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Samsung Home Theater Projector: SP-H710AE - Projector Review: Summary, Pros, Cons

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Art Feierman

If asked what one thing differentiates the Samsung SP-H710AE from it's competition, the answer would have to be (to paraphrase an old line): "It's the picture, stupid!". (no offense!)

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I do believe that Samsung has brought to market, exactly what they have claimed, a projector fully optimized to produce the best image quality for movie watching, that it is capable of.

That's not to say, that other projectors don't exceed its performance in various ways, but Samsung has done an excellent job of focusing on producing a natural image, or as they might say, "reproduce a film, as it was intended to be seen."

Counter balancing that, are several factors, including, that, for its price, there are Darkchip3 DLP projectors that can significantly reduce the brightness of blacks, which can be most

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Click to enlarge. So close

areas. The Samsung SP-H710AE could also be a bit brighter, which would please many potential buyers. I might also say, that while movie watching is extremely enjoyable, this wouldn't be my first choice for sports and most HDTV. The Samsung tends to reveal flaws in source, so compression artifacts from your cable or satellite, might be more noticeable. That, combined with the fact that there are signficantly brighter home theater projectors out there, will have many, like me choose a different projector.

 

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The Samsung SP-H710AE belongs in dedicated home theaters, and in rooms that can be virtually fully darkened (and preferably with dark walls/ceilings, etc.), for movie watching.

It also crys out for HD content. Watching the Samsung, you really appreciate the huge difference between traditional DVD and HD-DVD (sorry, no Blu-Ray player yet).

There is no question in my mind about awarding the SP-H710AE our Hot Product Award. As always, to earn the award, the projector must be particularly good at meeting the needs of at least one signficant group (profile) of potential users. In this case, the Samsung wins our Hot Product Award, because of it's almost certain appeal to the movie purists out there! I'm talking about hose with good rooms, and not trying to feed exceptionally large screens.

Buyers of the Samsung will certainly not be shelling out their dollars to buy the best published specs, but to own a projector that really looks great. Let's say it goes better with Popcorn and Wine, than Beer and Chips!

If I have one very strong recommendation to achieve maximum enjoyment in using the SP-H710AE, it would be to tell buyers to try to buy a masking screen. With a masking screen, the letterbox "blacks" dark grays - are hitting a black surface, and not the screen. Masking screens cost significantly more than basic ones, but, then, the SP-H710AE costs significantly more than typical 720p projectors using the Darkchip2 DLP. Having a masking screen would remove one of my few complaints when movie watching - the bright letter box areas above and below Cinemascope movies. Let's look at how the Samsung SP-H710AE stacks up overall

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