By: Thomas J. Norton,
UltimateAVmag.com, June 2008
Although Planar has a significant presence in the video-display business, it's relatively new to the home-theater market. The company first popped up a couple of years ago at a major trade show with some intriguing prototypes. Since then, it has expanded its home-theater resume by acquiring Runco and Vidikron, and all three brands maintain their separate identities under the Planar umbrella.
The Planar brand is aimed at more budget-conscious home-theater consumers. As the company's top-of-the-line projector, I would hardly call the $8000 PD8150 "budget," but both Runco and Vidikron offer far more pricey products.
Those upmarket nameplates are most often found in custom installations, while Planar's market includes the buy-it, unpack-it, and install-it-yourself crowd—which, I suspect, describes many of UAV's readers.
Features
The PD8150 certainly sports an eye-catching design, with its smoothly rounded, glossy black case. A matching, detachable cover retains the shapely look while concealing the input panel and cables at the back.
The standard zoom lens has a relatively long throw (see Specifications), but a shorter-throw lens is available as a $799 option. Both focus and zoom are manual, as are vertical and horizontal lens shift.
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