BenQ W10000 1080p Projector Review - Image Quality 5

Posted on October 7, 2006 by Art Feierman

BenQ W10000 Home Theater Projector - Sharpness and Detail

As usual, sharpness is of concern to most home theater projector buyers. And it's still an area where there are visible differences in sharpness from one projector to the next. Of course, here we are working a 1080p projector, so you can expect both a sharper, and more detailed image than lower priced 720p projectors, and that is why people are choosing 1080p. Again, I point out, that having the extra resolution of 1080p is of greater benefit with a projector system than a plasma, LCDTV or Big Screen TV. Afterall, you are looking at a far larger image, and probably still sitting no further away, than if you had a 50" plasma

We are into projectors, for the theater-like immersion that makes the other sets seem like kitchen sized TV's by comparison. Therefore, I heartily endorse 1080p projectors, and have been waiting patiently to upgrade to one.

I'll start off by saying that the BenQ is very sharp. This was expected. The sharpness of their PE8720 was a key reason I chose that projector, so I fully expected this projector to do more of the same, while producing a higher resolution image on the screen. I was not disappointed.

The first image below is a closeup of the same HD-DVD shot of Carlota from Phantom, that you have seen above. In this case I zoomed in to the necklace. Directly below that, you will find a similar image from the Panasonic PT-AE1000U, and after that, the Mitsubishi HC5000.

You'll note immediately that there is a very visible difference between the W10000 and the Panasonic. Comparing the W10000 against the Mitsubishi, is more interesting. Initially the Mitsubishi appears to be slightly sharper, however if you look closely, try to make out how much of that "apparent" sharpness is actual detail from the image, compared to the slightly visible pixel structure. It has always been said that LCD projectors appear sharper than DLP, and a key reason one gets that impression, is not that they actually are (its more, model by model), but rather the more visible pixel structure, that gives the impression of more sharpness. Try to ignore differences in brightness and contrast, as they impact what you see, but that's due to slightly different exposures, etc. Let's look: (and of course, click, to enlarge). You'll need to view the enlargements to compare, as compressing the images down to the screen size below destroys some of the differences, as the images are too low resolution to capture the differences.

Sharpness and Detail Comparison

BenQ W10000

Panasonic PT-AE1000U

Mitsubishi HC5000

Next are images shot side by side with the Panasonic on the left, and the W10000 on the right. The first is an image from AeonFlux, from 1080i HD-DVD. (Don't worry about color differences, these were taken before the W10000 was calibrated.)

Click to enlarge. So close. You can click on each to open up the usual much larger images for comparison. Of particular note, look at her eyes, and also details in her hair.