Sony Qualia 004 projector-How well does it work?

I like the image from the Qualia 004. It produces blacks that are quite good (not yet the equal of Sony's 9" CRT, but acceptable), and the color is fantastic. The projector itself is quite nice looking and compact compared to some of the 3 chip DLPs I've seen.

The big negative, to me, is the really high cost of replacing the Xenon bulb (I suppose this bulb is part of the reason the color is so good). I believe the projector now comes with an extra bulb, but still, a bulb that costs around $3,000 and lasts only a little longer than 1,000 hrs is hard to swallow. Not an every day use kind of machine.

I have been considering the Qualia 006 rear projection set that uses the same three chip LCoS light engine as the 004. It looked fantastic at shows using bluray sources. In the shop that I did a preliminary audition, it looked good with DVD sources, but I was just a bit troubled by motion artifacts (primarily jerky motion on pans). Still, it is the best RPTV I've ever auditioned.

Fact is Film has motion artifacts a limitation of its 24 frames per second.

Qualia is the best projector on the market that cost less than a new BMW M3.

As I mentioned on another thread the combination of the Immersive Technology Simmetry and the Qualia makes for a picture that is peerless with an ordinary DVD. I don't sell either of these components but the facts are the facts.

It's simply the best, with no exceptions. If I had your money this isn't even a decision to make, can you afford it is the only obstacle, and you can expect to get a very long life out of this projector before an obvious upgrade becomes available since Sony is still refining the software to allow the full resolution input.

I visited with a Sony representative today. I questioned if this unit was possed for an upgrade soon. The rep said that she heard sony was going to go to the 1080p chip set this fall. I told her what my interest was and time table and she agreed to find out specificaly when this unit would be ready for sale. She called back after attending a sales meeting and said she had been mistaken that there were no immediate plans to show-case this new unit. I guess we may find out this September at the Indiana CEDIA show. Has anyone heard differant? Of course this sony representative said there was no need to add a processing unit.

Cinematic_systems how much is the Immersive Technology Simmetry processing unit?

I think $7K or $8K, but I am not sure.

Give Immersive a call is the only thing I can tell you.

That 1080P chip has been on the horizon for awhile. I'm not sure anyone knows to be fair to the rep.

A single chip option vs the 3-chip Qualia. Is there any single chip HD front projector out their worth looking at in place of the higher cost Qualia 004?