Acer H9500BD Home Theater Projector Review
December 8, 2011 | 
Author 
Greetings,
I have put in a good amount of time gaming on this projector, mainly in 3D. I have to say when I saw the sample 3D Nvidia stills I was pretty damn impressed…then I starting gaming.
I already knew I would have to lose resolution in order to game in 3D, since 720p is the only available option. Whenever I would try to switch to a 1080p resolution the Acer would spit out an error message that the current resolution was not compatible in the 3D mode. You are pretty much limited to gaming in 720p 60hz which is not very pretty. Not only do you lose resolution, but you lose a lot of that color “pop”. I tried messing with the color settings, but nothing I changed could get the colors where they needed to be. The colors just seem a bit more dull and the loss of resolution on a 100″+ screen is pretty depressing.
Does the 3D work, yes. Is it worth losing great color and resolution over, I don’t think so. These are the games I played in 3D:
Mafia II
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Bioshock 2
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
A game like Mafia II was not very impressive in 3D, only the maps, reminders and other overlay text really popped in 3D. Whereas a game like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 looked a lot better in 3D, but it was not mind blowing in any way. If I had to make a comparison of what 3D gaming on this projector reminded me of, it reminded me of gaming on my Epson 8700UB with the FI (Frame Interpolation) feature turned on high, only the Acer had faded colors and less resolution.
I was very impressed when I saw 3D sports on ESPN 3D at Art’s house on the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 3010, but I don’t think the 3D gaming aspect is anywhere near that good. I am not a fan of 3D to begin with, but sports (especially boxing) looked VERY good in 3D. After seeing the sports it really got my hopes up for 3D gaming.
You also lose a lot of brightness when you enter 3D mode, which can be a huge disappointment if you have a large screen. I had to keep the screen size at about 80 inches to actually make it bearable. Keep in mind my usual screen size is 120 inches. The lag tests produced an average of 30ms lag time with the AcuMotion feature turned off. I would definitely advise you to leave this feature off when gaming, as I experienced lag from 100ms to 150ms when I tested with it on.
I really like this projector for movies, HDTV and 2D gaming, but I would not recommend this one for gaming in 3D. I really hope it was just this projector, and not the image all 3D projectors are going to produce for 3D PC gaming. It’s the first projector that I have reviewed which actually worked with Nvidia 3D Vision, so I have to give it props for that.
One other major thing that annoyed me was the time it took for the projector to switch resolutions. When switching from 720p 3D gaming to 1080p 2D gaming the whole cycle took about 30-45 seconds. I know Art brought this up in his review, and it is a MAJOR annoyance.
I was not impressed with this one from a 3D aspect, so I am going straight to the meat of things:
The Good:
It actually worked with Nvidia 3D Vision
Build quality seems very respectable, nice and heavy
Black level
Horizontal and vertical lens shift
Great black level performance and shadow detail (very important for gaming)
The Bad:
The remote is on the cheap side
Lag test produced average results for a DLP projector. Not as good as some of the zero lag projectors tested previously.
The Ugly:
Switching resolutions takes way too long
3D PC gaming only an option in 720p resolution
Brightness dramatically reduced in 3D mode, in gaming this is a huge negative
Colors appear dull in 3D mode for gaming
Conclusion:
This is a great projector for movies, 3D movies, HDTV, gaming in 2D, and 3D photo viewing. I would NOT recommend it for gaming on a PC in 3D. My main objective is to review these projectors for gaming, after retesting the lag issue I would recommend this projector for 2D gaming online and off. As far as 3D gaming, I was not impressed at all. Until I get another 3D unit in I won’t know if it was just this projector, or that 3D gaming altogether isn’t all it is cracked up to be. I really hope to get another 3D gaming projector soon!
If you are looking to watch movies in 2D/3D, game in 2D this is a great great projector to consider. If your main goal is to game 3D then I would suggest skipping this one altogether. Here’s a link to Art’s review on the Acer:
http://www.projectorreviews.com/acer/h9500bd/index.php
Thanks for reading.
-Ebenezer
Posted in
what about 3d mode bright??
Some people say that the intensity of light Less in a 3D mood!
Is this true؟
You lose a lot of brightness in 3D mode, which does not help. The glasses also effect the brightness, since they have a tint to them. I would compare it to turning the brightness about halfway down on an LED TV and then watching it with a pair of sunglasses on…lol. I am really hoping I can get my hands on the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 5010 and I hope it performs a lot better.
Nice write up. I see that you do recommend the projector for 2d game g. Can you post the lag test results for 2d? Or we’re they the same as the 3d results?
Hi Joe,
The lag would be the same in 2D, and 3D. If you do not do a ton of online gaming then it would have no, to very little effect on your gaming. If you are an online gamer then you would probably want to stay away until the lag issues are fixed (if they do get fixed).
You’re “not a fan of 3D to begin with?” Why then are you reviewing a 3D projector for gaming? Have you used an Acer H5360 for gaming? Since this projector is used by A LOT oF 3D gamers, a comparison between the two would be useful information. I have both an Asus 3D monitor and the Acer H5360 and being a fan of 3D I realize it’s limitations but find the 120″ screen size worth the loss of resolution.
I can appreciate 3D, but most moderate to hardcore gamers aren’t interested in 3D for many reasons. I would say wearing glasses and the loss of resolution are the two major issues. I would really like to review the Acer H5360. I will see if Art can get Acer to send one out. Like I stated in the review, I was impressed with sports in 3D on ESPN, but the gaming on this projector in 3D was pretty disappointing. I really wouldn’t waste my time putting on glasses, turning on 3D Vision, turning on 3D on the projector, and changing resolutions on the projector and my PC for what I experienced on this projector. I am hoping the projector you suggested is as good as you say it is. When I first put on the glasses and saw the 3D test images from Nvidia, I was like “This is really cool!”, I just wish the games looked that good. What games would you suggest I try in 3D?
Thanks for the review. You may want to update it as some of us on the AVS Forum (Official Acer H9500Bd Thread) have become aware that there is blurring on the HDMI. The BenQ used to exhibit the same trait, but they fixed it with a firmware update. At this point in time Acer won’t even admit the problem exists, but we’re trying to get them to listen and fix this issue. It’s not easy to catch, but if you have a test screen and check the HDMI vs the SVGA port, you’ll see the problem.
So the lag time averaged 30ms? Do you have a high and low lag time by chance within your tests? Also, can you check on the hdmi blurring issue that InCali mentioned above? I believe Art is aware of it and a contact from acer told him a fix would be out by end of May. Thanks for checking this projector out.
Sorry, I no longer have the projector. As long as you keep the special features off, such as CFI then it ranged from anywhere between 25ms to about 35ms of lag. Once you introduce a feature like CFI, most projectors (at least the ones I have tested) launch up to between 60ms-100ms lag. It is best to leave these features off while gaming.
Hey Man, great site, I am looking to move to a projector, I currently have a 73″ mitsubishi television, and i have decided to go bigger. I have nvidia 3d vision, and I use it mostly for playing “movies” not “games” via my pc on the TV. The gaming i either do on my PC triple screen or on the 73″ tv both in 2d though, 5+ hrs of 3d tend to give headaches. (serious gamer) I read Art’s 2012 projector reviews and he rated this and the Epson 3010 as the best 3d projectors sub $2k. my question is how was the 2d gaming on this projector in terms of response time? I play Mortal Kombat and Unreal Tournamnet competitively and MS responses make differences. I am leaning towards the Acer due to external IR port being present on acer and missing on the epson (epson has some sort of cat-5 plug). If you can think of a better value let me know. I am going to wait till black friday to make any moves. I am def looking to have 1080p with good black levels, and solid colors in 2d with low response times. and for 3d i think anything will do… its for the nights when the gf and i wanna chill on the couch and watch a movie so response time and lumens in 3d are not even a concern.
Thanks in advance.
Gene
I loved this projector for 2D movies and for 2D gaming. I never got my hands on the Epson 3010, so I can’t comment on that one. Pete over on the other gaming blog did get a chance to look that one over, his review is here. Since you are gaming, DLP is much better than LCD with lag. The Epson has some pretty bad lag based on Pete’s review. I would definitely recommend the Acer for 2D gaming. As far as reliability, and a company that stands behind their products, I would recommend Epson (when gaming is not of importance).