A Buyers Guide to New Home Theater Projectors Launched at CEDIA 2008 - Part 2: Low Cost 1080p Projectors

Mid-Priced 1080p home theater projectors: Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB and Pro Cinema 7500 UB, Mitsubishi HC7000, Sony VPL-VW70 and VPL-HW10, JVC DLA-RS10 and DLA-RS20, SIM2 Domino D60, DreamVision Dream'E

1080P New Home Theater Projectors - Most affordable
1080P New Home Theater Projectors - Mid-Priced
720p New Home Theater projectors

9/11/2008 -Art Feierman

This grouping of projectors starts at around $3500 MSRP, and goes up to $8000, which is a pretty wide range. That said, they should all be a step above the first, lower cost batch of projectors.

I'll do a quick run through on each of these, then some comparative information - based on published specs, and speaking with their product managers at CEDIA. All this is preliminary, published numbers are no match for reviewing the projectors themselves. All of these are on my list, although a couple likely won't be reviewed until January of 2009. There are just too many projectors and not enough time.

Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB and Pro Cinema 7500 UB.

First of all, these are mostly identical 3LCD projectors. As is usual, Epson sells their home theater projectors into different channels, and as a result, the Home Cinema 6500 UB, will be available through authorized online resellers, and probably some big box houses (ie. Best Buy, Circuit City). At this time I do not have any information about those Big Box houses. The anticipated MSRP is "under $4000" and the expected ship date is December 2008.

By comparison, the Pro Cinema 7500 UB, will be available through local "CEDIA" type local installing dealers, has an expected MSRP of under $5000, and should be available in the October/November 2008 time frame.

The differences are relatively minor, so I'll start there, and then get into all they have in common.

Best I can tell so far, other than the case color (Pro Cinema projectors have been traditionally black, and Home Cinema projectors white), there are three notable differences. First, only the Pro Cinema 7500 UB supports an anamorphic lens for Cinemascope 2.35:1 movie viewing without those pesky letter boxes at the top and bottom.

Next, the Pro Cinema 7500 UB is ISF Certified, which means two additional, password protected memory areas for a calibrator to lock in their calibration settings. It is possible, in conjunction with that, the Pro might have a touch more color control, but not likely.

Lastly, the Pro Cinema 7500 UB will come with a three year warranty, while the Home Cinema 6500 UB will have only two years. Both will have Epson's excellent overnight replacement program, for the duration of their warranties.

OK, unless you have an anamorphic lens planned in your near future, they are functionally, pretty much identical.

Time to consider the overall capabilities of the Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB, and Pro Cinema 7500 UB.

These are the replacements for the Home Cinema 1080 UB and Pro Cinema 1080 UB models, although I imagine the older ones will be around for a while yet.

Epson is already the champ at black level performance - getting those rich, inky blacks in dark scenes, among the under $4000 projectors. The new Home and Pro Cinema do even better, upping their contrast to 75,000:1 from a merely next best all time claim of 50,000:1. Much of the improvement comes from the newer D7 LCD panels and optical path (including the lens). The new configuration is designed to elminate internal reflections, which makes for blacker blacks. I saw a demo (the Pro version), in the usual pitch black trade show booth theater. Extremely impressive!

These two Epson's are rated 1600 lumens, the same as the older UB models, so I don't really expect any additional brightness. An improvement in contrast, though, should add some depth, and allow them to look a little better when there's some ambient light present.

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A big new feature: These Epsons, like the Panasonic PT-AE3000U, and a more expensive Sony, offer frame interpolation. This is a system that literally has the projector look at two consecutive frames of information, identify motion, and create (interpolate) a frame that will run between the first and the second, that recreates (as best it can), what would be on a frame in the middle of the two, if the movie (or other content) was shot at twice the frame rate. Actually, when working with a movie from film (24 fps - frames per second), it will actually create 3 new frames in the middle, as the projector will run at 96 fps. This should eliminate motion blur as an issue. When working from 1080i (HDTV), at 60 fps, it interpolates 1 middle frame, so that the projector can work at 120 fps. Can you say smooth?

Not only will this be an improvement for movie watching (on action, fast pans of scenes, etc.) but will likely make an even bigger difference for gamers. If you are into sports, again, this should make a visible improvement, especially on sports like tennis and hockey. Who knows, you might actually be able to follow the hockey puck - we shall see.

Both projectors should be excellent at all forms of image processing, as they use Silicon Optix' Reon-VX chip set, one of the very best out there (and found in some other projectors that are roughly the same price, or even a lot more expensive).

These two Epson Home Cinema projectors also sport a new, faster iris. I never had any real problem with the older dynamic iris, but once in a while you could spot its operation during casual viewing. This should be a minor, but good improvement.

Both have full support for HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color. Both do processing at 12 bits - for a mere 68 billion color palette. Now, I've seen one or two projectors at up to 14 bit processing, but 12 bit should do the trick. I really question if anyone would be able to tell the difference between 12 and 14 bit, without test equipment.

In fact, most projectors have been processing at 10 bit for some time. More significantly, to take full advantage, it would be nice if HDMI pushed through more than 8 bit color (per channel) which is 16.7 million colors. Fortunately, that's what Deep Color is all about. Deep Color supports 10, 12, and 16 bit (per channel - R,G,B) data. Whether movies with Deep Color on Blu-ray have 10, 12, or 16 bit, we shall have to see, I expect that 10 or 12 bit will be the most common. Bottom line, these Epson projectors are definitely ready for Deep Color.

Since I am a big fan of the Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB, especially for its price, I'm especially excited about reviewing these two siblings.

Sony VPL-HW10 Home Theater Projector

The VPL-HW10 is Sony's entry level 1080p projector. Like the existing Sony VPL-VW40, VW60 and VW200 (and the VW70, the other new announcement), this Sony uses what Sony calls SXRD technology. SXRD is simply Sony's name for LCoS panels (just as D-iLA is JVC's name for them). LCoS is Liquid Crystal on Silicon. Basically is is similar to LCD panels, but reflective (like DLP), instead of transmissive (light passes through them).

The first difference between Sony, and some of the other biggest names, is that, in this case, their idea of "entry level" is close to twice the price of those by Epson and Sanyo. The VPL-HW10 has an MSRP of $3495. Where it settles in, in terms of street price, is unknown, but at least initially, I would expect $3000 or more, which is why it's in this group.

Sony did not demonstrate the VPL-HW10 at CEDIA, although there was one on display.

This Sony sports a dynamic iris, and claims a most impressive 30,000:1 contrast ratio. I'm working under the assumption that the VPL-HW-10 will replace the current low end, the VPL-VW40 which was rated at 15,000:1. Brightness gets a slight improvement, as the VW40 was rated by Sony at 900 lumens, while the HW10 specs show 1000 lumens. If it behaves at all similarly to the VW40 when it comes to measurements, it will be just a bit brighter than average in best mode, and one of the least bright, in its brightest modes. That will make it a better choice for those shopping for a projector almost exclusively for movie watching, rather than all purpose use, including TV, HDTV, and especially sports viewing.

When it comes to placement, the VPL-HW10 offers vertical and horizontal lens shift (how much I still don't know). Its zoom lens, however has a 1.6:1 zoom ratio. That's about half way between most of the 3LCD competition (most of those have 2:1 zoom lenses), and DLP projectors, which pretty much all have 1.2:1 ratios, which is truly minimalist, as 1.2:1 provides only a couple of feet of front to back placement range. If this Sony is similar to the VW40, in terms of throw distances, most will ceiling mount. Those without large screens, or who have deep rooms may not be able to place it far enough back to sit on a rear shelf. The Sony HW10 is definitely smaller than the VW40, but still larger than most projectors.

Sadly, Sony has only a 1 year warranty on the HW10 projector. Almost everyone in the 1080p projector space has two or three years of coverage. There are exceptions though. Panasonic only offers 1 year, but at least last year, was offering a second year as part of their promotions for much of the PT-AE2000U's life. Optoma's entry level HD803 (now HD806?) also has but one year.

Still many of the others not only offer a longer warranty, but replacement programs, so the Sony definitely loses points for their warranty. I note that Sony does sell extended warranties, though. I see that a 3 year plan is only $149.99, almost certainly a wise choice.

Sony VPL-VW70 Home Theater Projector

Goodbye VPL-VW60, hello VPL-VW70. The VW70, although not the top of the line for Sony - their year old VPL-VW200, at $15,000 still holds that honor - should certainly be a player in the over $5000 range. That's a good thing, since at $7999 it ties the JVC DLA-RS20 for the most expensive of the projectors covered in this section, and that's over twice the MSRP of the least expensive ones.

Brightness is actually 100 lumens less than the VW60, with a claimed 800 lumens. The older Sony was about average in brightness, or a little better than that, in its best mode, but one of the dimmer projectors in brightest mode (we measured a maximum of 665 lumens).

The Sony projector has the same 1.6:1 zoom ratio as the less expensive HW10. That's a good amount of range, but not up to the 2:1 typical on many 3LCD projectors, and the JVC LCoS competition. Some desiring to shelf mount in the rear, may not be able to if they are going with smaller screens, or have a longer room.

So, what's new? Improved contrast, of course (due to a new "Advanced Iris 2" The new model is claiming 50,000:1), up from the VW60's mere 35,000:1 (keep in mind that's not a dramatic difference, but an improvement, none the less.) The older Sony VW60 wasn't quite up to the JVC RS1 in overall black level performance, let alone the RS2, but with this improvement, who knows, perhaps it will be able to take on the JVCs in this area, this time around.

The VW70 apparently has some serious panel alignment capabilities, for improving accuracy of alignment of the three separate SXRD panels. This is a real plus. When it comes to image control, well Sony has plenty to keep the tweaker and calibrators fully satisfied.

The VPL-VW70 is one of the larger under $10,000 projectors out there. That really shouldn't be an issue for most, but will be for a few.

The older VW60 was fairly quiet in operation, the new VW70 claims to be very quiet, with a 20 db spec (two better than the VW60) when running the lamp in low power. Typically projectors are 3-6 db noiser at full power, but even if 26 or 27 db, that makes it more than quiet enough at full power, for just about everyone, and makes it quieter at full power, than most of the competition, when running at low power.

The VW70 looks like a good evolutionary replacement for the VW60. It also has full support of HDMI 1.3 with Deep Color, x.v. color, etc. The older Sony had HDMI 1.3, but if I recall (from memory), it did not support Deep Color.

Looks to be a serious contender. I'm hoping, in particular that this Sony, and the JVC DLA-RS20 arrive at the same time, for some side by side comparisions.

And that brings us to the:

JVC DLA-RS20 and DLA-RS10 Home Theater Projectors

Going head to head with the new Sony projectors are JVC's new DLA-RS10 with a anticipated price of "under $6000" and the DLA-RS20, quoted to be "under $8000". Pricing was not finalized. When JVC released the original DLA-RS1, it was anticipated at "under $7000" but when it shipped, the MSRP turned out to be a pleasantly surprising $700 less at $6295. Bottom line, we'll know for sure when they are ready to ship, currently anticipated to be in November.

In addition to these two, which come from the Pro division, there will be two nearly identical models from the Home division, the HD750, and less expensive HD350. While there are some cosmetic differences between the DLA-HD750 and the DLA-RS20 (RS is JVC's acronym for Reference Standard), they seem to be otherwise identical. On the lower end, though, while, overall (except for cosmetics) they again seem to be the same projector, the DLA-RS10 claims 17,000:1 contrast, while the DLA-HD350 claims only 15,000:1. At this time, I'm just not sure if that means there is a performance difference, or just two divisions coming up with slightly different numbers.

Interestingly, other than those extra 2000:1 for the RS10, the contrast specs are the same as with the current DLA-RS1x (15,000:1) and DLA-RS2 (30,000:1). JVC certainly has the best claimed contrast of any projectors that don't use a dynamic iris. Last year, nothing could beat the RS1x for black level performance, except of course for the RS2, and despite higher contrast numbers from the competition, JVC's strength in this area makes me doubtful that anyone will better them this time around.

JVC has upgraded image processing with the Silicon Optics latest and greatest Reon-VX processing. It is used in a number of other projectors, and, well, it's really good at just about everything. Should be no issues here!

All versions, I believe, internally support an anamorphic lens, should you choose to go 2.35:1 (screen and all). My own, older RS1 required an outboard processor. A 12 volt trigger is present, to control a motorized screen, or a masking system.

The higher end projectors, the DLA-RS20 and HD750 are both THX certified. The lower projector models are not. (A very common strategy).

As part of, or perhaps in addition to being merely THX certified, JVC refers to the projectors having a preset THX Movie mode. I'm not exactly sure what, if anything that implies. When I review them, I'll let you know.

A number of improvements have been made, relative to the older RS series. One of the folks I spoke with hinted at optical improvements that would result in a sharper image. The older RS projectors were only average in that regard, so that would be a real plus.

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Mitsubishi HC7000 Diamond Projector

Mitsubishi apparently wasn't satisfied simply to offer an improved version of the HC6000 (in the form of the HC6500), but wanted in to the playground for more expensive, higher performance 1080p projectors, and the result is the the Mitsubishi HC7000 Diamond. Like the HC6500, this is a 3LCD projector, and uses Mitsubishi's new diamond shaped iris.

Certainly, from a spec standpoint, the HC7000 looks good. Its claimed 72,000:1 contrast ratio is virtually identical to Epson's 75,000:1 for their new top of the line home theater projectors. This should mean a rather significant improvement in black level performance over the new HC6500, and of course all previous 1080p projectors from Mitsubishi!

On paper, its 17 db audible noise level, makes it the quietest home theater projector yet, and that's always a good thing. Even in full power (lamp) mode, it is quieter than all but a few projectors in their low power (lamp) modes. No one will have to give audible noise a second thought if buying the HC7000.

The Mitsubishi HC7000 home theater projector uses the same new D7 C2Fine Epson LCD panels as found in the Epson Pro Cinema 7500 UB, and Home Cinema 6500 UB, and the Panasonic PT-AE3000U. This new configuration is designed to eliminate most internal light leakage in the optical path, resulting in better blacks, and higher contrast.

Unlike those Epson and Panasonic projectors, the HC7000 does not use frame interpolation to help limit motion blur. Technically, that's a negative, but the verdict is still out of the benefits of frame interpolation. Certainly motion blur has been considered a minor issue, and was almost unheard of, before "judder", the uneveness caused by 3:2 pull down on the conversion of movies, was finally eliminated by the now, almost universal support for 24fps. The HC7000 doubles 24 fps, to 48 fps, a good thing in its own right.

The HC7000 supports HDMI 1.3, with Deep Color, and x.v. color, etc. Per Mitsubishi, there is Deep Color support for both 10 and 12 bit per channel, (conventional Blu-ray discs are still 8 bit), until we start getting Deep Color content. No issues there. Processing is at 10 bit, with 14 bit gamma processing. There is full support for use with an anamorphic lens, as would be expected. The HC7000 has both vertical and horizontal lens shift, although the horizontal shift is only 5%, just enough to make up for a less than precise installation.

The HC7000 can get up to 5000 hours from its lamp (low power mode), a plus in terms of keeping the cost of operation down. Brightness is rated at 1000 lumens. Mitsubishi has typically been in the middle of the pack in terms of brightness, in best mode, and lower than average in its brightest mode. Since the older HC6000 was also rated 1000 lumens, I would expect the situation to be similar.

The HC7000 has a suggested list price of $3995, and with comparable contrast ratios (and the same LCD panels), it looks like Mitsubishi is fully prepared to slug it out with the Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB and Pro Cinema 7500 UB. It has two noteworthy advantages compared to the Home version of the Epson - support for an anamorphic lens, and it's a lot quieter. Epson has the Pro version (more expensive) with anamorphic support, but is doing the frame interpolation (both models) that Mitsubishi is not. The Epson also has a zoom lens with more placement range, both zoom, and lens shift. Should be a very interesting battle!

That leaves only one more projector that I'll consider here, and it's the one I know the least about, the SIM2 Domino D60.

SIM2 Domino D60 Home Theater Projector

It's almost shocking - a 1080p projector for $4995, from SIM2. SIM2 is normally slugging it out with Runco with projectors in the $20,000 - to $50,000+ range. SIM2 projectors are strictly sold by higher end, authorized, local installing dealers, and like Runco, SIM2 is big on training, customer, and dealer support.

They've had others, under $10,000 before, but this time, they are in with a price that is competitive with most of the high volume brands. Here's what the SIM2 Domino D60 brings to the party:

The D60 is a single chip DLP projector, claiming a >10,000:1 contrast ratio. That's hardly a stellar number in this day and age, but then, when you deal with higher end companies, the general trend is that they tend to be more conservative spec wise than the mainstream manufacturers. More to the point, they downplay specs altogether, in favor of their quality message. I imagine the SIM2 D60 will at least hold it's own in terms of black levels, with any of the other DLP projectors out there with similar pricing.

I should note, that the D60 is already shipping. It features both TI's Brilliant Color technology, and Dynamic Black. The D60 has vertical lens shift, and a 12 volt screen trigger. It would appear that it has support for an anamorphic lens.

SIM2 isn't really big on publishing brightness specs, and so far, I haven't been able to track down a lumen rating. It is using a larger (.95mm) DLP chip than many others which should help in terms of brightness, so I expect it will be, at the very least, average, or slightly better than that, in terms of best mode brightness.

And, it's a SIM2, which means it has a bit of styling to its relatively large, black case, although not at all exotic like some of their high end projectors like the C3X 1080.

It will be interesting to see how the Domino D60 performs compared to the mainstream brands, but keep in mind, SIM2 is highly selective, and demanding of their dealers. This is definitely an entry level projector (from SIM2's standpoint), that comes with the same type of quality installation and dealer support that their high end, and high priced projector clients expect.

"Affordable" 3 Chip DLP 1080p anyone? DreamVision's Dream'E Projector

There are other new home theater projectorsI haven't touched on, mostly at much higher prices than these. One of particular note, is the $14,995 Dream'E (dreamy - get it?) I realize it doesn't qualify as "mid-priced", but since I'm not doing a piece on the over $10,000 projectors, I thought this worth a mention.

DreamVision is a European company, and apparently well known there. In the US, I keep seeing them at shows, but they really haven't gotten their name out as well. They sell through authorized installing dealers.

What is interesting about the DreamVision Dream'E, is that it is a full, 3 chip DLP, 1080p projector. There might be another out there at that price or lower, but I can't seem to think of one. 3 chip at under $15,000 is most interesting, for those with the bucks to spend. When I think 3 chip DLP, at 1080p, I mostly am thinking $25,000 - $100,000+.

DreamVision doesn't publish a brightness spec for the Dream'E, but 3 chip DLP projectors tend to be very bright. It sure would be something if this projector can crank out a couple thousand lumens in its best mode! My curiousity is aroused, I'd like to review this one.

1080P New Home Theater Projectors - Most affordable
1080P New Home Theater Projectors - Mid-Priced
720p New Home Theater projectors