Sharp XV-Z15000 Projector Review 3

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Art Feierman

The XV-Z15000 projector is one of the very best of the under $2500 home theater projectors around. Of course no one projector is "best" at everything, and rarely, best at most things.

The Sharp XV-Z15000, however, is a very well balanced performer. And, like many DLP projectors in particular, its picture quality consistently looks good. After Mike calibrated the projector, I spent a lot of time viewing it on the usual Blu-ray (and standard DVD) movies, general HDTV content, and lots of sports (mostly NBA playoffs, but also my stored football on DVR for outdoor sports).

XV-Z15000 Projector Highlights

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Good color out of the box, very good after calibration - this projector has that classic DLP "look and feel" to its image that DLP fans swear by
Full color management system though color temp controls are more limited than most other projectors

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Brightness in "best" mode, a little below average - 355 lumens
Brightness average in "brightest" mode, a bit over 1000 lumens
Extremely good black level performance! Comparable to the better ultra-high contrast 3LCD projectors!
Very limited placement flexibility
Not too much lens offset - a good thing! Unlike many DLP models, this one mounts only slightly above the top of the screen surface. Many other DLP's need to mount higher still, and won't work in rooms with lower ceilings or with average ceiling height and larger screens
Dynamic iris is slow (so detectable) but smooth - one of the better "slow" dynamic irises
Very good in terms of minimizing the rainbow effect for those sensitive to it, with 5x, 6 color - color wheel
Remote control - no backlight - that's strike 1 and strike 2... small, cramped. It's not the first time a really nice projector has a relatively poor remote, but that's no excuse. Range, however, is good.
Good price/performance, but definitely not as good as some others

Specs for Sharp XV-Z15000

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MSRP: $2499
Technology: DLP
Native Resolution: 1080p (1920x1080)
Brightness: 1600 lumens
Contrast: 30,000:1
Zoom Lens ratio: 1.15:1
Lens shift: None
Lamp life: 3000 hours in eco-mode, no published spec at full power, expect 2000
Weight: 12.8 lbs. (5.7 Kg)
Warranty: 1 Year Parts and Labor

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Sharp XV-Z15000 Color Wheel

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Like the Optoma HD8200 recently reviewed, this is one of the newer DLP projectors that as Texas Instruments promised, makes the rainbow effect less noticeable to those of us who are sensitive. I can still spot it once in a rare while, but it's less of an issue than on some others, such as the BenQ W5000, one of its direct competitors. The color wheel is a 5x, 6 segment.

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That's good to start, but other things are going on as well that reduce the rainbow effect. Bottom line, I'm moderately sensitive, but rarely spot rainbows with this projector even on scenes that are most susceptible (bright white moving quickly on a dark background).