The BenQ LU950 is a WUXGA (1920x1200) laser projector claiming 5,000 lumens – enough to shine through the uncontrollable ambient light found in some museums, conference and boardrooms, retail spaces, and higher education classrooms. This DLP projector has plenty of special features that make it a good fit for such spaces, in addition to its high brightness claim. That it is a laser projector is a definite plus, as the lifespan of a laser light engine lasts over the better part of a decade, making it a great investment for installations where the projector will be in use daily.
We’ll start this review of the BenQ LU950 with a brief overview, followed by some highlights before moving on to that list of special features. We will also tour the hardware, as well as discuss picture quality and performance before summing it all up for you on the last page. By the end of this review, you should have a pretty good idea about whether or not the BenQ LU950 is the right projector for your business or education applications. Let’s get started!
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The BenQ LU950 is a 5,000 lumen, WUXGA resolution (1920x1200) projector, with a list price of $2,799 – what a great price for a laser projector with WUXGA resolution! That laser light engine has a claim of 20,000 hours, which translates to the projector lasting many years without losing brightness. That’s a major plus for commercial environments where the LU950 may experience heavy use. This BenQ is a DLP projector, so it has a color wheel, but it’s not the one found in most DLPs I’ve reviewed – this one has an RGBY, with a yellow slice.
An RGBY color wheel is not the most usual – typically you’d find an RGBRGB or an RGBW (RGB + clear slice). RGBW color wheels have an advantage over RGBY color wheels, as that clear slice boosts white lumens, making a brighter overall image. Adding a secondary color, such as yellow, gives some of the benefits of an RGBW color wheel, but not as much. The benefit to having an RGBY color wheel is that it gives the manufacturers more opportunity to “get the color right.” Generally speaking, though, the more slices, the less lumens per slice.
The real strengths of DLP are threefold. DLP technology allows for smaller projectors – that’s more portability, and generally lighter-weight projectors, making installation easier. In situations with ambient light, you’ll get more white lumens dollar-for-dollar than a 3LCD projector, but a 3LCD projector will perform better than DLPs in terms of color, when faced with ambient light. So, "all else being equal," when you need good color in the face of ambient light, you’ll want a 3LCD, DLP if you want more brightness and don’t need as good of color – like we say, there are always trade-offs. In controlled conditions, both technologies perform well.
Bu all else isn't equal. Typically DLP projectors deliver more white lumens per dollar - a similarly featured DLP might offer 5000 lumens while the competing 3LCD selling for the same price might only offer 4000 lumens. When you factor that in, then you realize that a good DLP projector like this one (which costs less than 3LCD competition), can not only deliver a good deal more white lumens, but may well have similar good quality color lumen output.
These are all things we consider in our reviews. And with that, we concluded that the LU950 is an impressive laser projector that earns one of our Hot Product Awards.
DLP projectors also have sealed light paths. This means that no dust particles will settle on the inside of the light path and cause a “dust blob” on your projected image. This is a big plus because having to get that dust removed is a major maintenance call, costing time and money. With a sealed light path, you get protection of the DMD chip, color wheel sensor, laser bank, and other optical components. 3LCD manufacturers are starting to seal their light paths as well, though they do it in a different way.
The BenQ LU950 is nicely sharp and has great color in multiple picture modes.
Colors are vibrant, whether projecting 1080p video content, web content, or presentations.
The WUXGA resolution provides great detail when projecting a variety of content, from moving video to still graphics.
Text is easily readable in a variety of sizes.
Websites, Word documents, and other content with smaller type look good when projected by the LU950.
Presentation mode is great for displaying presentation slides.
Infographics and other graphics with smaller type are easily readable when projected by the BenQ LU950.
Back to that laser light engine and its lifetime claim of up to 20,000 hours. That is typical of laser projectors, and translates to about a decade of use before that light engine needs to be replaced. That’s a clear advantage over lamp based projectors, whose lamps generally last from about 3,000 to 8,000 hours and will need to be replaced several times. But, as a plus – lamp replacements are quite affordable these days.
Lamp based projectors will have a lower up-front cost, but maintenance over its lifetime, while laser based projectors will have a higher up-front cost and low maintenance over its lifetime – and, the LU950 being a DLP, it doesn’t have any filters to clean, translating to even less maintenance. Lamp based projectors also have a shift in color and lose some of their brightness within the first several thousand hours, whereas lasers will lose brightness and shift color slowly over its lifetime – by that 20,000 hours, you can expect to lose maybe half the brightness.
The BenQ LU950 has a host of special features for business and education applications, including maintenance-free installation (thanks to the laser light engine and no filters to clean), advanced networking, and wireless capabilities using an optional plug-and-play device. The LU950 also has all of the inputs and connectors necessary for the usual purposes, including two HDMIs, some old-school video inputs, and HDBaseT. There are more, of course, but that’s a discussion saved for the Hardware Tour.
Highlights
5,000 Lumens
$2,799 List Price
WUXGA Resolution (1920 x 1200)
DLP Technology
Laser Light Engine – Light Engine Life of Up to 20,000 Hours, No Filters
100,000:1 Contrast Ratio
Good Placement Flexibility – 1.60:1 Zoom Lens, Lens Shift (60% Vertical, 23% Horizontal) and HDBaseT
Sealed Light Path – No Dust Blobs
Wireless Capabilities – BenQ InstaShowTM WDC10 plug-and-play device requires no driver installation and is compatible with any OS
BenQ Multiple Display Administrator (MDA) Software for Multiple-Projector Management
Supports Extron, Crestron, AMX and PJ-Link
The Dell S718QL is pretty impressive! I have already blogged that this Dell projector represents one of the first business and education projectors in this new subclass.
That is, this Dell projector combines an ultra short throw design, (placing it just inches from your screen), a laser light engine, and ability to handle 4K content with 4K UHD resolution.
I first saw the S718QL at Infocomm in Las Vegas last summer. It was set up and working in plenty of ambient light, paired with an appropriate screen, and looked pretty good despite the environment. It looked even better in the Texas Instruments DLP.com suite at CES in January. There it was, set up in a hotel suite with the proper screen with a fair amount of controlled ambient light, and it looked great.
Our top award given for products we review. Additionally we have Best In Class Awards in our special reports.]
I started working on the review (after having Eric calibrate the Dell best he could) in my home theater, where I’ve been feeding it all kinds of content from spreadsheets to websites, to movies, with different levels of ambient light (or none) and projecting up to 124” diagonal!
In the second phase, I looked at the Dell’s performance downstairs paired with my Screen Innovations ALR type screen for UST projectors, in much brighter rooms than my theater. Plenty of pictures showing what the Dell S718QL is capable of can be found throughout this projector review. Just remember, if the images here look good, then in real life, the projector will be even more impressive.
Let’s run though some of the basics. You already got the UST, laser light engine, and 4K UHD resolution part. There’s plenty of power, too, as the Dell claims 5,000 lumens of brightness – that’s small-auditorium-type-brightness. And remember, since it’s a laser projector, the brightness will drop only slowly over many thousands of hours, not drop noticeably in the first few hundred hours of operation, as do lamp based projectors. The laser light engine claims a 20,000 hour life at full power, per Dell. That’s also impressive, as some laser projectors are claiming the same 20,000 hours, but in their low power/eco mode.
Dell S718QL show our combination test pattern for sharpness, color handling, and skin tone handling.
Dell S718QL projecting a typical news type website, all text nice and sharp!
The S718QL projecting (the back end of) a Powerpoint presentation.
Some of the Dell S718QL's picture modes lean towards strong blues - as seen here. Others are better balanced.
This Dell projector really isn’t an interactive projector, although you can do some interactive things, especially in conjunction with mobile devices, using MHL.
The projector is fairly compact for a UST – ultra short throw design, but it’s not what I’d really consider portable, especially as it weighs in at 33 pounds. Portables are mostly 4-10 lbs. Still, this small beast can be moved from room to room fairly easily, and in a business or school environment, it could be cart-based and rolled up right next to the screen or even a wall.
And the Dell supports LAN – Local Area Networking. It can even present from 4 sources at once.
There’s internal speakers if needed.
The S718QL has some smarts – there’s a built in media player (discussed on the next page), and more.
S718QL projecting a Powerpoint slide using Presentation mode (unadjusted). Seriously right, but a bit strong on blues
Buyers choosing this Dell also are showing some smarts – the warranty is definitely better than most – 2 years, parts and labor, (that itself is typical), but during those two years, there’s a rapid replacement program should there be a warranty failure. That’s basically the same program that Epson offers on a lot of their projectors, and I’ve been telling folks for years that those Epson warranties are great, so ditto for this Dell.
Meantime, back at Dell – you can buy also buy extended warranties – including the replacement program, to extend out to 3, 4, or 5 total years. Very nice! And equally important to know, the rapid replacement program on the Dell is not limited to the 2 years. It's 20,000 hours!
Unless you are using the Dell in something like a 24/7/365 digital signage application (for which it is very suited, btw), we're talking many, many years. At 24/7/365 operation, that 20,000 hours is more than 27 months!
But of course this Dell is about far more than warranty, so let's move forward with a summary of the Dell's highlight features, and then we can get into the details.
Highlights
Laser Light Engine (5,000 lumens)
20,000 hour life on laser (to 50% brightness)
Ultra Short Throw Design
4K UHD Resolution (2716x1528x2) for 8.3 Megapixels
Supports 4K HDR, but not P3/BT.2020 color space
Three HDMI inputs
Two 6-Watt Speakers
Bluetooth Built In – Connect wirelessly to external Bluetooth speakers
Built-in PC-Free Presenting (with Microsoft Office compatibility)
Split Screen Capability (HD only, not 4K)
LAN Support – Includes advanced features with Crestron, compatibility
Optional Wall Mount Kit
$5,999 MSRP – Street price is $4,999 (2/2018)
The Casio XJ-L8300HN is a 4K UHD, commercial-grade large venue projector claiming 5,000 lumens. The projector features a hybrid laser/phosphor light engine. In other words - the XJ-L8300HN is lamp-free. The solid-state light engine, combined with the new Texas Instruments 4K DLP chip, makes this 4K UHD projector one to be considered for advanced business and education applications, such as lecture halls, auditoriums, large conference rooms, and more.
The XJ-L8300HN has a substantial list price of $11,999.99, but it’s no surprise given the resolution and impressive sharpness of this projector. It's hard to get a feel for street pricing, as this projector is sold primarily through installing local dealers. That said, figure there's probably some good education discounts, and some respectable margins built in. I would expect purchase pricing to be way below MSRP.
I’ll get into more on the Special Features Pages, but here’s a taste: it has advanced networking features, a good warranty and a generous amount of lens shift. This projector has good placement flexibility which, in a large venue environment, will definitely work in your favor. Now, onto the good stuff.
The Casio XJ-L8300HN, as mentioned, has a list price of $11,999.99. You’re paying a premium for the laser/phosphor light engine, which has a better value proposition than lamp-based projectors in terms of lifetime and maintenance costs, as well as for advanced networking features and high brightness. The projector should be able to combat most forms of ambient light, but know this – the larger your screen, the more lumens you need.
I have found the projector online for much less than its MSRP (street price is approximately $7,008 - waiting on confirmation from Casio). AV integrators and dealers are the usual source for commercial-grade projectors in this class. They install the projector in large venues such as university lecture halls and classrooms, auditoriums, museums, entertainment venues, houses of worship, command and control facilities, etc. Count that as a plus, because this projector is heavy (43.7 lbs). This is one serious projector and needs to be properly and professionally mounted. Wrestling with about 50 lbs of projector and ceiling mount is a challenge, and I don’t envy the installer who has to ceiling mount it.
The XJ-L8300HN is a commercial quality, feature laden projector with LED/Laser light engine.
The XJ-L8300HN has very good connectivity, with ports for advanced networking and command and control, and compatibility with multiple networking environments such as Crestron RoomView. Though the inputs and connectors panel is somewhat simple when compared to other commercial-grade business/education projectors, this one should have all the ports you'll need for your applications. We’ll discuss that in full on the first Hardware Page. Just one spoiler before I move onto the Highlights – the HDBaseT function supports video signals of up to 3840 x 2160. For reference, there are projectors at a much higher price point that can only run up video up to 1080p over HDBaseT.
Highlights
5,000 Lumens
4K UHD Resolution (2716x1528x2) (for a total of 8.3 megapixels
Hybrid Laser/Phosphor Light Engine
20,000 Hour Rated Light Engine Life
DLP Technology
Single chip design for sharp image
Uses color wheel
20,000:1 Contrast Ratio
Generous Amount of Lens Shift – 25% Horizontal, 60% Vertical
The WUXGA resolution VPL-PHZ10 projector is one of Sony’s two newest laser projectors. These LaserLite models are billed as the first affordable laser projectors for business and education. The other model is the VPL-PWZ10 which is very similar, but lower resolution of WXGA (1280x800). Both have some impressively high list prices, but Sony reports that these two new laser projectors should street price right around $3000 for this PHZ10, while the PWZ10 should street for about $2199. The lower cost PWZ10 should start shipping in August while this model, the VPL-PHZ10 is scheduled to ship first - in June, in line with the Display industry’s big Infocomm show).
For our review we were provided with an engineering sample of the VPL-PHZ10 projector. As such, we understand there will be a number of minor changes, and fixes. Still, this sample performed extremely well on all the usual types of content. The feature set is impressive, and virtually everything seems to be fully functional on the demo, although we, as usual, do not test LAN networking.
OVERVIEW OF THE VPL-PHZ10 PROJECTOR, AND POSITIONING
I was particularly interested in bringing in one of these Sony laser projectors early, because I see them as serious players in the education marketplace, especially higher ed and specialty (such as museums), and wanted to review in time for our May annual Best Education Projectors report (this is a link to last year’s).
This review is focused on the VPL-PHZ10, but a shorter “First Look” review for the PWZ10 will also be created, that one will just consider the differences, and how that relates to the competition, but will reference this review for more details (no point in duplicating all the content where both projectors are indentical. For example – both have exactly the same menus, and remote control.
Let’s continue this overview, then get into the highlights of the projector, and then turn the pages for
A closer look at a number of special features.
A Tour of the hardware and menus
Picture Quality, including color handling, black levels and general related
Performance – our measurements for brightness in the various modes, and “light engine” settings (Standard, Medium, Low)
Summary, including, overall value proposition, competition, Pros and Cons
It was the early info on these projectors, which I received under NDA (non-disclosure agreement), that inspired my Feb 2017 article on “Affordable laser projectors” Publication of that article was delayed slightly until the official Sony announcement of these projectors, so I could talk about them in the article.
Until now, for the most part, street prices on laser projectors have been upward of $5000, making $2199 and $3000 street prices a major game changer. It should be noted that unlike most far more expensive laser projectors, these two Sonys have a good range zoom lens, but no optional lenses. That helps keep the price tag down.
The question is how well these models will do, in taking business from even lower cost, non-laser projectors with similar features other than the light source. My article touches on that a bit. In fairness, there are relatively dim LED projectors out there for far less (small affairs often called pico or pocket projectors, but the brightest of those top out at 1000 lumens these days. There’s also Casio, who has made “affordable solid state projectors” for more than half a decade. The Casios cost well less than the Sonys, but although a good bit brighter than the pocket projectors, they tend to measure in the 2000 lumen range or less – still a good bit less than most lamp based projectors.
The short version is, here are 5000 lumen projectors with networking, some features that are typically found only on laser projectors, but otherwise, these models look very much like typical lower cost fixed install projectors.
Sony, which uses all three technologies (DLP, 3LCD, LCoS) depending on the class of projector chose 3LCD for these two models. We’ll circle back to that, later, when defining and comparing to the competition. Suffice to say, if you go with one of these, you are definitely paying a premium for the laser light engine, BUT – when all else is pretty equal, you may be surprised by how little extra. Think less than $1000 more than a lamp based equivalent – but the lamp models will have some limitations, lack some features that are more practical on solid state projectors.
SONY VPL-PHZ10 HIGHLIGHTS
Manual Zoom lens: 1.45:1
Vertical and Horizontal lens shift ( Vertical: unequal +20% to 55%), Horiz: +/-10%
Size and weight – 19 lbs, roughly 20 inches wide – a bit large for portable use, more typical for fixed install, or room to room
20,000 hours at full, 14,000 at constant brightness? Or use medium power for 20,000 at constant 4500 lumens claimed
HDBaseT – allows HDMI, command and control, audio to be run over long distances on inexpensive CAT cable
Relatively quiet
Self cleaning filter (every 100 hours)
360 degree operation (common in museums, digital signage.)
Pocket sized remote control (no laser on board)
Built in 16 watt speaker
OK, time to turn the page to explore some of these features in greater detail.
The basics are this - Sony's VPL-VW5000ES is at the moment the best true 4K home theater projector currently shipping. There are more coming to market, but for now, the VW5000ES is unbeatable. Sony's flagship VW5000ES is a $60,000, 5000 lumen true 4K. It's huge by home theater standards, weighs 94 pounds, and is liquid cooled. But folks, those are details. The big picture is that it's all about the picture. And don't kid yourself, it is widely used for commercial applications as well.
This review will not be like our usual. It will be far shorter, and even more subjective. That is, it's going to focus on the experience and the picture - why not, after all, with the high price tag this is a projector for the top 1%. (or the top 5% of hard core home theater enthusiasts). I picked this VPL-VW5000ES (it's full name) up at Sony's HQ after getting some training there on HDR and other aspects of 4K. (Thanks Sony - most helpful) The picture looked so great and so obviously close to right on the money, that I decided not to have Eric calibrate it. I was never sorry. I have decided also not to run the usual measurements. I pulled out my meter long enough to determine that this guy was right around 5000 lumens in its brightest modes. If you spring for one of these, you'll quickly discover that there isn't a whole lot of brightness differences between most of the different modes.
For those of you who enjoy our many photos from movies and HDTV, you won't be disappointed. I have plenty comparable to other projector reviews.
OK, back to the basics!
The InFocus IN5148HD is intended for use in large venues where a high light output projector is called for. While the IN5148HD carries a list price is $6889, the street price is just over $4000 from a number of on-line dealers. This model is smaller (but still fairly large), lighter and less expensive than most "heavy metal" class of installation projectors. However, many of those larger and more expensive installation class projector offer more flexibility with such features as interchangeable lenses. The IN5148HD does come equipped with a zoom lens with a wide 2:1 zoom ratio that offers a moderate-to-long throw ratio range of 1.49:1 to 3.02:1, which should accommodate most installation needs.
While the projector is not provided with built-in wireless connectivity, an optional dongle that InFocus calls a "LightCast Key" is available for about $300. This optional accessory enables wireless connectivity to mobile devices and to other networked devices supporting Airplay, Miracast or Chrome. The "LightCast Key" was not included with the reviewed unit.
The IN5148HD received our Special Interest Award as an affordable (~$4000 street price) installation class projector offering a very sharp image with full HD resolution, good image quality in the best picture modes, and a good feature set.
The NEC P502WL is a laser light engine installation class DLP projector having WXGA, 1280 x 800, resolution and a bright 5000 lumens rated light output. It offers a lot of features for its $3499 list price. This is a commercial/installation class projector that falls toward the lower end, in terms of size, weight and price, of the installation class of projectors rated at, or near, 5000 lumens, especially those using a laser light source.
The P502WL uses a laser/phosphor wheel light engine rated at 20,000 hours of life, which is unusual to find in an installation projector at this price point. While this is an installation class projector, it is also suitable for use in a conference room or classroom.
For education use it would probably be of most interest to colleges/universities looking for a low maintenance projector with networking capabilities and perhaps the ability to simultaneously display content from multiple sources, including mobile devices. NEC also offers some less expensive, bulb based, entry level installation class projectors in their P4xx series starting with their model P401W that has a list price of $1399 and a rated light output of 4000 lumens.
The P502WL received our Special Interest award as being a versatile projector capable of being a very good larger venue 'entry-level" installation projector as well of suitable for use in certain conference room and classroom applications. Entry level, only in that it lacks interchangeable and motorized lens options found on more expensive "larger venue" projectors.
Ask Proxima returns with this large venue LCD projector. The E1655U features high brightness and excellent color, with different lens options for flexibility of installation.
