Mock-up of Sony's new compact camera
with an interchangeable lens.

Although this has been a quiet PMA camera trade show, Sony created quite a bit of buzz with its announcement Sunday that it would produce a new interchangeable lens camera and lens system this year.

Few details were given at its press conference, but one of its top executives did present a mock-up of the new product for a segment of the market he called untouched and a huge business opportunity: The diminutive camera, similar to the Samsung NX10 that was announced at CES in January, that will include an APS-sized sensor and is destined to go head-to-head with the Micro Four-thirds cameras from Panasonic and Olympus. Sony also mentioned it would offer three lenses this year for this new camera.

The new Sony models (available in red, blue and silver) were compact, yet offer SLR-quality stills, plus the ability to shoot video in the AVCHD format. That’s the video format Sony’s hard-drive and flash-memory camcorders use.

At the moment, no Sony Alpha SLRs can shoot HD video. However, that, too, will be changing: At the same press conference, Sony unveiled two new SLRs that will be hitting the market this year. One is a mid-range SLR, which appears to be a successor to the a700, the other a more-consumer, entry-level model. As if to assure the crowd of Sony’s commitment to its SLR system, Sony also presented two new lenses for its SLRs, a 500mm and 24mm. No prices, specs or availability dates of availability were mentioned.

With Sony throwing its hat into the mirrorless SLR-like ring, it’s looking like this year might be the year interchangeable compacts connect with consumers. Do you agree or disagree? Weigh in below.

—Terry Sullivan

If you’ve ever hankered for a home theater with a jumbo screen, now is a great time to buy. A front projector gives you by far the biggest picture you can get, easily 100 inches or larger, making a 58-inch plasma TV look positively Lilliputian. And prices have dropped drastically over the past few years, while quality has climbed, so you get more bang for the buck than ever.

For about $2,000, you can now buy a projector that produces a 100-inch-plus high-definition picture with excellent quality rivaling that of a flat-panel TV half that size. And for as little as $1,000, you can enjoy a very good picture with full HD 1080p resolution on a giant screen. That’s a switch from the recent past, when most mainstream-priced projectors had 720p resolution.

Many of the modles in our latest Ratings of front projectors (available to subscribers) produced satisfyingly bright, detailed high-definition images, though they varied in their ability to produce deep black levels, high contrast, and accurate colors. The top-rated projector had the best picture quality and deepest blacks we've ever seen from a consumer-grade projector and scored as highly as the best flat-panel TVs we’ve tested.

The setup might not be as daunting as you fear. You can simply put the projector on a table and use a basic screen or a wall for the projection surface, then hide everything away when the show’s over. You don’t have to get into ceiling mounts and hidden wiring unless you want to.

Because projectors have no TV tuner, you have to get your TV signals from a cable, satellite, or phone-company receiver—but you probably do that with your LCD or plasma TV anyway. You’ll want to connect a Blu-ray player, of course, and you’ll also need to hook up speakers (via a receiver), since few projectors have any. But we’d recommend a sound system for serious movie-watching even with a flat panel, to do justice to the surround sound with HD programming and Blu-ray and DVD movies.

There are a few considerations, like room lighting. You need a very dark room to enjoy optimal picture quality, so a projector might be better suited to movie nights than to everyday use. You might have to invest in blackout shades if you want to use it during the daytime. A few of our resident experts reserve projectors for movies, major sporting events, or special TV programs, but use plasma TVs for routine viewing.

Another important point: The DLP models we tested, like many in the market, use a single-chip design with a spinning color wheel, so they are subject to the so-called rainbow effect. Some viewers might perceive momentary flashes of color when viewing certain image content, which can be annoying, but others might not discern them so readily. Neither LCD nor LCoS projectors are susceptible to rainbows.

So if you’re serious about TV watching, it might be worth checking out a projector setup.

—Eileen McCooey

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Related: TV Ratings and buying tips; Computer Ratings and buying tips; Pocket camcorder guide; DVD & Blu-ray player Ratings and buying tips.

Neither Consumer Reports nor The Consumerist receive anything in
exchange for featuring these deals; the posts are intended to be purely
informational. These deals are often fleeting, with prices changing or
products becoming unavailable as the day progresses.

These posts are not an endorsement of the featured products or
the Web sites that sell them—though some of the sites may be included,
and recommended, in our Ratings of retailers for computers and other major electronics (both available to subscribers). Price shouldn't be your only criterion. Be wary of lower-priced deals that seem too good to be true, and check return policies for restocking fees and other gotchas.

For general buying advice for many of the products on sale above, check out our free Buying Guides.

The big camera trade show, PMA, started today, and three manufacturers have announced new products to kick things off. Here's a quick rundown:

Samsung
This brand leads the pack with a small laundry list of products: four point-and-shoots, two camcorders and a whopping five new lenses for its NX, SLR-like models. Of the cameras, I found two quite interesting:

The 12-megapixel AQ100, $200, is a 5x zoom point-and-shoot that’s waterproof (to a depth of 10 feet), with a 2.7-inch LCD and HD-resolution video, though it doesn’t appear to be shockproof or freezeproof.

Then there's the 10-megapixel TL350, $350, also 5x zoom, with a 24mm wide angle lens, plus the ability to fire 10 frames per second, shoot 1080p HD-resolution video, and capture RAW shots. It also has a large, 3-inch AMOLED LCD.

The two pocket camcorders—HMX-U20, $250, and HMX-U15, $230, both shoot 1080p HD-resolution video. The U20 shootings 10-megapixel stills, the U15 shoots 14-megapixels. Both can record time-lapse stills, too, every one, five, 10, or 30 seconds. The U20 has a 3x zoom as well.

On the show floor, I hope to also get a good look at the five NX lenses Samsung just announced for its new Micro Four-thirds camera.

Sony
Of the two point-and-shoots announced by Sony, the subcompact is more noteworthy: The Cybershot DSC-TX5, $350, with a 4x zoom, is waterproof, freezeproof, and shockproof. It has a 3-inch LCD and also includes HDR technology like that on other point-and-shoots and SLRs. HDR could be quite useful underwater, where there is often minimal dynamic range due to the lack of light.

HP returns
Now back in the camera game, HP just announced five new entry-level digital cameras. And they appear to be expanding into another imaging area with three new camcorders, all priced at $200 or less. This is the first time in more than two years that HP has offered new cameras.

Of course, the big absence at the show is Canon, which chose to show only at CES. So there should be a bit more floor space at this year’s PMA, since Canon usually has a monster-size booth. But it will be interesting to see what high-end cameras and micro four-thirds like cameras (if any) other companies debut here.

For example, will Nikon update the Nikon D700 with video? Will Sony announced a micro four-thirds type model? Keep coming back for my updates, here on the Consumer Reports Electronics blog.

Got a wish list for this year's new cameras? Post your ideas below.

–Terry Sullivan