Viewsonic Pro8100 1080p Home Theater Projector - First Look

Greetings all,

Things haven’t worked out as well as I had hoped with this review, and I am now waiting for a replacement review projector from Viewsonic.  As a result, the review will now likely be posted around June 25th.  There have been some very interesting results.  To quote The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” however, “DONT PANIC”.

Let’s start at the beginning.  TheViewsonic Pro8100 is Viewsonic’s first serious entry into the 1080p home theater projector market.  It is a 3LCD projector, however, it is unusually large for an LCD projector.  It’s pretty, in shiny black, and slightly sculpted.  Physicially, it looks worth the price tag ($4999 list price).

Read the rest of this entry »

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Optoma HD65 Projector Review coming along nicely!

Ahh, where to begin?

As many of you have read, I was really impressed with the Optoma HD71.  It’s a really bright 720p home theater projector, who’s review posted earlier this month.  Being a big fan of having some lumens to spare, I really looked forward to the HD71 review, and considered the less expensive, physically tiny, and less bright HD65, to be of secondary interest, compared to the HD71.

Having said all that, I’ve been working with the HD65 for more than a week now (interrupted by a nice weekend out to the desert for the Joshua Tree Music Festival), and find it to be a rather formidable projector in its own right.

I’m already starting to write up the review and hope to post Wed. night, (May 21), but probably you’ll have to settle for Thursday evening.  Projector reviews rarely manage to get finished right on schedule.

Here’s some tasty tidbits about the HD65 that hopefully will hold you over until the full review posts:

It really is tiny for a home theater projector!

The HD65 actually has very good “out of the box” performance, I was most impressed with the color balance.  This is one of the few projectors Read the rest of this entry »

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Major Error on 1080p Projector Comparison

Greetings All!

It has been brought to my attention, that the numbers I cited, in this blog, and in the report, relating to the Panasonic rebate, are incorrect:I reported that the new Promotion was going to be $400 mail-in cash rebate, and a $250 Blockbuster rental card. Well it turns out I screwed up. I see now (from the new banners just received from Panasonic’s ad campaign, and a couple of emails from dealers), that the campaign is actually $650, consisting of $400 in Blockbuster rentals, something that many folks will value as being worth far less, and $250 value for an extra year extended warranty! I checked an email received from Panasonic, and it too said that.Unless I were to value the $650 of blockbuster rentals and warranty, as about the same as cash (and I know many don’t like the Blockbuster cards), that should put the Panasonic in the $2000 - $3500 range.

Here’s how I’m going to treat things:

The awards, as they sit, will remain. Afterall, for those that will value the Blockbuster card as useful, and extra year warranty, it could just barely be rationalized that the PT-AE2000U still makes the top of the lower price category.

But more to the point, if I do not leave it there, I need to change the price point, so that I have at least three projectors in the Entry level category, which might mean making the lowest category $2400 and under, or something like that. That would move a couple projectors over, and force me to redo both the Under $2k and $2K to $3500 sections. All that would occomplish is moving back all reviews a couple of weeks. I just don’t have the “strength” to redo it all. Sorry!

I will, however alter some of the text in the report to correct about the rebate, and I will factor in the different rebate, in the current one-on-one comparisions that are in progress right now, including Panny vs Sanyo, Panny vs HC4900, Panny vs. Epson Home Cinema UB, and assign it a different value proposition.This will delay posting them a couple of days, now probably Thursday night when 6-8 comparisons will now post, as as three of the four I have already written, but not posted, involve the Panasonic.

Again, my apologies, for a grave error on my part. I can’t even blame it on Panasonic. I spoke with them, misunderstood, and then didn’t look closely at the email they sent me, which properly stated the program, so the fault is all mine. -art

Posted in New Projector Reviews, Opinion, Products | 4 Comments »

The 2008 1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report is Posted

Not complete yet, images not yet added, and not fully proofed, but there’s plenty there.

Best In Class $2000 and under:  Panasonic PT-AE2000U

Best In Class $2000 to $3500:  Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB

Best In Class $3500 to $10,000:  JVC DLA-RS2

The report also lists Runner-Up awards and Special Interest awards. 

Click for the 2008 1080p Home Theater Projector Report. Enjoy! 

Posted in New Projector Reviews, News, Opinion | 3 Comments »

The 2008 1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report is Posted

Not complete yet, images not yet added, and not fully proofed, but there’s plenty there.Best In Class $2000 and under:  Panasonic PT-AE2000UBest In Class $2000 to $3500:  Epson Home Cinema 1080 UBBest In Class $3500 to $10,000:  JVC DLA-RS2The report also lists Runner-Up awards and Special Interest awards. Click for the 2008 1080p Home Theater Projector Report. Enjoy! 

Posted in New Projector Reviews, News, Opinion | No Comments »

1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report Slightly Delayed

Greetings all,

I’m working hard on the report, but with 20 projectors under consideration, it has become a much more formidable task, than last year’s. While my goal has been to publish this Friday evening, I am convinced, that I can’t complete the entire report by then.

I’m now expecting to have the full report posted on Tuesday, March 18th. If I can, I may post some sections as early as this Friday, but no promises. Hang in there! -art

Posted in Industry, New Projector Reviews, Opinion | 5 Comments »

Projectors under Review: BenQ W5000 - impressive

Just when I’ve been convincing myself that DLP projectors have lost their historic advantage over 3LCD projectors, in the home theater projector space, along comes the BenQ W5000 1080p home theater projector.

Mind you, I have barely begun the W5000 review, having only viewed it in my theater room for perhaps 5 hours, a mix of movies (including parts of Casino Royale, one of the Harry Potter’s, and a fair assortment of HDTV content (including a little Blade: Trinity).

This evening, the W5000 moves to the testing room for calibration and measurements. Meantime, here are some preliminary thoughts:Sharpness: Outstanding. Not much of a surprise, as I owned the PE8720 before I bought the JVC RS1. Even back then, that huge lens on the BenQ was well regarded as producing as sharp an image as any other projector anywhere near the price.

In terms of sharpness, the W5000 is second to none, of all the 1080p projectors that I have reviewed. The Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB, and the Sony VW40, both recently reviewed, can’t match the W5000’s sharpness, and certainly my JVC RS1 falls short. Extremely impressive.

Out of the box performance and color handling: Not bad, not bad at all. Not perfect, but adjusting this guy is going to be a snap. The out of the box color accuracy seems very good, close to the RS1 and better than most other projectors - many of which desperately need calibration to reveal their true potential.

One comment relating to picture quality. The W5000 has Brilliant Color - which is found on a number of DLP projectors. In the case of the W5000 the choices are: Brilliant Color - off, or on. Some projectors provide a range of Brilliant Color settings, but not the W5000. With Brilliant Color engaged, the overall brightness (among other things) increases significantly. However, with Brilliant Color, the W5000 loses any claims to being “film-like.” With Brilliant Color on, the BenQ W5000 projector is going to function really well, when dealing with ambient light, but skin tones (and everything) appear oversaturated (that’s a simplistic assessment), and very hard. Some won’t mind, especially with ambient light situations, but to achieve “best” mode, it definitely looks to require Brilliant Color to be turned off (it defaults to on).Black level performance looks to be excellent. I’ll be doing some side by side comparisons including the Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB. At first glance the BenQ W5000 looks like it is at least very close to the Epson. We shall see!

Placement flexibility: The bad, as always, for DLP projectors, is limited zoom range. in this case, 1.2:1. That’s a little better than the older W10000’s 1.15:1, but still very limited. Like the other BenQ’s it does offer lens shift, with enough range that the lens can be anywhere from even with the bottom of the screen surface, to even with the top. Not quite as much range as some 3LCD projectors, but still a very acceptable amount.

Shelf mounting the W5000 projector, is doable, within the limits of the zoom lens. Overall the limited throw range would have to be considered medium to long, so a good number of people will be able to shelf mount. The important point to note, is that for those wanting to shelf mount, the limited zoom might require you to restrict your screen size to a narrow range. For example, you might discover that for your room, based on its depth, that if shelf mounting, you can only use a screen between 84″ and 100″ or 96″ and 115″, and so on.

That’s it for now. The W5000 projector review should post this coming Tuesday, Feb 25, or maybe Feb 26.

Stay tuned! -art

Posted in New Projector Reviews, Opinion, Products | 10 Comments »

1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report, Optoma, BenQ Projector Reviews

Greetings all!Well, as no surprise to my “regular” readers, I’m behind the curve again, with reviews, and therefore, the big 1080p projector comparison report. This time it’s a couple of things causing the delay, but mostly the decision to slide in two more reviews, before starting the report.Next to publish is the Optoma HD803 1080p projector, a variation on the previously reviewed HD8000 and HD80. This will be a relatively short review in that this projector is so similar to the HD80, that much of the info can be taken from the HD80 review.The HD803 review should post tomorrow (Wed.) night. I hope to “rush” the BenQ W5000 (still in its box, but here), out by next Monday or Tuesday evening, and then on to the big comparison report.The structure of the 1080p report will be similar to last year’s. This time we’ll be giving out Best in Class awards in three categories: $2000 and under street price, $2000 to $4000 street price, and $4000 to $10,000 street price.Just for clarity, I don’t have the some 15+ projectors that are compared, here at one time. Rather this is put together from the many 1080p projector reviews done over the last year, including projectors such as the Panasonic PT-AE2000U, Epson Pro and Home Cinema 1080UB, Sony VW40 and VW60, JVC RS1 and RS2, some Optomas, the BenQ W5000, the Sanyo PLV-Z2000, and the Sharp XV-Z20000.The 1080p Comparison Report will feature a number of pages, that directly compare one projector to another, as was done last year.With a little luck, the Comparison report will initially publish around March 6 or 7th.Hang in there! -art

Posted in New Projector Reviews, Opinion | 3 Comments »

1080p Home Theater Projectors - Sony VW40 and Optoma HD803 reviews - First Look

Yep, boys and girls, I am working now, on reviewing two more 1080p home theater projectors, the last two before I publish our 2nd Annual 1080p projector comparison report. Sony’s new VPL-VW40, a lower cost  - $2999 - alternative to their VPL-VW60 (reviewed in December), and Optoma’s HD803.The Sony, is, of course, another SXRD (LCoS) based projector, while the Optoma HD803 is apparently the third in a family of almost identical Optoma DLP home theater projectors, including the HD80 and HD8000.

The Optoma is coming out of its box in a few minutes, so I still don’t know what differences (if any) between it, and its siblings.

The Sony VW40, however, has already been measured and calibrated, and I’ve done some watching, side by side, with Epson’s Home Cinema 1080UB.  

As Sergeant Schultz (of  Hogan’s Heros fame - for those of you with limited life experience), would say…. “verrrrry interesting”.

So, here’s a couple of initial impressions of the Sony.  I’ll do another blog in a couple of days, with some thoughts on the Optoma.The VW40, in best mode, measured 460 lumens, after some tuning.  That put it about dead even with Epson’s 1080UB.   It sure doesn’t have a great deal in reserve though, if you need to fight ambient light, measuring just under 900 lumens in a retuned and pushed Dynamic mode (that’s roughly 40% less than the Epson).

Surprisingly, the Sony VW40 produces a slightly sharper image.  It almost looks like they’ve got some edge sharpening algorithm  going, I’ll take a closer look.  Based on initial impression it seems sharper than the VW60, which would be equally surprising.Black levels, were the most interesting - I had both projectors - Epson and Sony - side by side, and found black levels to be near identical.  It seems at it’s very best, the Sony can get a slightly blacker black than the Epson.  Remember they both use dynamic irises. Most of the time, however, the black levels of the Epson has a slight advantage.  These two home theater projectors are in the same league!  The Epson also has a slight advantage in shadow detail - slight - being the operative term.  The Sony though does suffer from some uneven illumination, and Sony’s usual slight blue tint on blacks.  LCD vs LCoS is going to be personal preference for many, I think.

It will be interesting to see how the Optoma HD803 fits into this.  I’m tuning it as soon as I finish this posting, and this evening, I’ll be shooting some side by side images with the Optoma HD803 and the Sony VW40, and also the Optoma HD803 vs. the Epson Home Cinema 1080UB.  Last night I shot the Epson vs Sony VW40. This should all make for some interesting results and commentary, as we get comparisons between three relatively low cost 1080p projectors - one LCD, one DLP, and one LCoS.

Once I get these two reviews posted, I’ll be immediately staring on the 1080p Home Theater Projectors: Comparison Report, which will cover about a dozen and a half 1080p projectors, although several will be variations of the same projector - such as Epson Home and Pro Cinema 1080UB, and the Optoma HD80, HD803, HD8000.Stay tuned!  -art 

Posted in New Projector Reviews, Opinion, Products | 8 Comments »

1080p Projectors - 2008 Comparison Report - coming soon!

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: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in New Projector Reviews, Opinion | 3 Comments »