BenQ W10000 1080p Projector Review - Image Quality 2

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Art Feierman

Here are a number of additional images, including the first one, of Nancy dancing, from Sin City. Very good detail in the dark walls, and you can make out objects on the shelf on the right.

BenQ W10000 Black Levels and Shadow Detail

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While the current generations of LCD projectors (and LCOS ones too), have to rely on a lot of fancy image processing to achieve good black levels, DLP projectors with the Darkchip3 DLP in them, inherently have a big advantage. The processing in the LCD's (often referred to as "AI") can actually produce black levels superior to a DLP projector on the right scenes - very dark ones with no bright areas - but they come up short on scenes that are a mix of a lot of dark area but still some very bright parts to them. Overall, I give the DLP projectors like the W10000 the advantage. In fairness, though, the differences are no longer really significant. While the W10000 can produce blacker blacks overall, the Panasonic PT-AE1000U and the Mitsubishi HC5000 (both LCD) can do a better job on a very dark scene without any bright areas.

Before I provide general images, I'll start with this star scene. I use this in the other recent reviews, including the Panasonic PT-AE1000U and the Mitsubishi HC5000. In both cases, there are two images, this frame, and another with those projectors' menus open. The bright menus prevent the AI from partially closing their dynamic irises, and therefore the black levels get much brighter, and stars start disappearing. With the BenQ, there is no dynamic iris, so I have only provided the standard shot (no menu) for comparison with the other two, since opening a menu has no effect.

Here's an old favorite, also from The Fifth Element. You'll also find this image on most reviews done in the last year.

Here's a different sort of image from the HD-DVD Phantom of the Opera. This was taken from the beginning of the movie and is in black and white, with lots of shadow details.

Moving on to shadow detail, I'll start with the same old images. The first is from Lord of the Rings. In the first image, the frame is normally exposed. In the image below it, I have seriously overexposed it so that you can see what detail the projector captures in the shadow areas along the bottom and in the shed on the right.

Shadow Detail Comparison

BenQ W10000 Large

BenQ W10000 Over Large

Not only is there plenty of detail, but note the rich colors that are present in the grasses, etc. In this regard, the W10000 does a significantly better job than most of the other projectors we have reviewed. (One notable exception is the Samsung SP-H710AE, a fairly expensive 720p DLP projector, which comes out of the box about as close to being fully calibrated as one could hope for. The Samsung sells for more than $3000 putting almost at the W10000's price point, even though it is only 720p resolution. The Samsung is great on shadow details but weak on black levels.)