Sanyo PLV-Z3000 - Performance
12/7/2008 - Art Feierman
|
|
Sanyo PLV-Z3000 Brightness
The Sanyo PLV-Z3000 (this link takes you to our full specs page), is below average brightness in its "best" movie mode (no surprise, as that is typical for Sanyo designs). When you need maximum lumens for fighting ambient light, the PLV-Z3000 is (a big surprise to me,) above average in brightness, in its brightest (Dynamic) mode.
I consider average brightness to be anywhere from about 400 to 550 lumens in its best mode, and average tends to be in the 1000 to 1200 lumens in brightest mode.
Before we get going with measurements, it's time to address the issue of the impact of many of the image enhancement features and the overall settings of the various Preset modes (Pure Cinema, Creative Cinema, etc.)
Let's start, by defining the two primary movie modes: Pure, and Creative.
To appreciate, it's important to understand the difference. Pure Cinema, is what its name implies. All the fancy features are turned off (such as Dynamic Gamma, Auto Black Stretch, Dynamic Iris etc.), and the lamp is on full power (as opposed to Low power or either of the two dimming lamp modes). In other words - "pure" performance, lacking dynamic enhancements. (In addition, the manual iris is closed down to almost maximum (-60).
Creative, on the other hand, is a mode with most of those image enhancing features turned on. The default settings have the Lamp on one of its auto dimming modes, the dynamic iris is on, as are the other dynamic features. Thus, Creative Cinema, is Pure Cinema plus everything fancy Sanyo could throw out the image to improve it. The manual iris is opened more than in Pure, using a -20 setting, which adds brightness.
Because the Auto lamp modes on the Sanyo projector are both dimmer than a setting of full lamp, and because the Dynamic iris modes are dimmer than Fixed iris, this tends to bring about dramatically varying differences in brightness depending on those settings.
Because of such things, and some discrepancies, we remeasured brightness, with different settings, after the original posting of this review 48 hours ago.
In doing so, this time we paid more attention to what makes sense, then simply concentrating on default settings. In some cases, we provide more than one set of measurements for a particular mode, for clarity, and to include what we think makes the most sense.
I have been having conversations with Evan over at Projector Central, regarding why the two of us are, often getting similar measurements but other times, with this projector we have significantly different ones. The reasons mentioned above pretty much cover our differences. It's not that we get different measurements of the same modes, but that in some cases, we are measuring with different features engaged.
Sanyo PLV-Z3000 Dynamic mode: Here's a case, in my opinion, where Sanyo wasn't logical, in setting up its defaults. I believe for most projector users, Dynamic mode (or whatever other names other manufacturers use), is expected to be the brightest mode, one that compromises maximum image quality (including color accuracy, etc.), in exchange for the maximum lumens to cut through ambient light.
I don't expect users to watch movies in Dynamic mode. On the other hand, it's great for Sports, travelogue and educational content (Discovery HD, Natl. Geographic channel, Science HD, History Channel HD, etc.), when the room is not fully darkened.
Here is the issue. You neither need nor want, a dynamic iris working for the majority of such content, with ambient light present, but Sanyo chose to have both Auto Lamp dimming and Dynamic Iris working in their default settings. If you don't have an ambient light issue, you don't need anywhere near the lumens that Dynamic offers, so one of the less bright, better image quality modes makes more sense.
In this case, the difference between having those extra "special features" operating or not, takes a rather dramatic toll on brightness.
With our preferred settings for Dynamic mode, with those two features on Fixed, The Sanyo PLV-Z3000 yields almost exactly 30% more brightness.
Here is a pretty comprehensive set of measurements for the three "Cinema" modes:
Creative Cinema
Default settings: Lamp=A2, Iris Mode=2, Iris Range=-20
Lumens on default= 267
Lumens on full lamp= 405
If Lamp is set to Full, Iris Fixed,
Lumens w/Iris Range at -60= 326
Lumens w/Iris Range at -20= 445
Pure Cinema
Default settings: Lamp=Full, Iris Mode=Fixed, Iris Range=-60
Lumens on default= 326
Lumens w/Iris Range at -20= 445
Brilliant Cinema
Default settings: Lamp=A1, Iris Mode = Mode 1, Iris Range=0
Lumens on default= 369
Lumens w/Fixed Iris= 439
Lumens w/Fixed Iris, Lamp on Full= 518
Here are the measurements for the four non-Cinema modes, including the color temperatures measured at 100 IRE (white). All are based on Default settings, except where otherwise indicated:
Natural = 600 @ 7431K
Living = 881 @ 7616K , 1261 at full zoom out, 760 at full zoom in
Dynamic = 1113 @ 8158K (dynamic iris; Mode 1, lamp mode A1), and 1453 lumens with the dynamic iris off, Lamp on full (our recommendation for sports, most non-movie HDTV content)
x.v. color = 430 @ 7186K (note: this mode does not allow brightness, contrast or color adjustments)
Note: A calibrated Living mode, is our choice for most HDTV and sports viewing, when lighting conditions do not call for every last lumen. The image is definitely, and quite noticeably superior to Dynamic mode.
Kick the Sanyo projector into eco-mode (lamp on low power), and the lumen count drops by 31% in Briliant Cinema mode. That same 31% should be similar in other preset modes. Note, however, that when the lamp is its Auto (dimming) modes, the projector doesn't measure as bright as in Normal. Auto 1, is about 10% dimmer, and Auto 2 is about 5% dimmer than Normal.
The other dynamic features, such as Auto Black Stretch, Dynamic Gamma, and Contrast Enhancement, have little effect on the brightness measurements, although they definitely impact the overall image.
PLV-Z3000 Color Tempurature Measurements (default) for Pure Cinema mode
The defaults were a bit cool (more blue/less red) - ideal is 6500K:
30 IRE – 7181K
50 IRE – 7617K
80 IRE – 7244K
100 IRE – 6952K
Effect of Zoom Lens Positioning on Brightness
Measuring Brilliant Cinema (with iris fixed, lamp on full):
Center of Zoom range: 618 lumens
Wide-Angle Zoom (largest image): 714 lumens
Telephoto Zoom (smallest image): 443 lumens
The drop off in maximum telephoto is (as is typical for the projectors with 2:1 zoom lenses), rather significant. Most people shelf mounting will need their zoom lens set somewhere between mid-point and full telephoto.
That also means that the loss of brightness by going to a larger screen isn't really a big factor, from the same mounting distance, the larger the screen, the brighter the projector's lumen output.
Consider: If you have a 100 inch screen at 20 feet back, you are in full telephoto. Got to a 150 inch screen from the same distance, and the lens is at the mid-point. The projector's brightness increases 39.5% (443 lumens to 618 lumens).
The 150 inch screen surface is 2.25x the surface of the 100 inch. Basically, the larger screen brings a drop in average lumens (or ft-lamberts), of 55%. The brighter image from the mid-point lens position, increases brightness by 39.5%. You still have a dimmer image with the larger screen but almost half of the expected difference, based on size, is offset by the brighter lens position.
With a 100 inch screen, the calibrated Pure Cinema mode, with dynamic iris, and auto lamp dimming on, (367 lumens) produces 12.4 ft-lamberts with low life on the lamp, and the zoom in the mid-point position. 12 ft-lamberts is the movie theater (SMPTE) minimum standard for brightness.
OK, that may be very confusing at first read, but should be helpful for those with flexibility in placement, who want to consider a larger screen.
Sharpness
The Sanyo PLV-Z3000 is sharper than the average 1080p projector. I expected it to be a little sharper than it turned out to be. I was expecting very sharp, based on past experience. This PLV-Z3000 projector, however, (which is a marked, pre-production sample), had more than the typical pixel mis-alignment, with red being off almost a pixel vertically. That's enough to take the "razor" out of razor sharp. I expect most owners' projectors will be a bit sharper than this sample unit.
Top left: Sanyo PLV-Z3000, Top Center, Sony VPL-VW60, Top right: Mitsubishi HC6500
2nd row left: Panasonic PT-AE3000, middle: Optoma HD8000, right: InFocus IN82
Close up of a computer monitor, from Space Cowboys (Blu-ray), left to right PLV-Z3000, Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB, Sanyo PLV-Z700, and BenQ W20000. Only the BenQ does a visibly better job. The PLV-Z3000 is one of the sharper 1080p projectors out there.
Sanyo PLV-Z3000: Bottom Line Sharpness
All considered, I recommend you don't concern yourself about sharpness with the PLV-Z3000. When watching it, the only time you will question its sharpness, is when the content isn't sharp. Standard TV and DVDs will look soft, but it's their lower resolution. HDTV 1080p content will look really great (sharp wise), as will Blu-ray movies. The film based movies will not look as sharp as the digital HDTV content, as the original film that movies are shot with, add a certain softness to the image (due to film grain, etc.), as always.
Even if you are a total sharpness freak, the Z3000 should please you. That's definitely true if a typical production unit is just a little sharper than this sample, as expected.
Light Leakage
Very clean. No noticeable light leakage from the lens. There is some light from the venting, but it is very muted, you are not likely to have an angle to see it, if ceiling or shelf mounted. Light leakange is just not an issue!
Image Noise
The Sanyo performs well, using the HQV HD test disc. Jaggies were handled very well, mosquito noise was a little better than the average projector.
Audible Noise
The Sanyo PLV-Z3000 projector is very quiet. In its low power eco-mode, the Sanyo claims 19 db, making it one of the very quietest. At full power, the noise level increased more than most, but it's still quieter than most projectors. It's definitely quieter than any of the 1080p DLP based projectors I can think of, and also quieter than the likes of the Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB. Noise in either mode should not be a problem for owners.
