Best Home Theater Projectors Report 2013

March 2013 - Art Feierman, Editor

Note from the Editor: Greetings! We will be releasing our brand new "Guide to Buying the Right Home Theater Projector for You." This guide will be more viewer-centric than product-centric, and will be a great asset during projector shopping! -art

Another year, another Home Theater Projector Report based on our projector reviews. Last year I started off by saying it was an exciting year. This year, not so much, although there are definite bright spots. For many brands, we saw projectors refreshed with new model numbers and some improved (or new) features, but fewer all new projectors or those with major redesigns this year.

Although there are new things and new features each year, we continue to see more home theater projector manufacturers switching to two year model cycles. For that reason, many projectors spoken of within these pages were in last year's report as well. No matter! The important thing is that today, there are better projectors available than last year, in every price category, from sub-$1000, up to $20,000+. A new, better projector, and projector value, awaits you when you are ready to pull the trigger.

A brief note on Projector Reviews' review philosophy. True, we do a lot of measuring, calibrating and reporting on those numbers, but when it comes to picking the winners, things get pretty subjective, we don't add up points, for lots of categories. More, it's based first on the viewing experience, performance/features which includes brightness..., and overall value proposition. That viewing experience, though has to be subjective, and it is perhaps the key component.

Let the games begin!

C o n t e n t s

Best Home Theater Projectors Report Overview

This 2013 projector report breaks projectors into the same three price tiers as we've used for the previous home theater projector reports - Under $2000, $2000 to $3500, and $3500+ . Last year's report is available here, for those that wish to look back, a bit.

Again this year, for the lowest price "Class", we'll have separate Best In Class 2D and Best In Class 3D awards. This was very necessary, as for example in one price tier, the most impressive projector at 2D, has no 3D abilities. Better to have a best 2D and a best 3D, than to compromise on one projector that may not be the best at either. New projectors without 3D are becoming rather rare in the price range from $2000 to $20,000+.

There are ties. While there may not be two directly equal projectors, there are usually two projector that serve their owners equally well. Usually when there is a tie, each projector has some either a particular performance strength over the other, or a feature the other lacks that makes one a much better match for many users. Features such as Lens Memory, or Wireless HDMI would be good examples. As an example, some might choose the Panasonic PT-AE8000U for widescreen use. Others, with traditional 16:9 screens might choose the Epson Home Cinema 5020UBe, for wireless HDMI, as it might save many hundreds of dollars when wiring up your room.

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We will start with three lists of the projectors in this report. These are our "classes": Under $2000, $2000-$3500, and $3500+. Links will be provided to our specs page (with manufacturer data sheets) and of course to the individual reviews.

In the pages following, you will find a short summary for each projector. This includes quite a number of projectors from last year's reports and even a couple in their 3rd year. A few of the older ones really aren't that competitive any more, but some remain popular, and are still actively being sold. In a couple of cases though, really good projectors from previous years, managed an award this year, thanks mostly to significant price drops, to keep them highly competitive.

Many images of movie or HDTV scenes are placed throughout the review. All the images on this page, unless otherwise noted, are from Best In Class winners or Runner-ups. Those that are not, will be tagged, and are there primarily for comparison purposes.

I mentioned Special Interest awards. This award can go to just about any projector that I feel, though not fully mainstream, has something special going for it that still makes it an exceptional choice for a smaller group of potential owners. Typical are projectors that really work best on smaller screens. Or a special feature that some can really use, perhaps wireless HDMI, or for those who opening up their walls to run HDMI cabling is a bigger expense than the projector itself.

Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2, projector: Sony VPL-VW95ES

Finally, as always, we will add a limited number of direct comparisons between our favorite projectors within each class.

One tendency this year that started last year, is that we're seeing a lot more projectors with additional brightness to handle 3D. Oh, there are still many underpowered 3D capable projectors, but there are more to choose from at are at least respectably bright on 100" diagonal screens or even a bit larger.

As always this report only looks at projectors capable of native 1080p as a minimum. This year we have one true 4K projector in the report as well.

Below, Panasonic's low cost PT-AR100U--a winner this year (again)!

1080p Projector Categories by price:

Let's start by listing the projectors covered in this report, by their price Classes. There are two over $12,000 projectors also included in the top class... While really expensive projectors are "not our thing", and hard to obtain for review, we do occasionally land a great one.

Home Theater Projectors: Street Price under $2000

Projector	Projector image	Link to review	Technology	Link to specs
Acer H6500		Click here	DLP	Click here
Acer H9500BD		Click here	DLP	Click here
BenQ W1070		Click here	DLP	Click here
BenQ W7000		Click here	DLP	Click here
Epson HC8350		Click here	3LCD	Click here
Epson HC3020/e		Click here	3LCD	Click here
Mitsubishi HC4000		Click here	DLP	Click here
Optoma HD20		Click here	DLP	Click here
Optoma HD23		Click here	DLP	Click here
Optoma HD33		Click here	DLP	Click here
Panasonic PT-AR100		Click here	3LCD	Click here
Sharp XV-Z30000		Click here	DLP	Click here
Viewsonic Pro8200		Click here	DLP	Click here
Vivitek H1080FD		Click here	DLP	Click here

Home Theater Projectors: Street Price $2000-3500

Projector	Projector image	Link to review	Technology	Link to specs
Epson Home Cinema 5020UB/e		Click here	3LCD	Click here
Epson Pro Cinema 6020UB		Click here	3LCD	Click here
JVC DLA-X35 / RS46		Click here	LCoS	Click here
Mitsubishi HC7900D		Click here	DLP	Click here
Mitsubishi HC8000D		Click here	DLP	Click here
Panasonic PT-AE8000U		Click here	3LCD	Click here
Sony VPL-HW50ES		Click here	LCoS	Click here
ViewSonic Pro9000		Click here	DLP	Click here
Vivitek H5080		Click here	DLP	Click here

Home Theater Projectors: Street Price $3500-10,000+

Projector	Projector image	Link to review	Technology	Link to specs
JVC DLA-X55R/RS48U		Click here	LCoS	Click here
JVC DLA-X75R/RS56U		Not Reviewed	LCoS	Click here
JVC DLA-X95/RS66		Click here	LCoS	Click here
Optoma HD8300		Click here	DLP	Click here
Runco LS-5		Click here	DLP	Click here
Runco LS-10d		Click here	3chip DLP	Click here
SIM2 Nero 3D-2		Click here	DLP	Click here
Sony VPL-VW95ES		Click here	LCoS	Click here
Sony VPL-VW1000ES		Click here	LCoS	Click here

Home Theater Projector Categories by price:

Picking the Winners - the best projectors in each price range:

There is no best projector for everyone, in any price range. For those that want to get the most enjoyment out of their projector selection, there are many variables that each buyer should consider, in choosing the right projector for their viewing requirements.

How do you get started in choosing?

Look to your room, and your budget first.

If your budget is definitely $3000 or less, don't go and get excited about a $5000 or $8000 projector. If your room may be a challenge for projector mounting, figure out which ones definitely won't work in your room based on height or distance, and eliminate those as well.

Once you leave a "dedicated home theater or cave", for a more "family room" type of environment, then start eliminating projectors that aren't going to be able to handle the amount of ambient light you expect.

There are other issues as well, besides limited brightness and placement flexibility. For example, if you are sensitive to the rainbow effect, you probably want to avoid most DLP projectors. Hate background audible noise? Make sure the projector you buy, if not particularly quiet, is bright enough for you to run in eco-mode, when all projectors tend to be very quiet. If you are especially noise adverse, watch out for a few noisy dynamic irises as well. We'll list many of these issues in the Competitors section, in charts, so that, for example, you need a really quiet projector, you can find a list that only shows you the quieter ones (or if it's simpler, a list of the ones to avoid because they are noisier).

Image above is from the Epson Home Cinema 5020 projector.

My point is, that while one projector may be excellent at many things, it may be disqualified by you because of a specific requirement you have. As a result, there needs to be a choice of "best projectors" in this report, so people still have a usable recommendation even if one of our favorites won't work for them.

Due to the concept of "no one perfect projector", we will be giving out "Best In Class", and "Runner-Up" awards in each price category and there's usually a few ties as well. There's an occasional "Special Interest" Award. This means, perhaps 9-11 rewards out of 25+ projectors considered. Click here for a list of the winners!

Bottom line - it's still your job as the potential buyer, to consider some of the disqualifying attributes, immediately toss out those projectors from your consideration, and choose the best choice from the remaining ones. Your life will much simpler that way. Otherwise, you might find yourself really wanting a particular projector, get all excited about it, and then remember - oops it won't work for this reason or that... Save yourself that suffering.

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NEXT: What You Need To Know About this Report