Projector Reviews - General Performance

Overview
Image Quality
General Performance
Warranty
Summary, Pros, Cons

Menus
User Memory Settings
Remote Control
Lens Throw and Lens Shift
SDE and Rainbow Effect
Light Leakage
Audible Noise Levels
Projector Brightness
Lamp Life and Replacement
Projector Screen Recommendations
Calibration
Image Noise

Menus

The BenQ W100 digital home theater projector offers a reasonably well laid out menu system that is very easy to navigate. In addition, after some basic initial setup options (like how long you want menus to appear on the screen before they turn off, or what background color gets projected if there is no source signal), most features are directly accessable from the remote with specific buttons (Brightness, Contrast...).

 

The image above is the main image menu (you can see the 5 different main menus across the top). BenQ doesn't give them formal names. Note in particular, that the image shows Movie as the preset (application mode) and Color Temp is T2. In reality, we did most viewing of movies, set for Cinema, and primarily used T4 which is the correct color temperature for movies (6500K).

This next image is one of two "settings" menus

 

This deals with audio (yep, the BenQ has a speaker), OSD time (how long the menus stay on the screen, and other general settings, these are all pretty much "set once and forget" settings.

The other "settings menu, below, shows settings for ceiling mounting or rear screen, as well as whether you want the projector to automatically scan for a live source (most people prefer this off, as it can be pain). There's a high altitude mode where the fan runs faster, for you mountain folks (or those with a hot room?) And of greatest interest is the Lamp Power mode labeled Economic mode, which controls the projector's brightness (and lamp life).

In addition there is a status menu, and an aspect ratio menu, neither merit images.

 

 

User Memory Settings

This is too easy - the BenQ doesn't have any user savable settings. It does however remember the previous settings for a device. If you were watching a DVD for example, in Cinema mode with a T4 color setting, and switched to HDTV in Family room mode with a T3 setting, when you next go back to the DVD, the projector will be back in Cinema and T4, etc. For a projector designed for the simplest effort in operation, that's about all you need!

BenQ W100 as a Business Projector

While it can be used for business, and thanks to a 7 segment wheel (one is clear) for extra lumens, it's not bad on your basic Powerpoint type presentation, but if you are trying to do small type, such as email, spreadsheets, and Word documents, the compression of taking a typical 1024x768 laptop down to a usable 640x480 (for normal 4:3 computers) means hard to read, not pretty text. For the occasional presenter, sticking to large type presentations, it may be OK, and if you are a widescreen laptop user, with a 1280x800 laptop (like my Dell), it does do the widescreen well, but the compression is still a problem.

Remote Control

For a small projector, the W100's remote is pretty large. It is basically the same remote as their other home theater projectors use, but with less buttons.

First, it has great range. I have found fault with competing projectors for remotes without the muscle to bounce the image off of the screen, to the projector. Not so the BenQ's remote, it has so much range that you barely have to pay attention to where you point it at all, in a normal to large room.

Next great thing - its backlit, and bright. I hate those remotes with "glow in the dark" buttons, they are never bright enough for me, and surprisingly many remotes that are backlit, are dim anyway, probably to extend the battery life. I don't care, I want a bright, easy to read remote.

The BenQ delivers. My only complaint is that ther are a few buttons that have no symbols on them, but since most have obvious symbols, you quickly learn which is the Mode change, and the Auto setup...

The remote has discreet buttons for each of the inputs on the top (below the power button). Then comes the aspect ratio buttons, and below them, the 3 unlabeled - in the center the auto button, and to the right, the default, but the important one, and the one you are likely to use, is on the left - the Mode (preset) button.

Below that the four arrow keys with the Menu/Enter button in the middle. They are large, easy to find and use.

Finally two rows at the bottom. Brightness, Contrast Color (saturation - if available depending on source), and Tint (also not available on component or Digital sources).

On the last row two buttons I hope you never use, as they are for keystone adjustment, and inherently (like all digital keystone adjustment, slightly distort your image), and finally on the right, is the Backlight button.

A great remote!

Lens Throw and Lens Shift/Offset

As mentioned in the Overview, the BenQ W100 digital projector has a zoom lens with a very narrow range. Most DLP projectors that sell for under $3000 share this placement limitation, and offer zooms with ranges from 1.15:1 to 1.3:1, with 1.2:1 being the most common. The W100 is at the low end with 1.15:1, allowing you to use the zoom to adjust the image size by 15%.

To fill a 100" diagonal 16:9 screen, the front of the lens can be as close as 12.3 feet or as far back as 14.1 feet.

If your planned screen size is larger or smaller, you can calculate the distances proportionally with a calculator.

The BenQ W100 projector does not have variable lens shift. As such you want to have it positioned correctly in terms of height relative to the screen. If you are table mounting, the center of the lens will position slightly below the bottom of the screen surface. If ceiling mounted, slightly above the top.

The offset number for a 100" diagonal screen, is an almost perfect 8 inches. So, if table mounting, you want the center of the lens height to be 8 inches below the bottom of the screens surface!

Screen Door Effect and Rainbows

The visibility of pixels (and potential resulting Screen Door Effect) is an important issue for most viewers, and it is a far bigger issue with these lower resolution projectors, since their pixels are much larger than the HD 1280x720 projectors. The BenQ W100 uses DLP technology, which has the benefit of having less visible pixels than LCD projectors, and that may explain why there seem to be less and less low resolution LCD based projectors on the market.

Sidenote: We recently reviewed the "all-in-one" Epson MovieMate projector (with built in sound, and DVD player). The Epson is the same resolution as the BenQ, but is LCD. The pixels there were so much more visible that it was the primary cause of internal debate as to whether that otherwise very impressive projector would receive a Hot Product Award. In that case, the Epson received the award, as I considered an all-in-one, even less "purist" oriented, and that buyers would be even less critical, notably since most buyers of entry level projectors are making their first move from traditional much poorer quality conventional TV's and lower resolution Big Screen TVs.

But, getting back to the W100 home theater projector, you still need to sit significantly further back than with a higher resolution projector before the pixel structure dimminishes to the point where it is barely or not detectable.

Shown below is our closeup of text that we use in many reviews. You can see the pixel structure here, and if you wish look up the same image on most projectors reviewed in the last 6 months or so.

Optimum viewing distance to keep the pixel visibility to a minimum (such as in white text in movie credits, or very slightly visible on large bright (stationary) areas of scenes is a little less than 2 times screen width. Therefore, if you have a 106" diagonal screen (92" wide), that would be less than 184" wich is about 15 feet. I believe most people looking for an entry level projector will not be that critical, and will find viewing comfortable (although pixels will be visible) in this regard sitting as close as about 1.6 x screen width or, for the 106" screen - just over 12 feet back. This is an issue of personal preference. The only cure is to spend more money for a projector of higher resolution.

As to screen door effect, as the name implies, it gives you the impression of viewing through a screen door. The important point, is that with some content, where there is fine detail such as the grass on a football field, the pixel structure mixed with the fine content may create a patterning that noticeably distorts the image. The smooth grass detail might start looking more like clumps of poorly focused grass. Annoying SDE is the result of the pixel structure mixed with particular content that tends to magnify the distortion. BTW, my own feelings are that SDE is definitely more of a problem with lower resolution source material than high. Translated, you are more likely to be bothered by it watching a regular TV signal on the W100, than watching a DVD or a HDTV signal. So the good news is, it should be less of an issue, as more and more of our content goes to higher definition.

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Light Leakage

The BenQ W100 leaks a rather significant amount of light out the bottom. If you position it on a table this should probably be a non-event, as I had no problems with that light getting to the screen or "lighting up" the room, to the degradation of the picture quality.

If, however you choose to ceiling mount, and the projector is hanging down, I do suspect you will get a rather noticeable bright area about the projector. I would therefore suggest that you darken the area of the ceiling where your mount is, to minimize any potential problem. (The mount itself is never pretty, so cosmetically, this shouldn't be a real issue.

Audible Noise Levels

It's amazing. The W100 is very quiet. Claiming <29 db in full power, and less than 25 db in economic mode, it is one of the quietest projectors out there. What blows me away, is that I have recently tested several projectors, that are much more expensive (Optoma's excellent HD7100, and SIM2's $20,000 incredible C3X) and they were significantly noisier. Bottom line. Noise is not an issue in either power mode. The BenQ is surprisingly well done for a small, light, bright, and affordable projector.

Projector Brightness

Sorry, more measurements needed, but I will update. I only took one set, that was in the projector's best and dimmest mode (it was getting late, and I was more interested in measuring the grayscale accuracy). The lamp was in low power ("economic") mode, the image preset was in Cinema. I measured 388 lumens. Not bad for a best mode, however in full power that should jump to around 450 lumens, and I suspect moving to Movie mode from Cinema would likely add another 20%. Family room mode was much brighter still. So please, don't hold me to this, but I suspect for now, that in full power, and family room mode, we are probably pushing well over 600 lumens, very respectable. I base this conjecture on watching the projector on my 128" Firehawk where I used only full power mode, but played with all three mentioned presets.

Lamp Life and Replacement

The W100 has one of the longest claimed lamp lives out there. In "Economic" (low) power mode, BenQ says 4000 hours, and even in full power, 3000 hours. It's menu item that reports lamp usage, indicates that it tracks equivilent hours, so that it actually pays attention and factors in which mode you are using. Basically if you run it one hour in economic mode, it records 3/4 of an hour, if you run it one hour in full power, it records 1 hour. As a result, regardless of how you use it, 3000 hours is when it tells you its lamp replacement time. Remember lamp life varies based on many factors, and keeping your filters clean is very important to the projector running cool and your getting maximum lamp life.

When it comes to replacing the lamp, the access is located on the bottom. If you are using the ceiling mount, you are going to have to unmount the projector to change the lamp.

Projector Screen Recommendations

Making screen recommendations is usually about the toughest part of each review, and I'm never fully comfortable doing so. What I think works best is often not what another would consider ideal. Some favor high contrast grey screens (I generally do), others like screens with some gain. Issues such as rejecting side lighting, having some light in the room, and roll off in brightness if you sit off to the side, make one's room and viewing habits critical.

Still, here are my thoughts.

I found the projector worked extremely well with a light gray high contrast screen (my Stewart Firehawk), and it had sufficient brightness to perform acceptably in full power mode on a large screen. However in best mode (Cinema) it could have used more horsepower for my Firehawk (which is 128" diagonal, and therefore larger than probably 90 - 95% of most people's screens.

I also used it extensively with the Carada Brilliant White, at 106" diagonal (and a 1.4 gain) the W100 looked great in low power. However, with that size bright screen the blacks weren't quite dark enough for me. Using the Cinema setting, I found it to acceptable, but even the Movie setting didn't get me the blacks I wanted. On the other hand, I could pump a reasonable amount of light in the room and still get pretty respectable results.

High contrast surfaces are designed to reduce the brightness of black areas, so for a fully darkenable room I would lean that way, but for more of a family room a screen like the Carada (or equivilents from other major brands like Da-lite, Stewart, and so on might be your best solution.

Last thought - HC gray screens are much better at rejecting ambient light from the sides, so if you have a window leaking light on a side wall, or sconces on the side walls, that might be a good reason for HC gray.

Have fun in choosing!

Calibration

I've included a couple of pictures of the measurements, but here's the long and short of it. If production units perform like this out of the box, this projector is truly ready to go, without any tweaking, (except slightly on brightness and contrast).

The first image shot off of my laptop shows out of the box settings (Cinema mode, Economic - low - power, color temperature T4) at 50 IRE (medium gray). The second image is at 80IRE (light gray)

For movie watching a projector should have a color temperature of 6500K. (Since projector lamps are more like 10,000K, projectors measure much brighter in their brightest modes than when color is properly set for viewing. That's one of the reasons why you usually read that home theater projectors in their best modes typically produce less than 40% of their claimed brightness.)

Color will not be consistant over the brightness range - that is, if you project a white image, it might have a slight warm shift to red, while a medium gray might shift slightly to blue, etc. So there is always variation as you measure from full white (100 I.R.E) down to the dark grays (30 I.R.E in my case, due to limits of my equipment).

The W100 digital projector's performance in Cinema mode (and low power - which can also affect the color slightly) was about as close to perfect as any projector out of the box:

• IRE 100: 6596K
• IRE 80: 6516K
• IRE 50: 6539K
• IRE 30: 6323K

Any variation of less than 5% is extremely slight, (as one calibrator explained to me, if he goes to calibrate a projector and its good enough that he can't improve it by close to 10%, people don't want to pay him, as they barely, or can't see the difference). As you can see from these numbers, they stay consistantly close to the 6500K ideal. There is a very slight shift toward red in the dark grays, however, I even suspect that it moves back up slightly at lower gray levels that I can't measure, because I did not visibly detect any shift to red in the blackest blacks such as in the letter box area when viewing DVDs.

Image Noise

All DLP projectors produce some motion noise in dark areas, the BenQ as expected had some. At no point, unless you like standing 3 feet from a 100" screen should it be something that you notice and bothers you. If it does, you really need to be looking at much higher end projectors.

Overview
Image Quality
General Performance
Warranty
Summary, Pros, Cons