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W1080ST Lamp Brightness Eco, Smart-Eco vs. Full Power

Posted on June 16, 2013 By Art Feierman

W1080ST Lamp Brightness Eco, Smart-Eco vs. Full Power

Lumen Output (Eco Lamp, Dynamic): 1176

The drop to Eco mode of the W1080ST projector results in a loss of 35% of the lumens, a number almost identical to the W1070’s measurement.

Smart Eco mode can’t be measured that easily, because it depends on what the image is. At its lowest with working content, it should be about the same as Eco mode, but on bright scenes it will be about the same as full power. Per BenQ, when there’s nothing going on, it can drop 70%.

Check it out.  First is Normal (full power) then Smart Eco, then Economic:

Normal (full power)
Smart Eco
Economic
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BenQ W1080ST Pre-Calibration Color temp

Color Temp over IRE Range (Pre calibration, best modes – Cinema-Standard-User)
User 1
30 IRE 6548
50 IRE 6413
80 IRE 6476
100 IRE 6508

The numbers above are very interesting.  I would not have been surprised if the measurements were virtually identical to the W1070, but the W1080ST seems to have better color tables.  Unlike the the W1070 which averages around 6800-6900K, the BenQ W1080ST is dead on the money. Our four IRE measurements pre-calibration all fall within 100K of the ideal 6500K.

W1080ST, Post Calibration, Best Mode (User 1)

Calibrated Color Temp over IRE Range
20 IRE 6467
30 IRE 6562
40 IRE 6542
50 IRE 6491
60 IRE 6552
70 IRE 6600
80 IRE 6529
90 IRE 6650
100 IRE 6647
Average gamma 2.20

As with the longer throw version, this is a very tight calibration temperature range.  The W1070 actually had an even tighter range, but both are within 200K across the range, which is always excellent.

BenQ W1080ST 3D Brightness

1700 calibrated lumens at mid-point on the zoom lens, is going to make this one of the brightest 1080p 3D capable home theater projectors on the market.  Oh, the Epson 3020 and 5020UB can muster up an extra 400 lumens, but that’s uncalibrated. By comparison those guys are under 700 lumens calibrated!

Still, 3LCD projectors often are brighter doing 3D than similarly measured DLP projectors. Note that LCD and LCoS projectors usually have “glasses” controls (in the projector not the glasses) that can allow them to be brighter (but with it, more crosstalk).

BenQ W1080ST Projector – Performance
BenQ W1080ST Sharpness