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Vivitek H1080FD Projector - Performance

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Art Feierman

Vivitek H1080FD Projector Brightness

Wow! The Vivitek H1080FD is bright! While a number of relatively low cost DLP projectors are brighter than the average projector (450-550 lumens), most of them are not much brighter in what we call their "brightest mode". Typically those same DLP projectors produce just about 1000 lumens or maybe up to 1200 lumens in brightest mode.

Not so the Vivitek projector. It sizzles in "best mode" with just over 800 measured lumens, but then really gets fired up when you switch to it's Bright mode, where it produces a whopping 1777 lumens with lens at mid point.

These were the measurements for all modes, Pre-calibration. Shown along with the lumens are the color temperature measurements for white (100 IRE):

Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom)
Movie 806 @ 6995K
Bright 1777 @ 6964K
Normal 1081 @ 6806K
User 1 773 @ 6984K
User 2 1026 @ 6856K
User 3 1763 @ 6945K

You'll note that the white point color temp is virtually identical in all modes, and always just a touch cool.

Going from mid-point on the zoom to full telephoto (it's really not far to go) drops the brightness by about 3% to 1726 (for Bright mode) Going from mid-point to full wide angle increases brightness by 3% to 1832 lumens. In other words, place the projector where it fits best, and don't worry about the minor difference in brightness.

Switching to "low lamp" which Vivitek calls Normal, from "high lamp" which they call Boost, results in a drop of only about 15% (for Movie mode that's 683 lumens down from 806 lumens).

Since this projector is especially bright many will actually use the lower power mode, and get a 50% boost in lamp life to 3000 hours.

 

Think this way: The H1080FD in Movie mode, low power, is still every bit as bright as the Optoma set to high power. When comparing brightest modes, the Vivitek remains far brighter than the Optoma, even when it's in low lamp.

Hong Kong skyline. Projected in Movie mode, off of Blu-ray disc.

Click Image to Enlarge

Vivitek H1080FD Sharpness

Note, my old dts-HD disc has died. It was their first release and I haven't been able to replace. That means I am forced to stop using some images, including the DTS logo. Starting recently, we are switching to a closeup of the Video icon and nearby icons from the Sony PS3 main screen. It works just as well to demonstrate sharpness.

Top left: Vivitek H1080FD, Top Center, Optoma HD20, Top right: Panasonic PT-AE4000

2nd row left: Mitsubishi HC3800, middle: BenQ W6000, right: InFocus X10

Vivitek H1080FD
Optoma HD20
Panasonic PT-AE4000
Mitsubishi HC3800
BenQ W6000
InFocus X10

Close up of a computer monitor, from Space Cowboys (Blu-ray), left to right H1080FD, Epson Home Cinema 8100, Mitsubishi HC3800, and Optoma HD20.

H1080FD
Epson Home Cinema 8100
Mitsubishi HC3800
Optoma HD20

Vivitek H1080FD: Bottom Line Sharpness

Like almost all single chip DLP projectors the Vivitek produces a very sharp image. It isn't the sharpest of the DLP projectors, but it is sharp enough to easily match or beat the sharpness of any of the LCD competition. That's pretty darn good, for $999! In other words, no issue here at all. You could buy, for example, a $2500 Epson 8500UB, perhaps the best under $3000 projector on the market, and it's image still would be a touch softer thant he Vivitek.

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