1080p Projectors - 2008 Comparison Report - coming soon!
January 29th, 2008 Art Feierman
Email This Post
What I really wanted to say, was “coming soon - to a website near you”, but that made the title way to long.
Yes, it’s that time of the year. I only have two more 1080p projectors on my short list, to review. One is the new Sony VW40, and the other, one of the SIM2 projectors - an over $10,000 model.
Sony just advised that the VPL-VW40 should arrive next Monday (just in the nick of time, to be reviewed, and make it into the Report, and SIM2, who had hoped to have a projector out to me already, can’t give me a firm date.
So, here’s the plan:I’ll work on the Sony VPL-VW40 review, and when that is finished, and posted, it will be full steam ahead on the full comparison report. The SIM2 loses out.
I’m targeting mid-Feb, to release the finished report - sometime (hopefully early) during the week of Feb 17th.
The new report will be similar to last year’s but with a number of changes, that haven’t been fully defined. I can tell you that the new tiers will be 1080p projectors under $4000, and over $4000, while last year $5000 was the separation. This makes sense since this year prices are definitely a bit lower. As was the case last year, I will publish a lot of “one on one” comparisons.
Remember, this is a “report” not a multi-projector review. The whole point is that I will have reviewed most of the under $10,000 1080p home theater projectors, on the market (at least in the US). From what I have learned, the goal is to put them all in perspective for you. Projectors reviewed earliest on, may or may not fare as well as they did in their reviews, now that I have seen far more new 1080p projectors, some of which may have “raised the bar”.
Bottom line - it should all be done and posted in just about three weeks.Hang in there! -art
Email This Post
February 4th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Hi(gh) Art.
Good to see you’re working on an Optoma HD803 review. But disappointing to see there’s no sign of one for the Benq W5000. A friend over there claims to have seen one up against the Epson UB, and was very impressed.
Looks like he’s not the only one….
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13027635#post13027635
Hopefully, it can be included in the February shootout.
***********
Hi Adrian,
Ahhh, we do what we can. I tried to reach my usual contacts at BenQ prior to CES to meet with them about getting in review units (in the past, they’ve been very good). I got no response, nor have I heard from them since.
But your reminder is timely, so I’m going to email both of them again, now. -art
Here are the details I’ve gathered together so far…
BENQ W5000 home theater projector
* Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels)
* 1200 ANSI lumens
* 10,000:1 contrast
* Silicon Optix HQV REON processing onboard
* Motorised/remote vertical lens shift (a major drawcard for some)
* DarkChip2 DLP with Contrast enhancement in 2 steps - Dynamic Iris and DynamicBlack
* Additional manual Iris
* Anamorphic lens support
* True 24p support
* 2 x HDMI 1.3 inputs
* BNC analogue inputs
* VERY quiet (25dB quoted)
* Same premium Japanese-made lens featured on the upcoming W20000 ($10,000+)
* New Philips VIDI lamp, for supposedly improved reliability and light output
* BrilliantColor
* Zero light leakage
* Sealed light engine for dust-proofing
* 10-bit processing
* Full ISF controls for callibration
* 7-segment wheel with 4X, 5X and 6X speeds
* 2 Year warranty (1 Year/500hrs on lamp)
February 8th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Hi Art,
I’ve heard the following two rumors:
(a) the VPL-VW40 is just a re-badged VPL-VW50, and in fact is made on the same production line; OR
(b) the 40 is like the 50, but with better circuitry
Do you know if either is closer to the truth? Does Sony have an official position on this?
Thanks.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Hi Art,
I appreciate your reviews and personal opinions, and look forward to reading them every time they come out. I have somewhat of a general question:
I have a dedicated light controlled room in my basement. Presently I have a Panasonic PT-300U unit that has served me well, but it’s time to upgrade! My question is, I like to take your reviews and open up the still pictures from all the projectors I’m interested in and do side by side comparisons of identical photos. I know I can’t get a full representation based on that alone, but from all the 1080P projectors I’m looking at, to me the Mitsubishi MC6000 has the “best picture” quality. The other units I’m comparing are the Panasonic PT-2000U, Epson 1080UB, Sanyo Z2000 and Sony VW60. I understand that I can’t tell how bright each unit is and see black levels correctly, I need to rely on your reviews and spec’s. And I know the Mitsubishi is on the low end for brightness.
So if you were to have a light controlled environment and brightness not as important to you, would this a fair way to decide which picture looks the best for my taste, or should I not put too much into the still photos and go more based off of reviews of people that have been able to compare units side by side?
******
It’s tough to pick the best, even when you do have them side by side. However, I’ll stick with my most recent comments. I think the Epson, is overall, the best package. It has a distinct advantage in black level performance, and as for the rest, color accuracy, is how well you tune (calibrate) the projector. Personally, the Epson’s brightness is a real plus as well, especially for those of us who like larger screens (over 110″), although it has enough for my 128″ firehawk, I suspect that I’d find it coming up short in brightness for a screen that size (in best mode) as the lamp gets dimmer over time.
Here’s the thing. I’m used to my JVC RS1, and the Epson, was the first lower cost projector that while it may not be quite as good, is so good overall, that I barely touched my RS1, except for comparison, for over a month. As I may have said somewhere in the review. If someone took away my RS1, and replaced it with the Epson, I could definitely live with it quite well, and with little complaint.
That was the only projector I could say that about, that costs less, until I also reviewed the Sony VW60, which is more money. I slightly prefer the Epson, but can appreciate some advantages to the Sony as well. The Sony VW40, on the other hand, nope - when it was setup in my theater, and I just wanted to watch something, when not working, I would use the RS1, whereas I just didn’t feel the burning need (to use the RS1), with the Epson available. In fairness, I’ve received a couple of comments from people who still prefer the “flavor” of the better DLP’s over the Epson (and those that do, also tend to favor DLP over the LCoS projectors like the JVC’s and Sonys.
It’s tough, just remember that any of these produce an incredibly impressive image. We are debating, if you will, the last 10%. -art
Thanks.