Toshiba's "short-throw" TDP-EW25U projector still requires three feet

It's amazing what a breakthrough does for perception (and competition), eh? Shortly after taking a look at the impressive PLC-XL50 from Sanyo, Toshiba has announced an "extreme short projection" offering of its own. This one, however, requires three whole feet in order to toss up a 60-inch image, which seems sort of ridiculous compared to the three inches needed by the aforementioned Sanyo. To its credit, the TDP-EW25U does boast a higher resolution (1,280 x 800), and it also features a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, DLP technology, 2,600 ANSI lumens, USB / RS-232 ports, integrated 802.11b/g WiFi, VGA, a built-in mono speaker and jacks for audio input. You'll also find password protection and a bundled remote, which may or may not push you to throw down $2,369 to claim one as your own.

[Via AboutProjectors]

[Joe @ Jan 10th 2008 6:52PM]

while 3 inches is impressive, 3 feet is by no means a huge amount of space. And with a better resolution for less money, this seems like the better buy.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Jan 10th 2008 7:11PM]

Absolutely. I can see this one making its way into k-12 education (we pay about $1500 for each of our projectors as it is , and the county gets huge discounts.

[EL @ Jan 10th 2008 11:12PM]

Samsungs's 31" Oled HDTV...** drools **

[Daniel @ Jan 11th 2008 4:17AM]

Just bought this projector and had a chance to try it's features, I would not compare it to the Sanyo PLC-XL50 though. The Sanyo seems similar to the NEC WT series, with some complicated mirror magic. The Thoshiba TDP-EW25U is more of a conventional projector with a special DLP panel and wide angle lens. I have not had a chance to play with the Sanyo, but the NEC does not produce an undistorted rectangular image as nice as the Toshiba's (due to the mirrors, so I would guess the same goes for the Sanyo too - although I'm not sure about that). So if you are not limited to a super-short projection space, I think the Toshiba is a better value for money. Just keep in mind that due to the wide-angle lens, it does not have an optical zoom, which means you have to calculate image size and projection distance before mounting this projector. Also, it's quite bulky and heavy compared to those nice portable business projectors and it does not feature DVI inputs (VGA only). But apart from that, the combination of contrast, brightness, resolution and throw ratio make this an appealing projector for a lot of setups, especially conference rooms and educational setups (together with it's smaller sibling, the TDP-EX20, it's marketed towards these applications anyways).