While we're still approaching that tipping point between PCs as PCs, and PCs as ready-to-go appliances, it's nice to see a product come along that not only claims but deserves to have the word instant in its name.
The HP Instant Cinema ep9012 is one of the quickest projectors we've seen to go from power-on to image thrown (not a boot-up screen), with a time of around 30 seconds until she's ready. The real 'instant' in the Instant Cinema's name however refers to everything else this DLP projector contains.
This is the very first all-in-one projector we've ever seen, as the housing contains not just a decent home cinema projector, but also stereo speakers with separate subwoofer in the base, plus the [I]piece de resistance[/I]: a DVD player. Plonk the ep9012 down in the lounge room on the coffee table, plug in the power, and you're off and running. Hence, instant.
The unit has a scalloped, pearl white curved design that suits the lounge well, but a drawback is the entire unit's size. It's quite large, standing at 32 x 52.4 x 40cm (H x W x D) but is surprisingly quiet. The whole unit comes with a carry handle on the rear so it can be moved around, but a word of warning -- it isn't exactly portable. Weighing in at 10Kg without cords and accessories, this isn't something you can chuck in a backpack or even lug down the street comfortably, but when you consider it's a projector, DVD player and speaker system in one it's not so bad.
The other downside to the ep9012 which I keep coming back to is the price. At just shy of five grand it's quite expensive. Does the projector plus DVD player plus 2.1 stereo really equal $4999? Maybe, although the point of the ep9012 is that the entire unit is a self-contained system, and as such is exceptionally convenient. It saves an enormous amount of faffing about with cables and speaker set-ups, and is ready to go in under a minute.
But how does this enormous all-in-one perform? The projector itself is quite respectable, with a high 1600:1 contrast ratio compensating a little for the 840cd/m2 brightness. While the unit's standard resolution is 800 x 600 it can take anywhere from 640 x 480 to 1024 to 748, and is capable of throwing an image sized from 94cm to 280cm diagonally at a distance of a meter to ten meters. It's also 16:9 capable (by letterboxing) and can also display 4:3 inputs.
The DVD player is a standard system, and is locked to region 4. A good thing is that there are websites out there that allow you to change the device's firmware to allow for multi-region DVD playback and more. This is performed by inserting a burnt disc into the drive tray -- it's obviously not HP sanctioned, but apparently it won't void the warranty if you choose to unlock the regionality (DARREN PLEASE CONFIRM -- 'APPARENTLY' SCARES ME).
The DVD player supports many formats including MP3 CD, and is 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS compliant. This is handy because the unit only comes with stereo speakers but features a digital coaxial output for 5.1 surround.
The integrated audio is quite good for what it is however. It's remarkably clear, and omni-directional even though it's 2.1. Having the subwoofer in the base of the unit keeps the pounding bass from wobbling the projector around when the audio gets heavy, and the side mounted speakers do a good job of throwing the audio about as there are two speakers per channel (one angled toward the front, the other the rear).
All up it's a great projector, a good speaker setup, a good DVD player, and possibly the finest way to get your home theatre mobile in one extremely funky unit. But the price just brings me up short every time.