Hitachi’s CP-RS55 Performa is a groundbreaking product with an estimated street price just under $900. The CP-RS55 was designed to be functional, yet inexpensive. That means you don’t get a zoom lens, and there’s only one component video input through the 15-pin RGB jack.

The on-board audio amplifier is also pretty lean; it’s a single-channel 1-watt design. And of course, the imaging panels have the lowest currently available resolution in LCD projectors-800 x 600 pixels (SVGA).

However, you do get some cool features in this projector, including selectable gamma and color temperature, digital zoom (to compensate for the fixed lens) and beaucoup light output. In fact, the CP-RS55 Performa is rated at 1500 ANSI lumens, which is amazingly bright for a projector this inexpensive.

In my tests, the Performa did better than expected. After calibration for best grayscale image, I measured 1300 ANSI lumens with the lamp in Normal mode. Changing to Whisper mode to reduce fan noise dropped image brightness down to 1058 lumens, still plenty bright. Contrast measured 192:1 average and 298:1 peak, which are outstanding numbers for an LCD projector.

For viewing of computer graphics and progressive-scan (480p) SD content, the Performa really "performa’d!" The projector tracks a clean grayscale after calibration and images were clean and crisp, although the projector is bandwidth limited. Color saturation was about the same as other low-cost LCD projectors. 720p and 1080i HD content show very well on this projector, despite the fact that it has to toss away more than half the picture resolution to fit the available pixels.

The composite video decoding leaves a lot to be desired, with plenty of chroma artifacts and loss of picture detail. De-interlacing is also mediocre; you’ll see scan line and motion artifacts with composite sources. The low native resolution means you’ll also notice the LCD pixel structure with large images, otherwise known as the screen door effect.

Like all other LCD projectors, black levels are high enough to be noticeable in a darkened room. There’s no way you can correct for it other than to select Whisper mode and perhaps use a gray-surface projection screen. It would also be nice if the projector at least had RCA-style component video inputs so you don’t have to use a separate adapter cable (RGB to RCA breakout).