This new 3LCD projector from Epson just might hit the spot for people looking to take the plunge into HDTV but aren’t quite so interested in breaking the bank to do it. The newly announced Epson PowerLite S5 multimedia projector is perfectly adequate with its SVGA resolution and 2000 ANSI lumens, but what might better catch your attention is the $649 price point.

Sure, you could use this projector to do PowerPoint presentations and such — they say that it provides “brilliant presentations in almost any environment — but I think that just might be able to get away with using it in the home as well. The main parts that would concern me are the contrast ratio and refresh rate, neither of which are provided in the press release.

What they do tell us is that the PowerLite S5 only takes five seconds to boot up (“Instant On”), it supports HDTV (720p and 1080i; no 1080p unfortunately), and it’s got “flexible positioning” thanks to its 1.3x digital zoom. Epson also promises that this projector is energy efficient: using Epson E-TORL lamp technology, it projects more lumens (brightness) per watt with relatively lower overall power consumption than competitive models.