Home theater in a box 2.0

Home theater isn't exactly a simple concept, so a few years ago, someone came up with something called home theater in a box, or HTIB. One box, one home-theater setup, everything included, even color-coded speaker cable--crappy speaker cable but speaker cable nonetheless.

A brilliant idea, indeed. It made things easy for consumers who didn't know--or want to know--about all the components that went into a home-theater setup. And it was good for stores such as Best Buy that could cull their inventory and consolidate catalog offerings. For better or worse--audiophiles would argue the latter--it made a complicated concept relatively simple, though hookup and placement of rear-channel speakers still seems a vexing problem for many.

The only problem is that something was missing. Sure, many home-theater-in-a-box systems offer a video source (a DVD player), but the display device (a TV) isn't included. It just doesn't fit in the box.

Well, that's about to change. A couple of years ago, just as plasmas and other thin-screen models began to take off, I wrote a column extolling the virtues of a front-projection system, which is still the most cost-effective "big-screen" TV on the market on a price-per-inch basis, so long as you have a room that can be made dark. Also, it has a very high Wife Acceptance Factor--so long as you don't end up sitting in the aforementioned darkened room playing Halo 2 with your buddies for hours on end.

With prices for a reasonably decent home-theater projector dipping below $2,000, the market is definitely going mainstream. But a handful of manufacturers are trying to get there faster with all-in-one projector systems that include built-in DVD players and speakers. They call it Instant Theater. Stick the box on a coffee table, plug it in, insert a DVD, and you have Jiffy Pop home theater. Any wall will do, though a nice, high-contrast screen is preferable.

We recently received RadioShack's Cinego D-1000 Instant Theater, a $1,300 DLP projector that comes with a built-in DVD player and two integrated speakers, as well as a small external subwoofer. HP has something similar, the Instant Cinema Digital Projector ep9010, and Optoma's about to ship the MovieTime DV10, which it describes as a digital DVD projector. The company says that the advantage its model has over the RadioShack Cinego is that its DVD player is connected via digital rather than analog circuitry to the projector. It also has an optical audio output so that you can connect the projector to a 5.1-surround system if you have one on hand. It will cost around $1,500.

All these projectors use DLP technology. So far, we've only fiddled around with the RadioShack Cinego, which--like Optoma's MovieTime--offers 854x480 EDTV resolution. That's short of true 1,280x720 HD resolution, but it can accept and display an HD signal, as does the more expensive HP (about $1,800), which offers better--but still short of HD quality--800x600 resolution.

As its name implies, the nearly eight-pound Cinego is not meant to be permanently installed. You pull it out when you want to watch a movie or play a game (it has component as well as RGB/VGA inputs, so you can hook up a game console or computer) and stick it back in the closet when you're through. Or, of course, you can take it over to a friend's house or anywhere else for that matter.

Performance? Well, it's nothing to shout about. Videophiles will be horrified, but the average consumer is probably going to be reasonably impressed. The picture is a bit soft, black levels--the inkiness of blacks--and color accuracy are mediocre, and the lighter areas of the picture experience the phenomenon known as white crush (lack of details in whites). But the picture's big--really big. The Cinego managed to fill our 106-inch Da-Lite screen with a bright enough image of Spider Man 2, which is an accomplishment unto itself and sure to wow those with less-discerning eyes.

Sound quality? Hmmm. I'm trying to think of something nice to say. I guess if you're OK with listening to a movie on your computer's speaker, you're going to think the sound is fine. But let me put it to you this way: we turned off the little subwoofer and the sound quality improved dramatically. That isn't saying a whole lot, but the sound is there, and the film experience is immersive enough. Furthermore, the Cinego has two fail-safe options: a headphone jack and a coaxial 5.1-channel output, for connecting to an external surround-sound system.

So no rave review for the Cinego D-1000, but the concept is good. The elements are there, but the execution is just a little off; someone needs to just get it right. A little better picture, a lot better sound (perhaps throw in some virtual/faux surround for good measure), a similar price tag, and you got something.

It'll happen. DLP chips are only improving and dropping in price with each generation, and companies that have decent track records with projector technology will eventually step up. I expect better things from the HP and the Optoma models, and perhaps down the line, those and other companies will team up with audio manufacturers to come up with decently performing built-in speakers, similar to the tiny ones found in CD microsystems from Bose, Boston Acoustics, and Polk Audio.

So stay tuned. This is home theater in a box 2.0. And it's going to get better.

Editor's note: We'll have reviews of all three systems in the coming weeks.