Battery backup is all the rage in home theater AC power products, for good reason. With an aging and often failing national power grid, it's not uncommon to see a system suffering from a power failure so severe that the entire system shuts down quite abruptly. These crashes are not good for a system, especially for front video projectors, as their ultra-bright bulbs need fans to cool them down. If there is a sudden loss of power, the bulb can overheat and potentially either be damaged or completely fail. This is where the Panamax M1500-UPS for $995 comes in.

High Points
• The Panamax M1500-PM can last a solid 15 minutes, depending on the power needs of your system, giving you ample time to shut your rig down before the power runs out.
• The IR control of the M1500-UPS allows you unique control over components like video projectors.
• RS-232 control of the product makes it a custom AV installer's dream to control.


Low Points
• At $995, you have a significant investment in power, yet could still use power regeneration and isolation, which can cost nearly double with additional components and/or could be had as an all-in-one solution for double the price of the Panamax.

Conclusion
Battery backup is not hype: it is a smart way to protect your audio/video investment. The damage you can do to a digital front video projector easily justifies the cost of a $995 battery backup. With the feature set of this product and its relevance with a failing U.S. power grid, it's easy to justify the investment.