Several days ago, in anticipation of the CEDIA 2011 expo, Runco hinted at a new addition to its line of home theater projectors that would carry a price point uncharacteristically low enough to make Runco accessible to a much wider audience. Today, Runco pulled back the drapes to reveal the LS-1, a projector intended for smaller home theaters that promises to deliver high-end Runco quality for about $3,995.
The LS-1 is a 16:9 native, single-chip 1080p DLP projector with enough of Runco’s proprietary processing to deliver a contrast ratio of 10,000:1. Runco thinks the LS-1 will appeal to families that will use the projector as much for playing games, browsing the Internet and streaming video as they will for watching movies and TV and promises the LS-1 is versatile enough to be used in a variety of room types with varying ambient brightness.
Other nifty features include a built-in ISF calibration suite, testing patterns and day- and night-time memory settings. 
The LS-1 cabinet on display here at CEDIA seems to be missing its guts. That is, all we saw was the chassis which, by the way, can be customized through Runco’s “FinishPallete” program which allows users access to a number of different finishing options, including color matching for college and pro sports teams or custom-printed art work.
