How’s that for a title.  I’m getting inundated (as usual) with folks defending their personal favorites that didn’t pick up a major award this year.  So, I thought I would just remind everyone that there are more really good projectors than one can hand out awards to. These three all received our individual Hot Product Award but none received any of our Best In Class awards from the report.  Let’s start with the most obviously “neglected” great projector, the one I’ve received the most email about:

JVC’s DLA-X35 also sold as the DLA-RS46. JVC has always set the bar for great blacks.  Technically I owned the very first JVC in the “series”, the old RS1.  The RS2 and it’s later day equivalents – the higher end X75R X95R and their RS twins, took blacks to another level still.  The X35 may be the equal to the X55R at blacks but not the X75R / X95R which are quite visibly better.

OK that’s the short version, there’s probably a few more tidbits in the three way comparison between them, that I wrote a month or so ago.

BenQ W7000:  Back again for year two, I really like the BenQ W7000 as a powerfully bright DLP projector that makes the cut as ultra-high contrast – in terms of good blacks.  Not up to the Epson, JVC, Sony, but right there with the Panasonic PT-AE8000 etc.

JVC DLA-X55R Projector

Large screen capable, it’s got the looks – classic DLP look and feel in terms of color and dynamics, and it’s got some flexibility in terms of zoom lens, lens shift.  OK, it has about the shortest lamp life specs of anything in the report, but, again, it is bright.  For those who wouldn’t find the more “elegant” Sharp XV-Z30000 bright enough to rock their world, but love DLP, the W7000 has to be a great choice for about the same money, or a little less.

JVC X55R – that’s the third.  While I appreciate features like e-shift2, and Reality Creation, that is the primary difference between the X35 and the X55R.  I’m sorry, I just don’t see e-shift2 being worth an extra $1500, give or take.  Certainly the X55 is an excellent projector but I’d tell folks hooked on JVC to either buy the X35, or splurge for the X75R, which for the bucks, would be my choice, budget allowing.  -art

I was in contact with Panasonic’s projector group today, as I seemed to remember hearing about a price drop on their flagship PT-AE8000 home theatre projector, when I was attending CES.

Well, I remembered correctly.  Turns out that Panasonic has dropped the MAP price of the

Panasonic's PT-AE8000 Projector - 3D capable - package now $300 less

PT-AE8000U from $2999, to $2799.00.   Note please:  Until end of last year (12/31/12, Panasonic was offering 2 pair of 3D glasses and a year of extended warranty (making it 3 years (or 3000 hours whichever comes first).

They’ve changed that as well.  The new PT-AE8000 romo – through 1/31/13 (a couple of days yet), provides that 3rd year warranty, and the 2 pair of 3D glasses, plus Panasonic has added a $100 rebate, when you register the projector with them.

Panasonic likes these ending soon rebates, etc.  It creates some urgency.  But, fear not.  While there are no guarantees, they do tend to renew them (sometimes with changes), almost endlessly.  Still, don’t blame me if the rebate next month is less valuable.

Now let’s put the changes in perspective.  Essentially we are looking at total decrease in cost of $300.  The $200 price drop, and the addition of a $100 rebate.  What makes that so interesting is that it pretty much gives the Panasonic PT-AE8000 pricing parity with their most direct competitor, the Epson Home Cinema 5020UB.   That’s not surprising, because in past years, it almost always was the Epson that sold for more.

The net $300 in savings also increases the pricing advantage over Three more expensive projectors:  The Mitsubishi HC8000D (review posting this week) at $2999 (but 3D glasses, emitter, are optional), while the Sony VPL-HW50ES is $3999 with glasses and spare lamp, and the JVC DLA-X35 is $3499…

One thing to think about.  Since the glasses come as past of the rebate, you don’t get them when you take delivery of the projector. That means you are waiting weeks? before you can watch 3D.  Since many of you are likely to own more than 2 pair of glasses (for visiting friends), you might want o buy a pair or two when you purchase the Panasonic.

I’m not sure the  $300 lower package will change most people’s decision when choosing between these projectors mentioned (my favorites around the price).  That said, it just might for some of you.  And, of course, if you were already intending to go with the Panasonic PT-AE8000U projector, you end up $300 richer.  Go for it?     -art

New Mitsubishi HC8000D 3D DLP Home Theatre Projector

This Mitsubishi H8000D is another DLP projector from Mitsubishi, similar to the white HC79ooDW we reviewed a couple months back, but finished in black, and with additional performance.  It offers higher contrast: 330,000:1, claims 1300 lumens, and sports a 6 segment 6X color wheel.

Mike has calibrated it, and it already looks much better than before it did when taken right out of the box, without adjustment (I spent about 5 hours with it pre-calibration), the  Cinema and most other modes exhibit too much red, which is easily noticeable on skin tones.  When I was first watching it, I “solved” that problem temporarily. just by turning down the color saturation slightly to make it more watchable.  Still, it was a lot better looking than the LCDTVs on display at Best Buy, just to have a perspective.

Mike’s calibration made a world of difference.  (OK, that might be a little much, so:  made “significant improvement!”)  Of course that’s for those of us seeking superb color accuracy.  Mike determined to calibrate this projector with Brilliant Color turned off.  (On low cost DLP projectors, if the Brilliant Color option isn’t too severe, he usually calibrates with it on.  This is a decision I normally leave for him.   Of course if you are hiring a pro calibrator, you might want both calibrated, since with this projector there’s more than a few extra lumens with it on.

The Mitsubishi HC8000D isn’t  a low cost  projector rather it street prices for about $2999, same as the projector it replaces.  As is typical of DLP projectors, it’s not particularly bright.  Still in 2D, no problem at all filling my 124″ 2.35:1 screen when watching wide screen movies, in my theater environment.

3D was a bit tougher, of course.  One real difference between this HC8000D and the lower cost model, is that this one has “custom” 3D glasses.  When you are viewing in 3D, you have a choice.  You can hand everyone these new glasses, or you can use the “universal” type that the HC7900DW has.  Why bother?  Easy.  Per Mitsubishi, you get a brighter image in 3D with their “special” glasses.  Works for me.  So far I’ve only watched about half of the Avengers in 3D.  Based on that, I’d say the projector is doing a respectable job at about 100″ diagonal with a typical 1.3 gain white screen.  When I tried to push out to fill my screen with a widescreen movie for a few minutes I definitely felt brightness was a problem.

As I’ve said many times in recent years, Mitsubishi doesn’t build light canons.  Their emphasis has never seemed to be on brightness.  Thus, I’ve usually recommended their projectors for screens 110″ diagonal or less (depending on all the usual variables.

That’s all I’ve got for you now.  The photo shoots I’m doing are:  HDTV sports, (in a few minutes), and all the movie based tonight late, and tomorrow night.  Also I’ll have a chance to run the Mitsubishi HC8000D for black levels and shadow detail, against the usual Epson Home Cinema 5020UB, but I also plan to probably embarrass the HC8000D, because the JVC DLA-X95R arrived yesterday.  Timeline wise, Mike will pick that one up for calibration on Monday, return on Tuesday.  Then I’ll also shoot some side by sides with what is sure to be outstanding black level performance (and picture), as one would expect from a $11,999 “hand built” projector with the JVC label on it.

Enough!  Photo shoot time for the HC8000D.

Hang in there.  -art

Let’s consider that thought in terms of some of today’s great directors, and consider who’s directing 3D movies.  Although I’m skipping most of the directors of “mostly for kids” animated films, I will start with Lee Unkrich of Toy Story 3.  If you didn’t see it in 3D, you really didn’t see it at its best.  Want big names?  Check these film directors:

The Hobbit - An Incredible 3D Movie Adventure

James Cameron, (Avatar, Titanic remake, etc.)
Peter Jackson (The Hobbit)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Robert  Zemekis (Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, The Polar Express)
Barry Sonnenfeld (Men In Black 3)
Spielberg (The Adventures of Tintin, he’s also produced a significant number of 3D movies)

and some up and comers:
Sam Raimi (upcoming: Oz: The Great and Powerful – he wrote Back To the Future)
Baz Luhrmann (wrote Moulin Rouge, directing The Great Gatsby).

BTW I’ve seen a 3D trailer of The Great Gatsby, what a feast for the eyes, even if you disagree with my wife who thinks DiCaprio is gorgeous.

The only thing I can’t figure out is what’s holding Tarantino back from directing his first 3D movie.  It seems so natural that he would.  He’s a known huge fan of 3D, and per iMDB (two years ago): Tarantino has been a fan of 3D movies for several years and wishes he had acquired the technology prior to the release of Kill Bill: Vol. 1.   IMDB also said at the time, of Tarantino; “he’s hinted he may use the technology for Kill Bill: Vol. 3, which is due for release in 2014.

OK, have I convinced you that much of the real talent in Hollywood is into 3D (Hey, it’s also rumored that we’ll see some 3D that’s Star Wars related from George Lucas.)

OK, enough name dropping of 3D directors (the full list, is huge).

When home theater projectors started appearing (Runco not withstanding), back at the beginning of the 21st Century (wow, that sure “sounds” long ago and far away), the highest resolution source material we had to view was the standard DVD.  Compared to Blu-ray or HDTV, a standard DVD is a relatively pathetic 853×480 resolution.   That’s barely 1/6 the number of pixels we’re used to with 1080p.  If you have a 100″ wide screen you could think of the resolution of DVD this way:  8.53 dots per inch.  No wonder no one wanted to sit closer than 15+ feet away back then.

That said, Blu-ray and 1080p still have come up seriously short (for us projector folks) NOT watching on some tiny little 42″, 55″, or 65″ LCDTV. 1080p on that same 100″ wide screen is still only 19.2 DPI.   (Think ink jet printers at 600 and 1200 dpi.)  At least at 4K, one square inch (on a 100″ wide screen) will have almost 1600 pixels in that square inch.  Compared to slightly less than 400, at 1080p, and only about 70 at DVD resolution.  All you metric folks out there, you can divide all these DPI numbers by approximately 6.45 to get the number of pixels per square centimeter.

In other words, when it comes to fully immersing yourself in a movie, or sports at 1080p (or 1080i) resolution, in order to not have too soft an image due to the “low resolution” of 1080p, you still have to sit pretty far back – let’s say the equivalent of the back of a typical movie theater, perhaps a little closer than that, or further back still.

And that brings us to where we want to be sitting.  The reason hundreds of millions of people who own nice sized LCDTVs and Plasmas head to the the local Cineplex (movie theater) many times a year, is due to two reasons:

1:  Some just can’t wait 3 months until most titles come out on Blu-Ray, or can be downloaded.

2:  The key one as far as I’m concerned:
Watching a movie on a 60″ screen just isn’t going to immerse you like going to the theater – you definitely do not have that “theater” experience.  No cigar, three strikes, no joy.  Sadness!   For 100′s of millions, movie or not, the only experience is still just “watching TV” not the excitement of a  ”movie premier”.

What is the answer?  Well for sure, 8K resolution would be great, but that will take probably 6 years. (For conversation purposes consider 2K and 1080p to be interchangeable terms, and also 4K and Ultra HD, to be interchangeable.)  Ultra-HD is twice the pixels vertically and horizontally of 1080p:  3840×2160 (8.3 megapixels).

Since I just mentioned 8K, note that they are definitely experimenting with 8K over in Japan.  Over here, though, the next great thing is Ultra-HD – 4K resolution.  It’s not perfect, but it’s a much bigger jump in resolution than going from 720p to 1080p!

And it sure will work for me.  Especially in 3D.   Why?   Because I do have a home theater – in most ways its better than any movie theater in good old California.  (I could argue the advantages of Imax.)  Oh, I recently visited  the theaters for Django and Zero Dark Thirty, but also for the incredible The Hobbit, Life of Pi, and more.

Mostly I stick to Imax, because I really haven’t been satisfied in any thing less.  This is California – which probably fire safety laws demand so much ambient light, that, as I mentioned recently, the movies have no blacks.  When viewing Les Miz, the black levels on the screen were inferior to watching any $999 home theater projector in a half way decent room with lights off.  I think I put it about the equal of the black levels of the recently reviewed Epson Home Cinema 750HD (an entry level 3LCD 720p projector).

Oh, true, we have yet to be allowed to bring DCI color gamut to the home (soon we hope), so the theaters do have slightly more color range, but with all that ambient light forget appreciating that difference!

OK, where am I going with this?  You home theater experience should blow away the local movie theaters. But, then most of the digital theaters these days are using 4K projectors. So the size of the screen to your eyes, can be a lot larger in the theater, thanks to twice the resolution (horizontally and vertically).  That is, you have to sit relatively “further back” at home (smaller perceived screen size), to maintain a sharp image.

With 4K, our home theaters will have parity with the movie theaters, and that can’t happen too soon.

I like sitting about 1/3 to 1/2 back in a good movie theater.  To get that much immersion in my home with a projector, on my 124″ diagonal 2.35:1 (wide) screen, as sitting 1/3 back, I need roughly to sit about 6-8 feet back.  As it stands, with 2K (1080p), at 10 feet back, in my theater, the screen still appears smaller than I would like it to appear, but I’m already just shy of the point where pixels are becoming visible on normal content.

Give me 4K – Ultra-HD, and 6 feet back becomes viable. at 8 feet, the term should be razor sharp, on a screen my size at 4K.  Note, time perhaps to convince Stewart, SI, Da-Lite, Elite, Draper, etc. to commit to offering us affordable curved screens!

And that brings us back to 3D.   I am a 3D fanatic.  (root word:  fan)  3D is not a gimmick.

If you remember nothing else from this article:  Please, try to remember that about the only things humans do on this planet that isn’t in 3D is read, write, and watch movies and TV.  The rest of our lives are in 3D.  Off topic:  Anyone out there dream in 3D?  (Sadly, I don’t remember my dreams.)

You will get to know 3D, it will not go away.  Every year, more and more blockbusters are in 3D, and for the movie snobs among us (no offense) not just blockbusters, more and more great movies too.  The kind that do win Best Picture, Best Actor…  Perhaps some one should wonder if some great blockbusters would have been great without 3D (Avatar comes to mind, Hugo, I think made an excellent 2D movie, but pales compared to the 3D version.)

Why, because it’s not a gimmick, it more closely resembles reality.

People 3D is not what you see the first 5 minutes you have the glasses on.  In most cases, that’s when you are going, “wow, 3D is cool” or “look at that” or “this is weird” (for those not fans).

Folks it’s about the next 2 or 3 hours of 3D, when unless it’s a kids 3D movie where the director is intentionally throwing 3D effects at you, that you forget that you are watching 3D.  Instead you are watching the movie, you are viewing and listening to the story, as it should be.  With real depth.  Things just are more natural.  More REAL, more believable.

And that’s true as long as 3D isn’t being treated as a gimmick by the director.

I can’t imagine watching a great or even good movie in 2D after seeing it on Imax, or in my home theater, in 3D.   It would be like stripping away the color, or maybe more like reducing the color saturation so that bright colors are instead pale.

Giving up great 3D is like taking the life out of a picture.  No, it’s not going to change the story, but great 3D will make “suspending disbelief a whole lot easier.  You will be more immersed in the world you are watching, and your brain (once used to 3D) will make everything more intense, believable.

Again, we’re talking serious 3D, not gimmicky Captain EO, or Journey to the Center of the Earth, putting objects 6 inches from you nose (so your eyes go cross-eyed).

So, projector fans, our time is fast approaching.  In another year or two, many of us will have taken advantage –  viewing true 4K (not gimmicks there either), on 3D content.  (or so we can only hope).

It really pleases me to think of viewing the beauty of Life of Pi in 4K 3D from 6-7 feet back from my 124″ screen in a pitch black home theater, or viewing the in-your-face action, and world building, and story of The Hobbit in 4K 3D.  That experience should have us wondering, in just a few years, how we survived in a world where 1080p and 2D was king.  It’s like looking back from 1080p to that old DVD with WVGA resolution, and pixels bigger than BBs,  1080p will be that same type of dinosaur, an important footnote in history, but not anything we’d want to actually have to suffer through.  (OK, I am getting carried away.)

And of course, 8K will follow 4K.   If only we could speed up the clock of change.

I am speaking from experience.  As noted, I did get to view a few things 3D and 4K in my theater, – including the trailer for Spiderman, on the true 4K Sony VPL-VW1000ES projector.  Thank you Sony, for sending me a server with such content, with the projector.

I’m done “waxing eloquent” (a phrase I don’t think I’ve ever used before, but always admired), about the future.  But for those of you who so far have considered 3D a toy, or just “have no interest”.  I ask only that you keep an open mind.  I’d hate to see you left behind.  Donot miss the 3D worlds you will be able to view in the future in your home  They should be far better,  for the naturalness of 3D, and for the improved resolution that will allow us to have a large enough field of view to be as fully immersed as possible.

Geez, after writing all of this, I think I better catch The Hobbit one more time in an IMAX 3D theater if I can still find one still showing it…  (I just looked, nearest 3D IMAX that still has it, is 50 miles away.  Darn, will have to ask Sony to send the VW1000ES back when they release the Hobbit in 3D.

My only complaint – all of this won’t be available, and affordable soon enough.

That said, I’d be really surprised if you can’t buy a really good true 4K, 3D home theater projector for $5K two years from now. Maybe even a good bit less?  Afterall, it’s more about getting those 4K LCD, LCoS and DLP chips on the street, than it is about 3D, since most of  all new home projectors over $1500 seem to be 3D.

PS  This particular blog was inspired by another blog I read the other day by Andrew Robinson, a hardware reviewer (audio and video…), and independent film director.    I had to comment on a point or two, as I think Andrew was writing with more of an LCDTV slant than from our home theater projector vantage.    I think he fears people will be watching their 4K LCDTVs from 2 feet away.  Check his blog out by clicking here.

PPS.  This turned out way to long for a blog.  I will be re-editing this piece into a main article (or perhaps two) on the projectorreviews.com website, and likely shorten this blog to something reasonable, more to the point, and point readers to the larger article for those willing to put up with my ramblings.

Thanks! -art

PPPS.  Don’t forget – our next two home theater reviews:  JVC DLA-X95R (aka DLA-RS66U from the other JVC division), and the Mitsubishi HC8000D.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that we were expecting the JVC DLA-X75R, essentially identical to the DLA-RS56U from the JVC Pro division, and the Mitsubishi HC8000D.  I had hoped both would arrive before this weekend.

Alas, a few changes.  In speaking with Mitsubishi this past week, they now tell me that an HC8000D 3D projector will ship out and arrive sometime late this week.

JVC also had a problem.  The JVC DLA-X75R it turns out would not be available until a new batch arrived at the end of January.  I would say “darn” or something more emphatic, but for JVC’s alternative:  They are instead, shipping me this week, a DLA-X95R, the JVC flagship home theatre projector. The JVC Pro group’s virtually identical twin is the DLA-RS66U.  Both use “hand selected” components, with the rest going into the next lower down models – DLA-X75R and DLA-RS56.  These two are are $11,999.$4,o00 less at $7999.  Essentially JVC has no price reductions this year, only the addition of the DLA-X55R model we reviewed recently.  Thanks to previously having both the “hand built” and standard projectors in house previously, I’m comfortable addressing both projectors, with just the one.

We’ve had the opportunity in the past to compare JVC’s premium projectors with hand selected optics, light engines, power supplies, etc., against the standard version.  Folks there is a very real difference. Oh, it’s possible that the best X75R coming off the line can match the least of the X95R projectors, but expect visibly better optics for openers, that’s what really impressed us last time.  And JVC manages to claim 130,000:1 contrast instead of 90,000:1, which is also nice, however slight  (takes a doubling to have a easily detectable difference when compared side by side, unlikely that we can tell the difference if not viewed at the same time.  Still, overall, we expect the X95R projector to “look and cook” just like the X75R, except that it will be have a better picture – perhaps not a truly significant difference to most, but it will be there.  Remember, these JVC projectors are the ones with mind boggling black level performance, without needing a dynamic iris.  I can’t wait for it to “land”  We reviewed the X55R which had extremely good black level performance, but blacker blacks are certainly available on some competing (and less expensive projectors using dynamic irises.

So, now it’s a race – which will arrive first.  Mike is standing by to calibrate them.  I truly expect to receive at least one before the weekend, and have that first one posted next week, with the second review only 4-5 days behind.  So, hang in there!

It’s almost obvious, but both of these projectors are fully 3D capable, using active shutter glasses.  The JVC will come with a plug into the back emitter for RF 3D.  The HC8000D?  Best I recall from CEDIA, the 3D emitter for the Mitsubishi (and glasses) are optional.

Both Mitsubishi and JVC claim 1300 lumens.   One interesting thing about the Mitsubishi, is that it can use universal glasses, or (not at the same time) get a brighter image out of glasses specific to the HC8000D that won’t work with the HC7900D.

OK, I’ll likely be doing First Look “reviews” of both, or certainly, on which ever arrives second, to keep you updated.

Other than those two home theater projectors, I’m also expecting JVC to get us their “entry level” DLA-X35, which comes in two “designer flavors”:  The DLA-X35W and DLA-X35B, are the same projector just the W comes in a white cabinet, and the B in Black finish.  Both are $3499.95 (gee, why didn’t they make them $3499.99 to capture those last 4 cents?)   I mean, seriously, (not really), when your product is about $3500 do you still need to be playing around with pennies?

Enough, the reviews will come soon enough for you, we hope!

I had intended to do three or four blogs from the CES show.  So much for good intentions.  Part of the problem was that I didn’t see a new home theater projector that I haven’t seen before, until I visited Optoma, Wednesday afternoon – that is, half way through Day 2 of CES.

“That’s not too bad” you say, but, I am under NDA regarding the Optoma projectors (non-disclosure agreement).  You know the old saying:  ”I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you”  (or me).  I can tell you that Optoma will likely have three new projectors before CEDIA.  The first, probably in the summer.

Plenty of picos and pocket projectors, however.  I will blog about those in the next 24 hours. That said, this year pico’s come in all shapes and small sizes.

This first show blog will be a quick rundown of some of the projectors that I did see there, many of which
were announced at CEDIA and IFA back in September:

On the first day of the show, I met with Panasonic, who was showing

two previously announced projectors, the PT-RZ330 the 1080p model in black, and the PT-RW330 which is WXGA.  Both are 3500 lumens, and claim 20,000 hour life to their solid state Laser/LED light source.  Lest you think that sounds highly energy efficient, at full power these two projectors both draw 460 watts (“Normal” mode).  However, there are two low power consumption modes:  Ecosave 1 and 2, which draw 200 and 178 watts respectively.  Now we’re talking decent energy efficiency.

These two projectors Panasonic showed are LED/Laser projectors, but they are commercial projectors.  These were previously announced.  I believe one had originally been scheduled to ship by now, but running a bit late.

Here’s more skinny on these two Panasonic projectors.  Both sport Digital-Link, which allows them to receive data over a single cable up to 328 feet long.  Both sport 2:1 zoom lenses and full lens shift.

These may not be aimed at the home, but if black levels are respectable, they could be high power home entertainment projectors.   I would, on the other hand, expect to see these projectors in sports bars, and in digital signage.   I did not get to see them in operation, but requested to review one or both of them, over the upcoming months.

Mitsubishi was again showing their HC8000 projector.

Here’s the news on that one.  It’s going to be a race to the finish. Mitsubishi says they will ship me one this coming week.   We’ll see which projector gets here first:

Mitsubishi HC8000D or the JVC DLA-X75R.  JVC said they, too were definitely shipping one of those my way, within days of the show ending.  Folks those will my next two reviews, it’s only a question of which one first!

I did see a new projector for the first time on the first day of the show – Tuesday, but that was the Epson Home Cinema 750HD, their new 720p 3D capable, $899 projector that I blogged about, morning of the 7th.  That, blog, however, was based on a telephone briefing pre-show.  The HC750HD was embargoed until Tuesday morning.  That is, I was briefed, but not allowed to publish.  Well, on Tuesday, I finally got to see the Epson 750HD in action.   They had it set up in their ballroom at the Aria Hotel, in a side by side with Optoma’s venerable (been a round for a while), GT750, a 3D 720p single chip DLP.  In the side by side Epson was touting the advanatages of having the same number of color lumens as white lumens.  (2700).  By comparison, in brightest modes, the Epson easily had richer, brighter colors although the Optoma looked respectable until you looked at the Epson.  In “best mode” the Optoma’s colors were better, but the Epson was noticeably brighter.

That’s it for now.  I’ll be blogging some more about the show, over the next couple of days.  Pico projectors are next, and also the LG “TV”.

LG's new Ultra Short Throw Projector based TV

Wait, gotta mention that one now.  LG in their massive and spectacular booth, was showing a 100″ image coming from a larger black ultra short throw projector (with a digital light source I believe) that sits less than a foot from the screen.  I like that they are marketing the projector as a TV.  Too many folks out there are barely conscious of projectors existing for the home.  LG’s marketing this one could help increase home theater projector awareness.   The room was bright, the picture not quite ready for prime time (nor ready to ship), but you get the idea.  The LG lacks 3D, but my biggest concern, is the high price.  Expected to be under $10,000 but by how much?

In a sense, the LG is trying to accomplish what Epson attempted with their Ensemble HD complete systems, which I thought were awesome.  That is, get projectors into the houses of people who otherwise believed that getting a new LCDTV is easy, and a new projector too complicated.

Of course I visited all the usual suspect booths, including SIM2, BenQ…

That’s it for my first blog post CES.  Hang in their home projector fans.  There will be more.  -art

The HC750HD is expected to look like this HC710HD

Epson has just announced its brightest home entertainment projector ever.  The Home Cinema 750HD, when it starts shipping in a couple of months, will be Epson’s best 720p projector.  Pricing is officially $899!  Or as Epson markets it:  ”under $900″ on their press release.

What’s this Epson HC750HD got, you ask?

Well for openers, the Home Cinema 750HD claims a massive 3000 lumens!  It’s ready to tackle some ambient light.

This projector just might be brighter than your LCDTV or  Plasma TV!  That should give you something to think about.

Designed for your family / living / bonus room this Epson projector should prove to be a real wall melter.  Pair this projector with the proper screen, and the results should be rather amazing, in terms of looking good in brighter situations that only a handful of home projectors can approach.  Pair this projector with the right screen, and it just might make your LCDTVs look not only tiny, but dull.

Of course there’s a lot more to tell you.  Resolution is 720p, but it can, of course accept 1080p in both 2D and 3D.  The Home Cinema 750HD is a 3LCD projector.  Using three LCD panels instead of a single DLP chip, means no rainbow effect to worry about.  Epson owns almost the entire world market share for the type of LCD panels that go into projectors.  Other manufacturers such as Panasonic use Epson panels.  You won’t find Epson offering the other technologies, LCD is what they’re good at.

Note that Epson claims 3000 white lumens, and 3000 color lumens.  Here’s a brief explanation:  Many projectors can produce a much brighter white, than they can red, green or blue.  Typically that means that projectors with low color lumens tend to have poor reds and yellows, at least in their brightest modes.  You can check out our video on Color Lumen Output.  It will demonstrate the differences.  The point is, lots of good looking lumens.

You get 3D!  If the lag times are good, this HC750HD should prove to be a great gaming projector, with all that horsepower.  I know Epson cares about the whole gaming market, as they took very seriously complaints about the slow lag times on the old Epson 3010 and 5010.  The new HC3020 and HC5020, by comparison have a good deal smaller lag.  Epson says they have optimized the Home Cinema 750HD for gaming.  It even has a special mode for it.

With 3000 lumens, 3D should be something to behold.  Treat yourself to a really large screen and get totally immersed.  I must comment, if there’s one thing where projectors truly blow away LCDTVs, it’s for 3D because there’s nothing like a huge screen to really immerse you in the content.

The Home Cinema 750HD uses the same 3D glasses as their more expensive projectors.  Nice glasses, I get to wear them a lot.  They are very lightweight (not the lightest though), rechargeable, and use RF instead of infra-red.  Ready to watch a movie, and the battery needs a charge.  Fear not, 3 minutes will give those glasses enough charge for a typical movie.  A full charge should give you about 40 hours.  Cool!  The charger cable plugs into the glasses, and the other end, plugs into a USB connector on any of your favorite other USB capable devices or chargers.

The 750HD has a built in speaker, handy if you are moving it around, or want to take it outside in the summer for a movie.  That’s become a pretty common feature on the lower cost, “home entertainment” projectors.  There’s also an audio out, so you can route the sound from your inputs, back out to an external sound system, or just hook up a powered subwoofer to “rock the house”.  Literally!

Like some other Epson projector models, and Epson’s  MG850HD and MG50 all in one projectors, the 750HD can run slideshows of your photos via USB.  See, it really is a nice family projector!

As a 3D projector it’s got to have HDMI 1.4, of course, as that’s needed for playing Blu-ray 3D.  The Epson also has component video, S-video, and two USB ports.  Placement flexibility is typical for low cost projectors.  It offers a 1.2:1 manual zoom lens, and advanced keystone correction.  Of course it will come with a remote control.

From a picture quality standpoint, the HC750HD, there are five preset color modes.  I have no details, but figure one will be geared for max brightness and will likely be called Dynamic.  There might be a separate mode for 3D, and there will be at least one mode for movies, one for gaming, and one “standard” mode.

Finally, let’s get to the boring practical stuff:  Lamp life is up to 5000 hours.  That will keep your overall cost of operation way down.  So will the two year warranty.  One year is standard among competitors, and even on many projectors twice as expensive.  It gets better though.  Epson’s providing two years of replacement program, which makes ownership as pain free as possible should you have a problem under warranty.  Epson is also very well known for excellent support of their projectors.

Here’s a tidbit for you.   3LCD projectors are more energy efficient – they deliver more lumens with a less powerful lamp.  There you go. Buy this projector and you can feel a bit better helping the environment.  Don’t worry you environmentalists, there are other green aspects to the 750HD as well.

Enough.  If you want to be first on your block to sport one, figure the Home Cinema 750HD should hit the stores in March.  Pick one up, take it home, plug it into your Blu-ray or DVD player, cable or satellite, iPad, and other tablets and smart phones.   We have used iPads and iPhones when we’ve tested Epson’s all-in-one projectors.  Nice touch.

There’s not a whole lot more I can tell you.  I’ve been briefed, but I have yet to see this projector in action.  I will get my first look at CES, and will blog some more info from the show.  Stay tuned as I learn more, I’ll share.

The image above, I should mention is the Epson 710HD.  I’m resuming the 750HD will look almost identical.  (Or Epson could fool me – it’s happened before!  -art

JVC DLA-X55R Projector

Greetings Home Theater Projector Fans,

This was going to be short, since I have much reviewing to do, but it didn’t turn out that way. Let’s get started with an overview of JVC’s new DLA-X55R from their consumer group.  This projector is also sold by JVC’s pro group as the JVC DLA-RS48U.

So, what do we have here?  We have the DLA-X55 in house, but other than probably some very minor cosmetics, the primary differences are which dealers sell which model.  We work with the consumer group these days because we find them more press friendly (at least to us).  That is, it’s simply easier these days to obtain a DLA-X55R than to get an RS48 from the other folks, as my primary contact on the Pro side, departed from JVC, and I can’t seem to find a replacement contact.  Such is life, with my contacts on the consumer side, I don’t have to worry about it.

The DLA-X55R is a new projector.  The X55 is an LCoS projector (which JVC calls D-iLA – thus the DLA name designations).  The X55R is priced at $4995.  It seems this year, neither the JVC consumer group, nor the Pro are publishing brightness claims.  I haven’t checked the manual yet, but I didn’t see any brightness numbers for the X55R.  That’s not too shocking, a couple years ago, when the pro group launched the first generation of this series, they published brightness numbers that many found overstated.  In fairness, best I can tell, they had been publishing a D65 brightness (calibrated), but then started publishing brightness the way most others do- maximum, not calibrated.

The good news is that we have already measured this projector, both calibrated and not.  So here’s the basics, the rest in the full review which will publish later this week.

Calibrated, with the lens at mid-point on the zoom, 703 lumens.
Uncalibrated, brightest mode, Stage (3D mode is similar), 872 lumens maximum.

Mike measures rather conservatively (other reviewers at other sites tend to produce numbers from about the same as Mike’s to 10% higher.)

The JVC DLA-X55 is 3D ready.  It uses a plug in emitter, and RF rechargeable glasses, both of which are optional.  It will also work with last year’s IR emitter and glasses.  I don’t see a way to use both old and new at the same time.

Based on JVC’s CEDIA pitch, the X55R basically starts out as a DLA-X35R projector, a upgraded version of last year’s X30 projector. But the X55 adds JVC’s e-Shift which they refer to as 4K e-Shift2.  JVC’s got an interesting technology here, and it provides some real benefit, but I do take issue with the 4K moniker, as it’s far from being what I consider to be true 4K.  (I consider true 4K to be approximately 4000 discreet, non-overlapping pixels of data horizontally.  JVC’s e-Shift (or now, e-Shift2), has the same sized (2K) pixels, it simply fires them twice, shifting the pixel..  That can be an effective tool, in several ways, but it isn’t true 4K.  True 4K is going to be something along the lines of 3840×2160.  I am curious as to whether the JVC with it’s e-Shift can produce images that appear sharper than the Sony with it’s Reality Creation, which really impressed.

So, getting beyond the marketing hype, what we have here is an impressive new projector, combining the features of last year’s X30 plus the e-Shift2, and falling nicely between  the X35R and the X75R projectors.  The DLA-X55R with e-Shift engaged definitely seems to produce a “sharper” image than, for example, the Epson Pro Cinema 6020, when I had set up in a side by side comparison.

Perhaps more importantly, the X55 projector also had slightly better blacks than the Epson.  That did not seem to be the case last year when we reviewed the DLA-RS45 projector.  I will be looking to confirm that the JVC DLA-X35 and the X55 are equal at black level performance, it should.  On both the starship and Bond, night train scene images, the JVC was able to produce images from about the same, to slightly blacker black than the Epson. Since the JVC X55R doesn’t use a dynamic iris, more dynamic range.  Last year, with the RS45, the Epson had a touch darker blacks than the JVC projector.  I note that the manual iris on the X55R projector has 16 positions like last year’s higher end models.  The older X30 and RS45 had simpler 3 settings on their manual irises.  We’ll have to see if JVC has also increased the number of iris steps on the X35R and RS48U.

Color is another story.  We’ve always found the high end of the JVC’s to offer truly excellent color, but less the case for the entry level RS40, RS45, X30, etc.  In the past the $7500+ JVC’s had more/better color controls, allowing for a better calibration.

While we haven’t seen the new higher end units, Mike’s report from his calibration still indicates that the DLA-X55 won’t calibrate as well as, say, the higher end X70 we reviewed last year. On the other hand, Mike reports some definite improvements.  He was able to get “very good” color, after both our usual grayscale calibration and a full CMS adjustment of the individual colors. That’s more calibrating than we have done on any previous JVC.

Brightness is still going to be a problem – at least for 3D interested folks.  Again, Mike measures conservatively, but none of the presets – even with the zoom lens at wide angle managed to measure even 1000 lumens, although calibrated it does offer a respectable 703 lumens.   Thus, a projector for dedicated theaters, that can handle large screens if you stick to 2D.

The full review will have all the rest of the details, and my comments after extensive 2D and 3D viewing of movies, sports and whatever else.  I’ll also do a basic lag times test for any gamers out there looking at a $5K projector.

Stay tuned for the full review. I’ve already started writing the easy stuff (the Tour page, Warranty, and parts of the Overview). Photo shoot is already in process, being finished tonight.

Hang in there!  -art

BenQ's W1070: Affordable DLP, 3D, home entertainment projector

The BenQ W1070 arrived about two weeks ago, but due to scheduling, all I could do was give it to Mike for calibration.  As soon as he returned it, we “put a stamp on it” and shipped it to Pete – one of our Gamer – Projector – Bloggers.

Pete should be posting his thoughts on the BenQ W1070 as a gaming projector, over the next few days.

Now, since I personally never fired up the W107o projector I’m just going to take a few paragraphs to report on the BenQ’s feature set, and also relate some of the key measurements from Mike’s calibrating of the projector.  Here goes:

BenQ’s W1070 projector is a 1080p single chip DLP projector claiming 2000 lumens.  It’s small – downright portable at under 6 pounds, and has a built in speaker.   A contrast claim of 10,000:1 indicates more than the minimal black level performance that some other entry level projectors offer.  (A typical DLP without a dynamic iris usually has claims of 2000:1 to 3000:1.)

This BenQ projector has, as we’ve seen before from BenQ, three lamp mode combinations, not the two.  Officially they are rated 3500 hours, 5000 hours and 6000 hours.  That should keep cost of ownership nice and low.  A one year warranty is typical in the price range.

Mike was extremely impressed with the before and after color quality.  He found that the W1070 projector had really good RGB balance right out of the box.  Mike took User 1, which at default is almost as bright as Dynamic, to calibrate.  With or without calibration, the W1070 breaks 1700 lumens (at mid-point on the zoom lens), brighter at full wide angle (almost 1850 lumens).  Mike measures conservatively, so getting within about 7% of claim is unusually good.

In Mike’s calibration of the W1070, he ended up with one of the tightest color temp ranges yet, downright surprising for a low cost projector. Post calibration, every temperature from 20 IRE to 100 IRE (white) measured within 6418K and 6500K.  Color should look great as both RGB and individual colors are very balanced (great).

Now when it comes to the picture itself, I can’t help you there, having not yet seen this projector in action, but it should be back here in about a week.  I expect I’ll be tackling it immediately after the JVC DLA-X55 which I’m currently reviewing.  The timing should be close to perfect, so I would hope to finish the W1070 projector review before Christmas.  If not, then certainly before New Years.  (No one gives me the week off – tsk, tsk.)

Before I forget, the W1070 is a 3D ready projector, but it does not come with any 3D glasses.  BenQ and 3rd party 3D glasses are available.   Here’s a compatibility chart BenQ provides:

Various 3D format supported

HDMI-Video:  3D frame packing, is what Blu-ray discs use.

The W1070 is also NVIDIA 3DTV compatible.  We’ve looked at that early on in 3D with an nVidia 3DTV, to try to get all those 2D games converted on the fly, by the nVidia graphics card.  We weren’t successful at the time, the Optoma we reviewed was brand new, and it seems it takes a while to get certified and a driver created for the nVidia graphics card.  Perhaps Pete, who’s got the W1070 will be able to check out whether we can get that 2D – to – 3D games working.

OK, that’s about all I can think of, for a projector that I haven’t even seen out of the box.  Certainly, Mike has had much to say about the color and calibrating the projector, and that’s all good.  I should note that he made an immediate point about how much better the W1070 is in terms of out of the box, and being calibrated, than the older BenQ W1200 which we reviewed. -art

HC7900DW projector - good in a family room, great in a home theater

As promised in the last review, I wanted to tell you a bit about how I decided in the last couple of days of the review, that the Mitsubishi HC7900 DW, deserved our HOT Product award, when only days earlier I was torn between giving it a Special Interest award (not as “major”), or no award at all.

First, I’ve been reviewing some rather bright home theater projectors lately, including several capable of more than 1500 lumens, and two breaking 2000 lumens.  That seems to have “colored” my initial thoughts.  I’ve also, in the HC7900 review, described it as a great projector for “condos” – in other words, smaller rooms.

Then, as part of the review, I finally moved the HC7900DW projector down into the testing room(from the theater), for some side by side work.  The usual Epson HC5020 (for comparisons) was in Texas, with Pete, for a gamers review, but I still had a dealer provided PT-AE8000 here, so I put the two side by side.  At the end of a couple of hours, spent viewing 2D and 3D, I still agreed with a number of thoughts I had going in, but also came away with some radically different considerations elsewhere:

Brightness:  While I had been describing the Mitsubishi projector as a smaller room projector, the side by side reminded me that calibrated, the Mitsubishi is actually more than 10% brighter than the Panasonic when it too is calibrated!   Now when I tried “brightest” mode against “brightest” mode, true, the Panasonic was far brighter.  Even in eco mode, the Panasonic was a lot brighter than the Mitsubishi at full power.  No contest.

Beautiful color - skin tones in particular, make the HC7900DW impressive

“It’s the Picture…”   Here we go.   Brightness was important, but the kicker is skin tones.  The Panny looks great, but the HC7900 projector is simply a touch better – more natural looking.  That shouldn’t be a real surprise, since that’s generally been a “benefit” of well designed DLP projectors in the past.

Out the door went any thoughts of no award. A projector that can put up an image where skin tones are that good pretty much guarantees some award, unless it’s really screwed up in some other areas.   The HC7900 projector  proved better (skin tones) than the Panasonic, and therefore I’d have to say, also better than the Epsons, and probably comparable to the Sony HW50ES (or perhaps a touch better?  The Sony was gone by that time.

A Perception Problem for Mitsubishi!   I’ll blame them.  Damn them for changing the HC7900′s case to white, from last year’s black on the HC7800D.   The white implies family room, dark/black implies home theater/cave environments.  We know that’s not the case with Epson, who uses black casing on the Pro Cinema 6020 to distinguish it from the otherwise essentially identical Home Cinema 5020.  In Epson’s case, (pun), the black vs. white is more marketing than message.

By switching to white, (and supported in their marketing pieces, Mitsubishi paints the HC7900DW as a home projector more suitable for the family room / living room / bonus room crowd, than the theater crowd.

But, this projector is better in the Theater, despite the white case.  OK, you are asking “why” (most of you have figured it out though).   It’s the brightest mode issues, and combine that with 3D brightness.   Here’s the short version.  The Mitsubishi’s brightest mode may be able to output more than 1300 measured lumens, but, I can’t stand to watch it.  Not even for sports in a bright room.  It’s way too green.  red could be described as a myth.  Now, go to the next best mode, and you still are approaching 1200 lumens which these days, is about average for a brightest mode.

So, do the math.  700 calibrated lumens will do a great job on a 120″ diagonal screen for your 2D content, in a light controlled room.   And 1100+ lumens will do a respectable job for sports etc., with some, but well controlled (intentional?) ambient light.  Again, great in the “cave” or theater.

It’s when the projector faces rooms without great lighting control – especially in the daytime, that the HC7900DW starts running out of lumens quickly.  Of course screens can help, but, in general, the HC7900DW is no match for the various projectors that can put 25% more,  to almost double the lumens on all but a small screen, in such rooms.

Again.  With a smaller screen – say 100″ or 92″ the HC7900 is probably just fine in a family room situation.  But forget that 120″ that would be fine in a theater.   As to 3D, even in my theater 100″ diagonal was really stretching it brightness wise.

So, back to my award decision.   What changed my mind is this:  I determined that it certainly deserves a Hot Product Award if it’s going to be in a home theater/cave.  But, it can deserve it almost as much in that living room, – if you don’t go large screen.

And – this is important – for 3D viewing, count this a projector that’s fine for “playing around” with 3D, someone not really into 3D, not sure about it, and, on the fence if they even need it at all.   Or, perhaps a person who may well decide to replace the projector in a couple of years for whatever reason (including a newfound love for 3D).   But, the HC7900DW is  not my first choice – or even close, for someone like me, who really finds 3D to be superior (even my wife now agrees – when the glasses are comfortable).  I love 3D, because even with a mediocre movie like the new 3 Musketeers, 3D makes it more alive, more believable, because you are more immersed – way more!   Of course if your only 3D viewing experience is on some tiny (50″ perhaps) LCDTV, then you have no real grasp of the immersion.  Immersion is why people pay for Imax over standard cineplex theaters.

I deemed – in my mind – that the HC7900DW is a really excellent (place in your) theater projector, and it can also double as a projector that can be excellent in a living room / family room world (as long as the screen isn’t too large, or the demand for bright 3D  isn’t a major issue).    Now I’ll remind you about what it takes to earn one of our Hot Product Awards:  A projector has to be so well done, that it should be either the best or close to the best choice for at least a small, but significant portion of the folks out there looking for projectors.   I’m not sure that would be true if we considered this first and foremost a family room projector, but once we seriously consider it in the theater, it has to be.  It becomes an excellent, and perhaps, best choice among the DLP projectors competing in the home theater / cave space.  Further, it’s pricing – even though it’s a “local dealer only” distribution, puts it as less expensive than two top competitors – the PT-AE8000 and the VPL-HW50ES, and not much more expensive than the Epson 5020 (which is also white, but great in a theater).

So, there you have it.  Mindset shift.  Home Entertainment projector?   The HC7900′s not bad.  As a home theater projector, it’s rather a fine one.  In both cases, color and especially skin tones, are excellent.  -art

PS.  for you gamers – impressive, though not exceptional lag times to report.  See the Special Features on the first page of the review: