The Piano HE-3100 utilizes Texas Instruments' latest DMD dual-mode chip. This display uses an 848:600 mirror array to create the image, which (for anyone without a calculator) comes out to a 1.41:1 aspect ratio. Why the weird aspect ratio? A typical SVGA chip (800:600) has to scale widescreen, 480-line NTSC images down to 450 lines (800:450) to fit the chip's 16:9 area. On the HE-3100, the same image uses 848 by 480 pixels, which requires no scaling. Standard 4:3 images can still use the 800:600 array, so computer images don't have to be scaled, either. It's a great compromise.
Installation is easy and reasonably flexible. The unit works in front- and rear-firing, floor- and ceiling-mounted positions. In our front-firing, floor-mounted position, the projector sits low to the screen. This would be an advantage in a ceiling-mounted installation, as it gets the projector up and out of the way. Since the projector uses a fixed-throw lens, you have to have some placement flexibility. There's no zoom control, which means you have to move the projector itself forward and backward until the image fills the screen.