Well hey, maybe it's time to start paying attention to olde tyme projektor machines again: Vivitek's upcoming H1080FD will spit a full 1080p image at whatever size you want, for just a thousand dollars.

The H1080FD burns at 1800 lumens of brightness with a 5000:1 contrast ratio, with HDMI, composite, s-video and component ports. The chip is standard TI stock—the S450— and the entire package is unlikely to get videophiles too sweaty. But that's not the point—the point is that for just a $1000, you can get a 1080p, semi-portable projector that'll throw an image—assuming it's not terrible—that's equivalent to a truly huge TV, without looking like pixelated garbage. At $2,000 just less than a year ago, the 1080p prospect was exciting; at $1000, it's fantastic.

The company's a bit of an unknown quantity to us, but the h1080FD's ultra-high-end LED brother, the H9080FD, sounds pretty great. I'd wait on the reviews for this one—it ships in August—but if it can deliver decent image quality, it might be time to rethink your staunch allegiance to flatscreens. [Vivitek]

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