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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!
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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!
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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
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Greetings all, I’ve been able to cajole dealers into more specific numbers with two of the four dealers reporting having now checked all Epson return records for convergence issues.With the more precise numbers I can now report that The four dealers I requested info from, between them, have sold a minimum of about 365 and a maximum of about 430 projectors. Combined reported returns is 8-9 projectors, for a convergence issue rate of less than 3%. These four dealers carry the Home Cinema 1080 UB, however the light engine is identical on the home and pro, so there is no understandable reason why one would suffer an issue like this more than the other.Again, some buyers may not report back to the dealer, speaking only with Epson, however, that percentage is probably no more than half (possibly much lower), and I believe, definitely less than 2/3. Using the 50% number, that provides a maximum failure rate (unacceptable convergence problems) of less than 6%, and if using 2/3, actually less than 8%. So, best case, is all customers getting Epson units with a conversion issue, are advising their dealers, in which case our best usable number is “under 3%” while our “worst case” with 2/3 of buyers not notifying their dealers, and that is just under 8%. Definitely a problem, but certainly not a huge one. And it seems Epson is quickly replacing any units with problems through their replacement warranty, at no charge to the end user. -art
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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
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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
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In my last commentary shortly after the CES show last month, I (like many) declared Blu-ray the winner in the battle with HD-DVD. It now looks pretty official, thanks to Toshiba’s new announcement.According to articles appearing all over the internet, Toshiba announced yesterday (Feb. 18), that they would stop making and marketing HD-DVD players.This announcement followed another major blow to HD-DVD, when Wal-Mart announced last week that they would no longer offer HD-DVD players AND HD-DVD movies, by June of this year.Toshiba announced they would continue to provide support and service to existing HD-DVD player owners. Hmm, I do believe I can hear the “fat lady singing”. OK, all you home theater people without hi-def players, it’s time. While the difference between standard DVD’s and Blu-ray, in overall picture quality isn’t as great as between standard TV and HDTV, it’s still a rather dramatic. It’s time to bite the bullet, get a Blu-ray player and really enjoy the potential of true hi-def. -art
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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
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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 »
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OK! CES is over, and I’m back to the “grind.” In this case, the grind is primarily finishing up the HC-1080UB projector review. I’m going to keep this somewhat short (for me), and with the review scheduled to publish Friday night - 11/18/08, I don’t want to give away the whole story here. However! I’ve been getting pounded by emails, all saying - when will the review be out, so I can decide between the Epson and this projector or that one. 
First of all, this Epson is an outstanding projector. The last time I was this enthused about a projector was almost certainly the JVC DLA-RS1, almost a year ago. Prior to that, (and despite it’s limitations as a low cost 720p projector), the Panasonic PT-AX100U, some 15 months ago. Since those two, I’ve been impressed by a number of projectors, including the newer JVC RS2, but in cases like that, I’m seeing a new model which improves a bit over a predecessor. Not so with the Home Cinema 1080UB, and its sibling, the Pro Cinema 1080UB. These two (my comments on the Pro, are based on the Home version projector), are a major step up over their predecessors. They’ve crossed the threshold to enthusiast class projectors, that will appeal to purists.
Let me put it this way. With the Epson Home Cinema 1080UB, the long standing advantage of black level performance (the “Holy Grail” for many hard core enthusiasts and “purists”), by DLP projectors has just ended. The Epson Home Cinema 1080UB, not only matches the black level performance of most of the 1080p DLP’s, but exceeds it. Simply put, the better the black levels, the darker the areas that are supposed to be black, and near black. No fixed pixel projector (everything but CRT), can actually “produce” black, the best they can do are very, very, dark grays, and that varies a lot.
All my usual review image photos have been taken, and this evening I’ll be doing analysis and comparing those images with those of the competition to really nail down how good the black level and shadow detail performance of the Home and Pro Cinema 1080UB’s are, compared to DLP, other LCD, and even the LCoS projectors. As of right now, it is an LCoS projector (liquid crystal on silicon - a reflective - rather than transmissive, variation of LCD technology), that offers the best black levels, and the champ is the JVC DLA-RS2. FYI: JVC calls their LCoS D-iLA, Sony calls theirs SXRD. After the RS2, next best seems to be the RS1, with the Sony VW60 close behind. Next, and possibly better than the two Sony projectorss (almost certainly the equal or better than the VW50 Pearl), comes the Epson, and that means I think it is at least the equal of the best known single chip 1080 DLP projectors as well! That’s pretty sensational for a projector that is selling for under $2800 (US$) (Home Cinema version) right out of the gate! (more on the Pro version below). And that’s saying a lot.
If that isn’t enough, the Epson is bright. In best mode, Theatre Black 1, it puts out about 450 lumens, and even after “taming” dynamic a little to maintain the brightest image, while improving the color balance, it managed over 1500 lumens in Dynamic mode. The difference in brightness between the Epson, and my RS1, this past weekend for football viewing, had me just loving the Epson’s extra lumens. Switching to movie watching, when I viewed Casino Royale segments first on one, then on the other, I could barely tell the differences in black levels and shadow details (but yes the JVC had the advantage). OK, beyond that, the Epson Home Cinema 1080UB looks and cooks like the older Home Cinema 1080, with almost no changes. It does support 1080/24fps while I seem to recall, the older model didn’t. That’s a real plus as well.
I don’t think the Epson will support an anamorphic lens, but still checking on that. And that brings me to the Pro Cinema 1080UB. The key differences are:
The Pro is sold by local CEDIA type installing dealers, the kind that will also calibrate your projector to your room and other gear, while the Home version is available from select online resellers and some “big box houses”. I hate to say it, but if someone swapped out my RS1, even with it’s minor advantages, and replaced it with a “UB”, you’ld hardly hear a complaint out of me. I’m that impressed!
OK? Enough? Back to finishing up the review (which of course will repeat much of this). -art
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