooms, and especially for people who plan to use an all-in-one home theater projector in multiple rooms.

The Epson is extremely well built, like the Toshiba, with a much more solid feel than the Optoma MovieTime DV10 (although the prototype DV11 seems to have a significant build quality improvement over the DV10), and the Optoma supports more inputs, including computer an component video, not supported on the earlier Moviemate 25. On the downside for the Epson, it is big and bulky (some have said it looks about the size of a small Microwave oven - wasn't me, though), making it less suitable for folks who want to move it around, or set it up and take it down frequently. The Epson is similar to the Optoma also in that they both have a small subwoofer for it. The Epson, therefore has the advantage of better bass than the Toshiba. The image on the right, taken using the MovieMate, is from "Phantom of the Opera" on HD-DVD.