Hi Jeff,
JVC,Epson, and Panasonic, would be the major players in your price range. The JVC I would concur with nick, seems like we were both doing some home work on this matter. Their technology is different than the other two, which allows for the inky blacks, and better shadow effects. With proper calibration, the JVC will leave you with a slightly better over all picture as well, according to the reviews I've read. Another big plus is, they engineered a sealed light housing, which keeps those pesky dust blobs from developing and having to be cleaned out, unlike the other two.
Epson,and panny has the same technology, with a couple of different features each. Both have more light output, better frame interpolation, and better quality 3D than the JVC. The Panny 7000 has the better 3D over even the Epson models. Panny also will run at 480 Hz, again more than the other two. There are other differences between them, I would research extensively and go with what works best for you in your room.
One other thing Jeff, the new line of projectors will be out usually starting the end of Oct.through Nov, for the Holiday season. If you can wait, the feature set on the new models will be better. Also the models out there now, will come down in price, if you chose that route. There's a large Electronic show in Sept. where they display all the new models to be released. One good thing, is about July,or Aug. information will start to be known about these soon to be released models. This should help you to determine maybe which model year projector best suits your needs.
