Warren

Did you ever detect the W5000 dynamic iris in action, either pumping or closing down slowly? Or was in transparent in operation?

Thanks,

Warren

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Greetings Warren,

As you no doubt suspect – you can see the action of every dynamic iris out there, however, different philosophies on how to set up the iris, in terms of speed, averaging, amount of closure, depending on the amount of bright material in a frame, all affect the type of action you see.

People can notice slow changing irises more easily, than really fast ones, but really fast ones can also be obvious on the right type of material. I was watching a dark scene the other night, with a bright area that was getting brighter and darker constantly. In that case, the iris which was an extremely fast one, become easily visible. Because the bright area was in the upper right corner, I could see the brightening and dimming in the dark lower left, as well as in the letterbox below it.

It’s just another case of trade-offs. However, all considered, most dynamic irises in current models, produce minimal artifacts. Slow might bother one person more than fast, and the next person (on a different scene) might prefer the slow iris.

As to the W5000, yes, I could detect the iris activity at times – when looking for it – no problem, but in terms of a couple dozen hours of normal viewing, it was never a significant issue.

I’d rather have a little iris visibility on some scenes, rather than inferior black levels, or 3:2 pull-down judder, and so on.

Bottom line: If any iris action you detect on the W5000, is the biggest complaint you have with the projector, then you will likely be extremely pleased with your choice! -art

The rainbow effect is alive and well (with me at least). The effect was less pronounced than the other DLP from Optoma that I mentioned, but it was still there. Worse still, after watching in a dark room for an hour or two, I went to bed and continued to see flashing when my eyes were closed! It’s a good thing I’m not an epileptic. I suppose I’m one of those people who are particularly susceptible to RE. All that to say that it’s going back and I’m going to look at the Epson 1080 UB or the new Sanyo 3000, which was just announced.

As for the positives, black levels, colors, and sharpness were all great.

I did see some noise, however, and it was a bigger issue with the brilliant color feature activated.

A great projector if you don’t notice RE. If you do, stay away.

Thanks again Art for your great site and blog.

I’m torn. I can get the W5000 for less than $2000 (with a $500 rebate) and I can get a Sanyo Z200 for just a bit more. Here’s my setup:

*ceiling mounted in a basement
*screen size of only 92-100″ or so
*will be used mostly for movies with some sports

I’m leaning towards the BenQ, but I’ve been bothered by the rainbow effect I saw on a friend’s cheap DLP projector (an Optoma…can’t remember the model but it is 720p). Is the rainbow effect a deal-breaker? Should I go with the Sanyo to stay away from it entirely?
my
Thanks.

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Hi Tim,

Rainbow effect is always a tough call. I’m sensitive as well, but until I bought my current projector – the JVC RS1 (LCos), I previously owned DLp home theater projectors.

Even if the Optoma you saw had a 4x wheel, and many of their earlier ones were 2x, etc., you may still spot rainbows with a 4x or 5x wheel projector.

So, short of seeing another projector with the same wheel speeed and # of color segments, you won’t know. That said, the Sanyo should be very nice, but if you go LCD, a safe bet and great projector is the Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB, my personal favorite, under $3000 projector. Unmatched black levels, but not quite as sharp an image as the other two. Still, you aren’t likely to notice the sharpness without another projector to compare it to. The Epson isn’t bad, it’s simply average in that regard. With the new pricing that Epson just announced and I put in my blog and in a short article on the homepage, the net value is down around $2150, but since part of that is a free lamp worth, say, $350, you still have about a $2800 out of pocket, before the $300 rebate, and, of course you won’t need the lamp for a year or 3.

Of course I haven’t reviewed the Sanyo yet, but it should be very good. Interestingly it’s contrast, if I remember correctly isn’t as good as the Z2000, but how it performs on black levels etc., is far more important than the contrast spec, which is a marketing football these days. BTW the way they measure contrast – when dynamic irises are involved, is virtually meaningless.

Have fun deciding. Truth of the matter is, you will almost certainly love any of these, unless of course you go with the BenQ, and have a real problem with the rainbows. -art

Ben

Looking forward to your review of the W20000. I am espcailly intrested on how it will perform on noise vs the W5000. It will also prove intresting to see how it compares to your RS1.

On that topic will you get your hands on the new RS1X to ascertain if it addresses the light corners issues that were reported on the RS1. Unfortunately the RS2 is slightly out of reach for me.

Many thanks for your insightful reviews

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Hi Steve,

I was up at BenQ on Wednesday, returning the W5000 and to pick up the W20000. When I got there they said “sorry” we don’t have a W20000 for you yet, another week or so.

I’m trying to finish up my comparison report, and then I have to knock off a couple of biz projectors, and then, I’ll get to the W20000. However, because they could not get it to me last week, The review likely won’t publish until beginning of May. April is shot, with family vacation, a trade show (Las Vegas), and a press junket to Japan. That pretty much wipes out 3 weeks of work time. But, I can promise you that unless BenQ trips me up again, it will be the next full home theater review. -art

Steve

Yes, I plan to review the W20000, but it isn’t likely to happen until mid or late May. -art

thanks

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Hi Sean,

Well, first, when I bought my PE8720, it was $8,000 list price, and I paid a little less than $6,000. So, to start, you are getting 1080p for half the price of the PE8720, back then. Black levels have improved, but not drastically. the PE8720 had slightly more range on the zoom (1.35:1, instead of 1.2:1). The reduced zoom range is due to the larger DLP chip used in the 1080p projectors. Thus, the older W9000 and W10000, which were motorized, had the same inherent 1.35:1, but BenQ put a stop on the range of the motor, since to get the full 1.35:1 you would lose the outer edges of the image. With the W5000, I’m assuming that the slight improvement to 1.2:1, from 1.15:1, still reflects the same issue, but with a manual zoom, they probably were able to expand the range just slightly. The other possibility is that they are using a newer, slightly smaller chip. The W5000 uses what is apparently called a DC1, not the DC3, of the W9000, W10000 and W20000. I have asked BenQ for details as to the difference, but a DC1 should not be confused with first generation widescreen DLP chips. This is apparently a new DLP chip.

Of course that 2.5 years makes for huge jumps in performance should surprise no one. Even more impressive in terms of improvement over this timeframe are the 3LCD projectors. 2.5 years ago, your $2200 bought you a Panasonic PT-AE900U 720p projector. By comparison, I’ll use the Home Cinema 1080 UB. Drastically (and that’s being conservative) better black levels, much brighter, and of course 1080p instead of 720p. The UB costs about $600 more than the old AE900 when it was released, but the overall image improvement is stunning, between the old and new 3LCD projectors, whereas the W5000 closely resembles the performance of the 8720, but better resolution, for far less money.

And of course, 2.5 years ago, I don’t think you could find an LCoS projector for less than $12K (720p?), and now there’s the JVC RS1 with a sub $5000 street price, and the Sony VW40 for under $3K. Also those old LCoS projectors had rather abysmal black level performance compared to DLP’s of its time, whereas the LCoS projectors now, are at worst, the equal to today’s best DLP projectors, and mostly a cut above. -art

Here is a link to the Benq site with details.

http://www.benq.us/products/Projector/?product=767

Here is the image that shows how the two irises work in series:

http://www.benq.us/modules/image_bin.cfm?id=47963&ttid=936297&url=product/projector/w5000/image_bin(1).jpg

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Hi Scott, you are correct, the W5000 uses a dynamic iris as well as a manual one. When I last answered you, I had just unboxed the W5000 for the first time, hadn’t scanned through the manual, etc. The menu control is dynamic black, which I didn’t initially assume was a dynamic iris, but is.