It's not often that we talk about furniture at HDTVTest, but we’re prepared to make an exception for a company called NorStone. That’s because it has just announced an innovative new “home cinema solution” that’ll make your premium projector appear like a massive TV, before tucking itself away to look like an innocuous small cupboard when not in use.
The product in question is called the NorStone Eden Vision, and it’s designed to facilitate the installation of premium ultra-short-throw projectors that can virtually vanish when they’re not being used, to ensure a minimalist living room aesthetic. It’s essentially a kind of TV unit, but the difference is it comes with an enormous, high contrast and ambient light-rejecting screen made by Lumene that can be rolled up and down when required.
The unit also has space for a soundbar or external speakers, which can be closed away when they’re not needed, and of course there’s ample room to plonk down your UST projector.
NorStone, which made its name developing Hi-Fi racks and projector stands, said the Eden Vision is large enough to accommodate most commercially available UST projectors on the market today, including newer models such as the Hisense PT1 Triple Laser Cinema, Optoma’s UZZ58LV, the Dangbei S7 Ultra Pro, BenQ’s TK705i and Epson’s Pro Cinema LS9000 4K 3LCD Laser Projector to name just a few.
When you’re ready to watch some big-screen movies or TV shows, you simply switch the projector on and grab the remote control to make the screen rise up from the base of the unit. It’s an ideal set up, because ALR screens really do improve the picture quality, making the brightness, contrast and colour depth much more noticeable than if you were projecting an image onto a bare wall. Moreover, the smart material helps to prevent harmful light bouncing off the surface into your eyes, while ambient light is reflected away from you to prevent interference.
The unit comes with a dedicated space for the projector, a soundbar and external speakers, and these can be shut away in compartments even while viewing. That’s because the doors are not made from wood or plastic, but rather a black acoustically transparent fabric that allows the sound to fill the living room unimpeded, without the speakers actually being visible.
Other features include a motorised slider tray that allows for the projector’s position to be adjusted using a remote control – which also controls the projection screen.
The speaker compartments are big enough to accommodate most models, being 460mm high x 400mm deep and 830mm wide, while the soundbar space is equally roomy, being 140mm high x 2,500mm wide x 185mm deep. As for the unit itself, its dimensions measure 2,634mm wide x 510mm high x 600mm deep.
NorStone said the Eden Vision is available to buy now in the U.K. and in Australia, but it isn’t the cheapest bit of furniture by any means. The basic unit, without a screen, costs £1,200, while you’ll have to pay £3,500 for the unit and Eden Extra Bright 240C screen. If you want to throw in the motorised projector tray, which allows you to set the UST project back further from the surface, the price goes up to £3,750.
There’s no word yet on U.S. availability, and it remains to be seen how many takers will be willing to pay what is a pretty steep price – you can buy some very good projectors for a lot less. However, if someone has the money to spare and they put a high price on minimalism, the NorStone Eden Vision might be just what they’re looking for.
