SIM2 Home Cinema Projectors CEDIA 2011

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To my understanding, the C3X Lumis has long been the core product group or platform of SIM2. Over the years it seems SIM2 has expanded to fill just about every mid to high end niche you could think of, resulting in these many new series, most with two to five projectors in them.

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The 3D Solo projectors are the latest in the core Lumis C3X line-up, and add 3D to your party. There are three different 3D Solo projectors that support 3D using active glasses, and one projector that uses passive glasses - which is actually a two projector setup. The Lumis 3D-Solo is the base model in this group, so I take it to be the model priced at $38,900. For your almost $40,000 you will receive a well endowed projector.

The 3D Solo has a dynamic iris and creative frame interpolation. They claim 144hz processing of 3D, which I take to be tripling the 24fps, for each eye. That I believe is similar to some 3D cinema projectors. (Don't quote me on that.) Of course there's HDMI 1.4a. From a brightness standpoing, SIM2 publishes "up to 2600 lumens in 2D". That folks is healthy, and should guaranty some respectable 3D brightness on average sized screens. SIM2 talks about their Alphapath optical system, which they claim is the key to making nice, small 3 chip DLP projectors, a good deal smaller - and therefore less noticeable, than their competition. (Besides that, they do look cool!). I'd like nothing better to bring in one of these new 3D capable 3 chippers. With luck SIM2 will spare me one for review, any from this series will do. I still remember the old C3X projector, as my first 3 chip projector review and how I was taken aback by the brightness and depth (and color)...

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Since many of the new SIM2's are 3D capable, The MICO 150 and 160 are 3D, and green. The Mico series (the image to the right is of the existing MICO 60 projector), sport LED light sources. The new MICO 160 offers a 30,000 hour LED light source for illumination, and combines it with 3D capabilities. and single chip performance. The Mico 160 (and also the 150) are 25% brighter than the lower models in the Mico series, with a published 1000 lumens spec. This should do very well in 3D on smaller screens, perhaps to 100" if their rating is realistic. Of course there's plenty of lumens for larger screens in 2D. Contrast is up to an impressive 100,000:1. Remember, a big advantage here, besides not having to change the lamp, is it will be many years before the lightsource does any signficant dimming.

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This one is worth mentioning separately? Destined for a good 2.35:1 widescreen, and no letterboxes, without going anamorphic lens? The Nero 235 is your ticket. And it delivers constant image height. I love how they accomplished this. The heart of the Nero 235 projector is not a 1080p chip or slightly larger (2K), but rather a much larger DLP chip with a 2560x1600 chip. As a result it can use any use the full width, by as much height as it needs, depending on the content resolution. Until manufacturers start cutting 2.35:1 aspect ratio chips and panels for us, this is a clever way to handle the problem. The Nero 235 is a 2D only home theater projector, claiming >10,000:1 contrast, and 2000 lumens.

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The relatively "plain Janes" of the SIM2 line-up, these two projectors are in good old fashioned rectangular boxes. They seem to both be available in black or white, however, many SIM2 projectors can take on a finish to match rooms, or football team logos. Starting at just under $8000, the Crystal 35 is a serious single chip projector with a lot of lumens. Like many of the more expensive SIM2 projectors, the Crystal 35 claims >30,000:1 contrast. I pushes that out with up to 2500 lumens, according to their brochure. The Crystal 35 may be 2D only, but bright projectors intrigue me. 2500 in a single chip DLP isn't something that shows up here, very often. That has my attention, but I won't ask for the Crystal 35 to review. Rather, I have my sight's on bringing in the Crystal 45. It claims the better black levels with their >50,000:1 claim, so let's see what the better one can do. I certainly hope it would at least give the competing Runco projectors a run for the money. We've reviewed a couple of Lightstyle Runco's of late, and this could prove interesting!