The Vivitek H1080FD front projector TV
(click to enlarge)
Photo: Vivitek

We just finished testing two new 1080p front projectors that sell for less than $1,000, a breakthrough for this type of projector: the Optoma HD20 and the Vivitek H1080FD. We’ve been dying to get our hands on them since last summer, when we first blogged about them. Well, it was worth the wait.

Both projectors offer a lot of bang for the buck. That’s especially true of the Optoma, which delivered very good to excellent HD picture quality, with top-notch detail and extremely accurate colors. Two minor gripes: Black levels could have been a bit stronger, and we saw minor jaggies with 1080i film-based content.

The Vivitek did respectably, with very good HD picture quality, but it didn’t quite match the Optoma for brightness, color, contrast, and resolution. Its black levels were also good but not great. You really need a very dark room for this unit. However, it was quieter than the Optoma, with better connectivity and accessories such as a carrying bag and cables for home theater on the go. It also has a small built-in speaker for monitoring audio, a nice touch. Both projectors came with nice, illuminated remotes.

If you want to spend two to three times as much, you can get a projector with truly excellent picture quality, brighter images, stronger contrast, and deeper black levels. You’d probably get a better zoom lens and a horizontal and/or vertical lens shift, features that let you move the projector closer to or farther from the screen and center the image. But the Optoma and Vivitek are smaller, lighter, and more portable than the big boys, and offer a very satisfying viewing experience for the price.

There’s one issue that could be a deal-breaker for some viewers. Like any single-chip DLP projector, these two models are susceptible to the rainbow effect, an annoying flash of color some people notice mainly when moving their eyes across bright objects on a dark background. It isn’t obvious to everyone, but one noticed, it can be very annoying. Our tester saw it somewhat on the Optoma; on the Vivitek it was very noticeable and distracting in some scenes. If you’re among those bothered by this (it drives me crazy, personally), you’d be better off with a more expensive DLP projector that uses three chips, as do LCD and LCoS models, none of which produce rainbows.

Check out our TV Buying Guide, free to all visitors, for more advice on front projectors in general.

—Eileen McCooey

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Combing through hundreds of blog posts and news articles daily, Dirk Klingner, our technology-trend watcher, sifts through the noise to bring you the tech news most important to consumers. If you have a tip on a story you want to share, leave a comment below.

Google Is About To Get Caffeinated With A Faster Search Index (TechCrunch)

…When Caffeine does roll out, what can you expect? Most people won’t even notice. The look and feel of Google results won’t change. Caffeine is an under-the-hood upgrade to Google’s search index algorithms. But it will significantly speed up how fast Google can present results, especially across different media types such as photos and videos.

SMS on Wheels: CarPong Is Vehicle-to-Vehicle Messaging (ReadWriteWeb)

…CarPong is a fun an innovative idea that allows users to send messages to other drivers by using their car's license plate number. Like blog commenting for vehicles, this service lets drivers write messages to other drivers, read what others have said about them and search for notes about other drivers. It's an interesting way to make our cars - and the people in them - a lot more connected in real life, and it just might work.

Rambler Socket tucks a recoiling extension cable, pinch of genius within your AC outlet (engadget)

…Put simply, the Rambler Socket is an in-wall box that contains 1.5 meters of extra cabling along with a traditional AC outlet.

Chimps Master First Step in Controlling Fire (LiveScience)

…The apes were experts at predicting where the fire would go, Pruetz noted. "I could predict it, sort of, but if it were just me, I would have left," she said. "At one time, I actually had to push through them because I could feel the heat from the fire that was on the side of me and I just wasn't that comfortable with it."

Alcohol substitute that avoids drunkenness and hangovers in development (Telegraph)

…Finally because it is much more focused in its effects, it can also be switched off with an antidote, leaving the drinker immediately sober.

It ain't half snuggly, Mum! The ground-breaking pictures of animals capturing life in the womb (MailOnline)

…For the first time ever, we can follow the embryonic journey of four different animals: our kangaroo, the lemon shark, the Emperor penguin, and the parasitic wasp. And one of the most jaw-dropping sequences is a glimpse of the joey just before he is born - a mass of kicking legs and punching arms, raring to go. It is a staggeringly ambitious project, and one that has taken several years to make. As Jeremy Dear, head of development at Pioneer Productions, puts it, 'Illustrating what goes on inside a living creature involves the very latest digital technology and innovative filming, combined with anatomically accurate models, to create the impression of really being in the womb.'

Lighter Side: Video: The Making of "Avatar" Bootleg (WorstPreviews)

I bought several electronics items as gifts within the past few weeks, as I’m sure many of you did. Today, I just saved $10 on one of them. Here’s how.

I purchased a wireless router at Best Buy on Christmas Eve, and confirmed that it falls under the Best Buy price-match policy (which differs for retail stores and the company’s Web site, by the way). If I find the same product at a lower price within the exchange and return period, either at the Best Buy Web site or a qualified local retailer, they’ll refund the difference. The time period varies by product, so make sure you’re still within the allotted time.

Today, I found the same router on BestBuy.com is selling for $10 less than I paid in the store. I’ll stop by the store with my original receipt and a copy of the Web page today or tomorrow, while the sale price is still in effect; otherwise I’m out of luck. While $10 is not a lot of money these days, it’ll pay for lunch or a new CD or a movie ticket.

You could be looking at much bigger savings on pricier items, so take a minute to see what they’re selling for now at the store you patronized and its Web site, as well as major competitors in the area. And make sure you don’t toss those receipts. They could be worth a few bucks.

—Eileen McCooey