Yes, I’ve been promising, and promising, so finally, here’s my two cents about the Vivitek 5080 projector.  It’s iris behaves differently than the almost identical Optoma HD8600.  The iris is actually rather smooth, however, it also doesn’t seem to have as much range as the Optoma.   It’s been a long time since the HD8600 was here, but my belief is that the Vivitek 5080 cannot produce as dark a black level, because it’s iris isn’t set to close down as much.

That’s a fair trade-off.  In Optoma’s case, they delivered great blacks, but in doing so, ended up with iris action I couldn’t live with for long.  Turning off the iris solves the problem but reduced that projector’s black level performance to something well below it’s pay grade.  (How’s that for a mixed metaphor?)

The bottom line, is that the Vivitek 5080 is being prepped for a full review.  Mike picked it up earlier, and will bring it back measured and calibrated.

The Vivitek 5080, at it’s lower price point (than the Optoma) and smoother iris should be interesting competition for the Epson UB’s, the LG CF181D, Panasonic, BenQ W6000 and others in the Vivitek price range.  Most of you wanted most, though, to hear what I thought of the iris, since much of the rest is the same as that Optoma, and, hey, once calibrated, they all do pretty darn good color.

Meantime, I’m working on the Runco review, and also have a couple of LG’s to deal with.  The full Vivitek projector review will come between the two LG’s (CF3D and AF115). -art

Sorry, wanted to get this up before the holiday weekend, oh well.

The really short version is the iris action is much improved. It’s still not the least visible around, but in some troublesome scenes the improvement is dramatic.  One of the areas where irises can get to be noticeable and annoying, is in darker slow moving scenes, usually two people conversing, with the camera shots enough different in brightness that you see the effects of the iris opening every time the cut to the brighter of the two, then closing when it cuts back.  You get the same effect on movie credits when they fade in and out.  No one cares on the credits though.  I also checked out some other types of scenes such as the underwater scenes in Hunt For Red October – there aren’t many of the subs but a couple can drive some irises crazy.  That was one of the examples I showed BenQ when pushing them to improve their dynamic iris action.  Well, life is good -both projectors improved significantly from “nasty” to just minor visibility.

I get spoiled watching my JVC with its lack of a dynamic iris. This may make me a bit less tolerant of the more visible iris action, than others, but, when I do yell ‘problem’ at a manufacturer, it really does need to be improved.  Of course, there will be continued improvements made with new algorithms over time, just as we expect with creative frame interpolation as well.

The nature of what is being accomplished with dynamic irises demands that the iris action is detectable.  The trick is to minimize its visibility.  The more range – the more you want to be able to close that iris down, when needed, also means you are expanding the maximum amount of change, and that just makes it more visible.  There’s no perfect answer – therre will always be some scenes/scene changes, that will cause dynamic irises to occasionally become noticeable.

I still don’t think the InFocus has the best overall iris action. While it could still be improved, InFocus accomplished what they needed to, taking the SP8602 iris action from occasionally annoying (which is unacceptable), to being fairly typical, and therefore acceptable to almost everyone.  We all know we are accepting the consequences in exchange for blacker blacks, especially on those darker scenes.

I am relieved.  Without a respectable fix, I would have regretted giving them the benefit of the doubt – and a Best In Class – Runner-up award.

I dropped off the InFocus SP8602 at UPS this afternoon.  Ahh, I really did like it’s nice bright image.  Fortunately I am now watching / listening to Paladia on HDTV – found a Glastonbury 2005 music festival performance, and I’m doing it on the Runco LX7, a 3 chip DLP which is even brighter… wow. -art

No, this won’t be a religious discussion, despite the OMG.   It’s been a 4 year struggle to convince Runco to let me review one of their projectors.  Oh, I did review the top of the line (at the time) Planar a couple of years ago (the 8150, a single chip), but never a Runco – or Vidikron three chip DLP.  In fact, the only 3 chip DLP home theater projector I’ve ever reviewed is the SIM2 C3X several years ago. That was a 720p projector.

Well, guess what?  The RUNCO LS-7 is a three chip, 720p resolution DLP projector.  I can tell you that I was rather dazzled by the SIM2, and one of the most dazzling things about the SIM2 wasn’t amazing color, nor great black levels, but awesome power, combined with excellent color.  It was the sheer lumen output that made everything else quite literally pale by comparison.

Funny thing.  That’s how I would start off describing the the RUNCO LS-7.  (Hey, they are the ones who insist on all CAPs for their name.)  All I’ve done so far is one quick measurement of brightness.  RUNCO doesn’t provide a bunch of preset modes.  It is ISF certified, and when you power it up, a white opening screen appears, that says basically:  ISF Certified, this projector has been calibrated for:  (the calibrator will insert your name there).

This makes things interesting.  This RUNCO arrived with some seriously accurate colors based on first viewing.  No doubt it has been calibrated before it was sent out to me.

Remember, it is very unlikely you could buy (at least in the US) a new RUNCO projector and not have the calibration be part of the purchase.  In other words I don’t think RUNCO is going to let you buy one in a sealed box and have fun playing and adjusting it yourself.  (And remember, those ISF modes are password protected to keep you and I out of there.)

From watching this RUNCO, I don’t see any need to have Mike haul it to his place to calibrate it.  The picture looks too good.  (The LS7 projector is “substantial” – although not dramatically bigger (it is a lot taller) than a JVC, it is a bunch heavier at 41 pounds.)

Instead, I’m going to have Mike drag his gear here, just to get me a set of IRE measurements to see how good it is.  I’ll handle the brightness measurements, I don’t mind that.  The reason Mike’s been doing all our calibration the last year and a half, is that I hate calibrating projectors because when I used to calibrate projectors,  I was rarely satisfied with just good readings, but often end up  starting over again looking for a better overall picture, even if it doesn’t measure quite as good.

But brightness is easy!  As I said, a first quick look doing the math in my head, this RUNCO LS7 produced at least 1400 lumens!  RUNCO claims 1708 lumens after calibration.

And guess what – this projector has a dynamic iris.  It’s actually pretty good.  Not the best, and it does yo-yo just a little on those close up people talking scenes with the room is moderately dark, as the people move just a little.  It does snap pretty quickly adapting to new scenes, but once in a while the lag is just a tad too much.  Still, not bad, one of the better irises I’ve seen, but there are less noticeable ones out there.

Here’s a surprise – black levels are really good.   The brightness difference between the LS7 and my JVC RS20 with over 1300 hours on the lamp, is close to night and day.  I doubt my JVC is even putting out 500 lumens at this point, certainly not much more than that.  So, the RUNCO may well be 3 times as bright.  How good are the blacks?  Very good question.  It may well do better than the better single chip DLPs I have here, like the InFocus SP8602.  You better believe the RUNCO and the InFocus will go head to head before I ship the InFocus back.  Getting two big projectors set up in my small testing room is challenging, but, what a test.  If I position them right, using maximum lens shift for the InFocus, I should be able to get the two on the screen with similar brightness.

BTW, I don’t think that the LS7 blacks are as good as my RS20, but I’m pretty certain that they can match or beat the Epson 8500UB / 9500UB projectors, and any projector with blacks that good, is starting from an excellent place where other things start becoming more important – such as gorgeous, accurate color.

And did I mention that this big beast is virtually silent.  I’m not sure how quiet, but I doubt it is more than 21-22db with lamp at full power!   Impressively quiet.

Hmm, my biggest concern about the RUNCO is that they will want me to give it back. Darn.

I have split the screen, between the LS7 and my RS20.  I set up both in my main theater, RS20 on its high shelf, RUNCO on table top.  I zoomed out the JVC down to about a 100″ diagonal image (from 128), and used about the same size for the RUNCO.  The RS20 image was above the RUNCOs, and I was able to have about 80% of both projectors’ image heights on the screen when watching 2.35:1 content.  I’ll have some images for you, but my RS20 looked absolutely, positively – pathetic!   It felt like the 98 pound weakling hanging around Muscle beach with all the weightlifters.  Now, I know how good my RS20 looks. Turn off the Runco, and in a few minutes the JVC looks great again, but the sheer brightness, makes the JVC look almost busted by comparison. Dull, dim, lifeless – terms that normally don’t come to mind, with the projector I named best overall last year!

And to think, by RUNCO’s standards, the LS7 is fairly close to being entry level, selling for a mere $14,999

Anyway, stay tuned. Despite this being only 720p, it looks sharp. (the pixel convergence wasn’t that impressive) At first glance, my JVC wasn’t noticeably sharper at all. I’ll have to take a closer look tonight.

Before I fired up this LS7, had you asked if I thought it would compare, to say an RS25,  I would have guessed: Everybit as good in terms of color, and a lot brighter, but with noticeably inferior blacks and a very soft image. I was apparently wrong, at least as far as “noticeably inferior blacks”, and softness. Darn, I wonder how much the 1080p version is? And for the rest of you, ya gotta start wondering – if this sucka looks this good for $15K, what do RUNCO’s serious projectors look like?  (For most of us, wonder is all we get to do, as most Runco’s cost more than most BMWs.

Remember most of RUNCO’s projectors are $39K to well over $100,000! Yes, you can spend more than 10 times as much for a top of the line RUNCO. OK, salivating yet? (I still am). I’ve got to bang out the Mitsubishi HC6800 review next (it only needs to be written up (20+ hours). By the time I have the Mits published early next week, I’ll have completed most of my non-writing work with the RUNCO LS-7, so its review may manage to publish before end of May. While you shouldn’t wager on that (unless you are betting against a May release), you can bet that it will be finished and online well before I leave for the Infocomm show on June 8th.

One last thought for all to consider – you know me – I’m always asking the manufacturers for more lumens.  I scold them regularly.  I mean how many home theater projectors out there can put 12 ft-lamberts on a 120″ diagonal screen, when their lamp has already reached 3/4 of its life?   I don’t know?  Maybe half a dozen out of 50+ projectors (under $10k)  in their best modes?

So, here I’ve got a RUNCO LS-7, that a quick measurement clocks it at over 1400 lumens in best mode!  The point being that RUNCO recommends a projector this “dim” (my words) for screen sizes from 72″ diagonal up to 120″ inches.  You want to go larger?  It would seem that RUNCO would say, no problem, just buy a bright RUNCO, not one of our low power, entry level, LifeStyle (LS) projectors!

That’s it, enough for now.  Lord of the Rings – Fellowship, (the Blu-ray edition of course), will be first up on the LS-7, this evening.  Wife!  make some popcorn!  -art

I am pleased to say, I probably increased my practical knowledge at the show, by 2x.  Unfortunately,that catapulted me into the “know enough to be dangerous” category.

On the downside, I’m now probably 4x as confused.

But, guys, I’m working on it.   3D is my next project after the big Home Projector report, and the K-12 projector report publishing around May 9th.

I’ve got 2 3D projectors already here.  (A couple of other manufacturers have already offered.)  One projector is your basic 720p DLP (but 3D ready), and a massive LCoS projector from LG ($10K), at the other end of the spectrum.  (The low cost projector uses active glasses, while the expensive one uses passive glasses.  I’m also bringing in a polarizing modulator that should work as an add on to many existing projectors (for some types of 3D content?)

My biggest problem, folks, is content.  I’m going to pick up a blu-ray player this weekend that has the necessary HDMI 1.4 that looks to be needed for the best 3D movie compatibility going forward. (Or use a similarly equipped PC?).

For gaming, if any of you are playing 3D games in 3D, drop me a line (comment in this blog).  The one of the guys at Nvidia, that I spoke with at NAB says Batman, is one of the best 3D games.  I’m open to other suggestions, of course, and different types of gaming.

I’m also going to either buy another computer next week, or upgrade the card in our most powerful PC here (a 3 year old gateway – I’m a Mac guy mostly), so I can handle the 3D computer based content (including games).

Hey, anyone out there already gaming in 3D, would love to chat, about what you have as a setup (yes even LCDTVs), software, video card, etc… If you have something to pass along, commenting back to this particular blog would be the best thing until I start publishing all the 3D stuff, in the 3 – 8 week timeframe.

My goal is to be ready to rock in terms of 3D, by end of May, with a couple of articles published, and at least one review.

BTW, I’ve got my passive glasses here (two types), I’ve got my active shutter glasses too.  It’s the content, that’s now critical.

And, before I get back to work, one thought relating to 3D hype that has been annoying me for many months.  The sad thing is I’ve even heard it from some very smart industry folks, who should know better, if they had thought it through:

If you’ve been doing any reading about 3D in the  home, it’s not uncommon to read one particular criticism of the solutions that require the active glasses, to view, and that is:

That the expense of the glasses is major problem.  I’ve seen stuff like “…it’s ridiculous, who’s going to buy 4 pairs of $200 glasses to watch 3D on reasonably low cost projectors or other display technologies.”

Arrrgh!   OK, first of all, I searched the other day, one of the distributor’s sites that I buy occasional gear from.  They had, I don’t know, maybe 12 different pairs of 3D shutter glasses.

Of those, yes, there were several up around $200 and one retailing for $400.  But two were down around $100, and several others between there and $150.

And that’s the price today, in a consumer market that has no content as of yet, except some limited gaming…   There are quite truly millions of LCDTVs and plasmas that will be sold in 2010, that are 3D ready.

So, if 3D doesn’t fizzle again, like in the 50’s and late? 70’s or 80’s, there will be millions of shutter glasses sold over the next 2-3 years.

In other words, no doubt by 2013 sometime, you’ll probably be able to buy a cheap pair of shutter glasses for what? $14.99, ok, maybe $25/pair.

In other words, the price of using active shutter glasses will not be a critical issue, and certainly not a deal breaker.  The hype right now (about the pricing), is coming, in part, from the manufacturers who’s gear works better with the passive glasses.

There are advantages and disadvantages of both types of solutions, but let’s at least take “the high price of active shutter glasses out of the conversation.  Sure, the prices will be this high at least until the fall, but then we should definitely start seeing active ones for under $100 and dropping.

Let’s make the decisions based on picture quality, not silly arguements that don’t hold much water.

That’s it.  -a

Greetings all,

I’m partially recovered from working on the report, as well as from the Coachella Music Festival this past weekend. BTW, my favorite performers (I only made the Sat and Sunday events, not Friday), were Tom Yorke (without Radiohead), Muse, Pavement, Gorillaz and MGNT and Dead Weather (Jack White).  Others I heard that were very good included XX, Edward Sharp? and for those that like to dance (including me), Tiesto!

Then, because I never can get enough, saw the Eagles at the Hollywood Bowl, on Tuesday.  It was cold out there, but great concert.  Make that awesome, especially the all acoustic parts.

But, back to life.  As soon as I post these two blogs, I’m going to spend the weekend churning out a pile of side by side comparisons for the report.  The first two should go live late tonight, or by 2pm tomorrow.  My goal is about a dozen, like last year…

And yes, it will mostly be comparisons between the awards winners.  Not much point in doing a comparison between two projectors that didn’t impress me, (even if one of them impressed some of you), when there are an almost infinite (ok almost 1000) possible side-by-sides with 30 projectors.

After the comparisons, I still have to finish the HC6800 review, but that may take a few weeks.

I have another project that will bore most of you HT enthusiasts.  I have to publish my annual K-12 Projector Comparison Report for the schools.  It’s a priority, as purchasing season for K-12 schools is about to open.  After that…

It will be time to finish the HC6800, and start with 3D.  And that will be the topic of the blog to follow in a few minutes. -art

Well, sorry, I lied again.  I posted on the site that the big home theater projector report for 2010 would be up before I left for NAB.  Sadly, when I set down the computer at 4am Monday, so I could drive up to Las Vegas for the NAB (national association of broadcasters), it wasn’t even close.  At that point I probably still had 15 hours of writing left.

Only managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of writing of the home theater projector report  at the show.  But, I returned late last night, from the show, and am now back at the grind.

I’ve got a tight window.  I have to leave town again Saturday, (tomorrow) before noon.  Heading to the Coacella music festival for two days.  Plan to catch a lot of good bands, including Muse, Tom Yorke (without Radiohead, but with..?), The Dead Weather (Jack White), MGNT, Gorillaz, Pavement, and many more.  Coachella is a great music festival, and I’ve managed to get there 8 of the last 9 years (or is it 7 of 8?).  And did I mention that my daughter (HS senior), is the lead tonight in the opening of their high school musical (Curtains -for those who have heard of it, one of less well known recent broadway shows.).  That’s at 7pm.

So, I’ve got exactly 6 hours (plus the morning) to get this up.  Here’s the plan.

The Home Theater Projector Report – 1080p projectors – 2010 (the new official name – hopefully google will like it better than the old name:  2010 1080p Projector Comparison Report, and send us more warm bodies to read and click.

Since I was unable to get the report out on the 14th, I figure I owe you a little something for your patience, so, I’m going to list the major award winners, for you, right now.  Of course you guys, my “regulars, fans, stalkers, friends”, who read most of the reviews shouldn’t be particularly surprised.

Here, they are, with links back to their reviews.  The very first pages to post will include the full Winners page, with multiple paragraphs on why each one won.  (Same format as last year).

Where I’m still behind, is in writing the Home Theater Projector report’s head to head comparisons (0 of 12 written, 5 mapped out), and finishing the Image Quality page, still missing the Overall Image Quality, and the HDTV sections.

And about 3 more hours of dropping in images.  Not much time, which is why I’ve ignored the blog since late last week too. Sorry about that.  middle of next week I’ll try to get provide some answers to comments.  Sometime today, I’ll at least post all the comments that have come in, but answering some of them will have to wait.

OK, that’s it, but thanks for reading the blog and site.  Here are the Best In Class, and Best In Class, Runner-Up awards for this year’s Home Theater Projector Comparison Report – 1080p Projectors – 2010.   There are some Special Interest awards too, but I’ll save those for tomorrow.

From the Top:

Home theater projectors:  Best In Class – Premium Class: $3500 – $10,000:

JVC DLA-RS35 projector: Yes, Alice, putting all the best components in one box really does make a difference, unlike the pill your mother gives you…  which as the song says, does nothing at all.  I’ll give you a clue – while the blacks might be a little better than the DLA-RS25, the near perfect convergence, is the magic.  This JVC  RS35 is the sharpest looking LCoS or 3LCD home theater projector, I’ve ever seen, and rivals a lot of those single chip DLP projectors. Wow!

You will ask, so I will answer now.   If I was replacing my RS20 this year (nope, decided to hold off at least until the end of 2010, to see the next generation), and both the DLA-RS25 and DLA-RS35 are in my price range, I WILL spend the extra for the RS35, based on my viewing experience of both.

Home theater projectors: Best In Class, Runner-Up – Premium Class  (tie)

JVC DLA-RS25 - It’s the next best thing, based on my criteria, yes, there are other projectors sharper, but, the blacks… and the great color…

InFocus SP8602 - Surprise!  From the “new” InFocus, and all new projector, great color, good blacks, and if mounted properly, tons of lumens… compared to the others in this class.

Home theater projectors: Best In Class – Mid-Price Class: $2000 – $3500

Epson Home Cinema 8500UB (OK, are any of you surprised?)  - Good best mode brightness, lots of lumens for sports HDTV and ambient light, and unmatched black level performance anywhere near the price.  Third generation to take top honors in this price range.

Home theater projectors: Best In Class, Runner-Up – Mid-Price Class: (tie)

LG CF181D projector: Ahh, a new player.  Tons of lumens, really great on color. Blacks could be better, but, if they were in the same “class” as the Epson, the LG would have been the likely winner of the Home Theater  this year.

BenQ W6000 projector: Another light canon, but this time DLP.  Different from the LG, but in many ways the same: Brightness, good placement flexiblity, etc.  But the BenQ has that DLP look and feel, and has a really sharp image, as, for the most part, only single chip DLP’s can.

Home theater projectors: Best In Class – Entry Lvel  Class: Under $2000

Panasonic PT-AE4000 projector - The Panasonic snuck into the entry level price class with its $1999 price (just barely!)  The rest of the competition in this class just couldn’t match the black levels and the most extensive feature set of perhaps any projector in this review.  Still could use a few more lumens, but hey, it’s “entry level”.  Doesn’t look like it though.  It completely lows away the really low cost $999 projectors.

Home theater projectors: Best In Class, Runner-Up – Mid-Price Class (tie):

Mitsubishi HC3800 projector – No dynamic iris, no lens shift, limited placement flexibility.  Actually not much but good blacks, really sharp image, and extremely bright best mode performance. This projector sizzles – that is, that pop and wow factor that blows away your friends.  Better blacks than any other “affordable” DLP projector I’ve seen, without a dynamic iris, it blows away the $999 models, for a few hundred more.  It may be simple but it looks great, especially for the bucks.

Epson Home Cinema 8100 projector – Better than last year’s Winner, in this class, but except for value proposition, it just can’t compete with the Panasonic PT-AE4000 projector. This lowest cost 1080p Epson projector, has very good blacks for a non ultra high contrast projector, good best mode lumens, and lots of brightest.  Great placement flexibility, and great warranty.

But, back to my comment about the value proposition.  As I’ve reported many times, the cost difference of owning the Epson vs the Panasonic is huge.  Since both projectors will almost certainly be run with lamp on full, heavy users (40 hours a week) will save about $500 in lamp costs, for every 2 years of use.  So, at 4 years, the Epson will have cost less than half.  I do the math in the review and in the Home theater projector comparison report.

That’s all for now (could have written one comparison in the time I took for this, but I owed ya!)

Hang in there.  Remember, Home Theater Projector Comparison Report –  most of it tomorrow before noon, pacific time (US).  -art

This may surprise some of you, but yes, it was.  My expectations – for the third of the $999 1080p projectors, this BenQ W1000, was for it to be another fairly unremarkable projector.  As it turns out, I’ve impressed, and that’s doubly difficult since I’m coming off of reviewing a pair of over $5000 JVC projectors.

It’s true, I haven’t spent very much time with the BenQ W1000 projector yet, maybe 5 hours of viewing, but I like a lot of what I see.

Mike complained about limited grayscale control, but the setup he gave me looks pretty good, it measures flat across the range, but is a touch warm.  I think I found a color  control he missed.  It’s cools it off a little.  I like it better.  Gamma looks pretty good, too.  I’m watching sections of Star Trek now, (it’s become one of my favorite movies for skin tones and bright scenes.  (The inability to get rid of the pause bar and time marker, when paused, prevents me from choosing dark scenes, since that bar would affect a dynamic iris.

Skin tones do look very impressive, especially for an entry level model.

And the BenQ W1000 is a light canon.

In it’s brightest mode, it pushes out over 2100 lumens!

And even in best mode, with Brilliant Color on – 1225 lumens and about 600 with it off.  My initial reaction is I like the projector better with Brilliant Color on.  Is it at all, over the top, when on, so far not, but that’s always the risk with Brilliant Color.

So what we have is an extremely bright projector with lots of punch.  It was just made for Star Trek, with JJ Abrams use of almost always partially blinding lights in almost every scene.

Surprisingly, the BenQ W1000 projector even looks very good in Dynamic mode.  Oh, it’s the usual compromise, color isn’t as accurate, but, not bad for a “Dynamic” mode.

I’m seeing some rainbows, but not many, not sure of the color wheel configuration, but whatever it is, I think I’m seeing less with the W1000 projector than with the Vivitek.  I’ll have a better feel with more viewing.

Black levels are definitely entry level.  How much so, I’ll know tomorrow night when I do side by sides against the Vivitek H1080FD – their $999 projector, and the Mitsubishi HC3800 at $1395.  The W1000 projector does not have a dynamic iris.

I fired up the BenQ projector late afternoon. (No sun today, in “sunny” California.)  Opened some window shades, and turned on a lot of lights in my room.  With the projector on Dynamic it did a great job.  I immediately thought – I’d better consider just buying one, mounting it on the bottom of the shelf that has my JVC, adding another switch, and use the W1000 for sports.

Alas, those basic DLP projectors have limited placement flexibility.  Can’t place it back far enough to be within 4 feet of my shelf.

Never mind that.  This projector is ideal for a family room where it may have to take on some ambient light, and white walls.  It really has a healthy amount of power.  By the same token it really does look great by way of bright, in my main theater, filling the 128″ Firehawk G3, screen, rather effortlessly.  I will cook up some images of my room to illustrate.  They will be in the full review.

OK, folks, gotta run.  It’s time for the BenQ W1000 to be in the Pictures.  A midnight photo shoot (sounds macabre?)
-art

Initial out of the box color is a bit over the top, but easily cleaned up by a significant reduction in color saturation.  Brilliant color adds lots of lumens, and it was only BC off, and lamp on eco, that got the W1000 brightness in line with what’s left of my RS20.

Hey, it’s a $999 projector. Black levels are nothing to write home about… But, I still have the Mitsubishi HC3800 and the $999 Vivitek H1080FD for side by side comparisons.  I’ll let you know.

That’s it! One more blog to do, with the current update on what’s next, etc. -art

PS. as you all know, I’m juggling multiple 1080p home theater projector reviews at once, trying to get them all posted in 2 weeks so I can get out the big comparison report.

Greetings all.  Actually, the review has gone quite nicely, but for one thing.  The maximum lumens I have been able to measure with the SP8602 is 952, and that’s dynamic mode, lens at full wide angle, etc.  The problem is, InFocus says this particular projector should be doing more.  They ran the serial number against their QC process and said this unit should hit 1100 lumens, a significant difference.

So, we’re on hold, but just for a few days.  I overnighted the review unit back to InFocus – so they could run some of their own measurements.  Most likely it will return by this Wednesday, but, if they still are not happy, most likely a 2nd (brighter?) 8602 will arrive.  BTW the optics in the InFocus have a lot of brightness range.  Despite having less zoom range, the drop from wide angle to telephoto is greater than most projectors with 2:1 zooms.  That meant more extra lumens going from mid-point (where we do most measurements) to wide angle, and far fewer, going to telephoto.  Of course, all the numbers will be in the full InFocus SP8602 home theater projector review.

That’s good.  it there is an extra 15% more brightness, it will impact my opinion of the InFocus Sp8602.   I’ll keep  you all posted as the story develops. -art

PS. other than the brightness – let me say the InFocus SP8602 has exceptionally good color, and a very sharp image.  Blacks are much better than the old IN83, but still not up to today’s best performing projectors. Still, it gets up there into the ultra-high contrast category, even if it still can’t match the blacks of the best of the lower cost projectors, the Epson.  On the other hand, it’s got plenty of other things going for it!

Ahh, finally getting around to the JVC RS15 (aka JVC HD550 with only minor changes).  As with my review this year of the JVC RS25, we’re dealing with evolution here, not revolution.  True, the JVC DLA-RS15 sports CFI – creative frame interpolation, as a major new feature, but, after that, it pretty much looks, and cooks like last year’s RS10.

This will be real short, as I’ve already completed the JVC RS15 projector photo shoot, and am also working on writing it up.  Look for the full review to be posted on the www.projectorreviews.com site, on  Tuesday evening – sooner, if possible.

So, what have we here?  The black level performance of the RS15 is great.  It’s still a small step down from the RS25/RS35 (I have some side by sides between the RS15 and the RS35 for the full review.  There are a couple other projectors that are roughly comparable, or even occasionally a bit better on blacks, and those would be the more expensive Sony VW85 and Planar PD8150, although both rely on dynamic irises to get their blacks dark, so their dark scenes lack the greater dynamics (and more wow factor) of the JVC DLA-RS15.

The RS15, is fairly big, very black and shiny, with just a little gold trim (around the lens, plus a line running along the top, from front to back – not too much – tasteful.  It’s got power everything, which means zoom, focus and lens shift, and it’s very well endowed when it comes to placement flexibility.

Unlike the more expensive JVC’s the color management is rather limited.  Good thing the JVC does  very well out of the box.  Skin tones, before, or after adjustment are very good, though not quite as accurate, in color as the more expensive units. You will be able to see some color shifts in our RS15 vs. RS35 side by sides, in the full review, but though the more expensive JVC is more accurate, the RS15, does pretty darn good as well.

At $5495 MSRP a first reaction might be that it’s overpriced compared to two other, far less expensive LC0S projectors – the Sony VPL-HW15, and LG CF181D.  I don’t see it that way.

The LG, is dandy, a step brighter than the RS15, but absolutely not a match at blacks and that keeps it in an overall lower performance group, at least as far as purists and enthusiasts are likely to be concerned.  The Sony, well, it’s a lot like the LG, but dimmer than the JVC, and therefore even less of a match.  I see the RS15 as more of a step up product, and, if it had a full color management system, then, for example, it would really be the JVC closest to the Sony VW85, in performance.

The big challenge for those interested in the JVC DLA-RS15 or the HD550 version is “where to stop”  Many folks considering the RS15 will be considering Epsons, LGs, Panasonic’s even the W6000 or others in the lower price range, but are looking for more performance.  On the other hand, for a “few thousand more” there’s the RS25, and the Sony VW85 for less of a difference than that…  So, the “problem”  is that the RS15 gets you most of the way, but not all the way, there in performance for under $10K projectors.

That is to say, some looking at those less expensive projectors, but wanting more, will end up skipping right past the RS15 for the RS25.   I felt that way when the RS2 came out (and the RS1x – two generations before the RS15). In my case, I didn’t jump from the original RS1 (there was not RS2, etc. when I bought my RS1), to the RS2 only for one reason, not enough lumens.  JVC solved that, the next year, making the RS20 as bright as the “1 series”  RS1, RS1x, RS10, RS15…

Image processing is, once again, Silicon Optix, and is just fine.  And yes, this JVC, like others does leak some light through the lens, although it’s not very much, you can detect it if you have white walls around the screen area, if you have a black, or almost black scene up there.  Not to worry.

Finally, the RS15 does support an anamorphic lens, as do the other models.  You can go with a generic Panamorph anamorphic lens, or get one with a custom mounting plate, if you buy the Panamorph from JVC/JVC dealers.

OK, that’s all you get.  stay tuned for the full review.  Still no real surprises.  The addition of CFI is a nice touch, although I’ve seen smoother adaptations.  Well, it’s version 1 for JVC!