BenQ W20000 Home Theater Projector Review: Image Quality-2

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Art Feierman

Black Level and Shadow Detail

Black Level Performance

❮ ❯

A most pleasant surprise. Ok, I wasn't that surprised, but, as I recently reviewed the InFocus IN83, with its Darkchip4 DLP chip, I was concerned going in, that the BenQ W20000 would not do nearly as well, with its Darkchip3.

Turns out I was wrong. Once again, the use of a dynamic iris really helps. The BenQ W20000 has one, the InFocus does not. As a result, the W20000 came very close to the IN83 in black level performance.

As is typical with dynamic irises, they aren't effective if a scene has a fair amount of white, but on those very dark scenes, it really does lower the black levels. Next is the image of the satellite from Space Cowboys. Very good black levels and great shadow detail bring out the stars and the detail in the satellite, even though this image isn't quite as overexposed as the two below it; Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB on the left, and Sony VW40 on the right.

click to enlarge,so close should mention, that the BenQ also has a manual iris. On the menus, the manual iris is the one they are talking about, when you see Iris. The dynamic one, is also on the Advanced Picture menu, but is called Dynamic Black. (No mention of the word iris!)

This first Blu-ray image is from Space Cowboys - a nice dynamic, dark scene with a small area of bright white, and also bright red - a challenge for a dynamic iris. Easily handled by the W20000.

Click Image to Enlarge

Below is a favorite image of the starship in The Fifth Element. I have intentionally overexposed the image, and I've also left in the letterboxing at the top and the bottom. Note that despite the overexposure visible in the starship, the letterbox areas are still virtually black.

Immediately below, is the same frame shot with the InFocus IN83. You can see that the W20000 is a bit more overexposed. Yet the black of space is very close. As I pointed out elsewhere in this review, the W20000 comes very close to the IN83 in black levels, thanks to its dynamic iris. That's especially true on a mostly dark scene like this one, where the BenQ's dynamic iris can really do its thing.