Projector Reviews Images

Optoma HD80 and HD8000: 1080p Home Theater Projector Review - Image Quality-3

Posted on October 15, 2007 by Art Feierman
Lastly here are a pair of images, or rather the same image normally, and over exposed, from Aeon Flux. The first gives you a feel for the "blackness" of blacks, and the overexposed version will reveal some of the details in the walls, the rocky road, and in the darker areas of the top of the building in the back.

The image above is from the movie Hitch. In getting the proper exposure, the lights on the Chrysler building in front end up smearing, but, that is due to the camera. The image on the screen had those lights sharp and crisp.

Shadow Detail is definitely an important component of projector performance. Here you will see a number of images, a couple of comparisions, and images that can be compared with the same/similar image shot from other projectors.

Please keep in mind, these images are not, in their own right, able to guide you to best performance. They are here to support my commentary, not the other way around. Most of today's projectors have contrast ratios 5 - 20x that of the monitor you are using to view them. Your display, if LCDTV, is drastically inferior to what these projectors produce, so much is lost. (It's like trying to get a feel for what a big 65" screen TV is like when you see a commercial for one, and you happen to be watching it on a nice little 21 inch TV.) So, take the images with the usual kilo of salt. All that said, you can compare images, and you should find these photos helpful.

One last point, the digital cameras I use (one point and shoot, one Olympus dSLR), also don't have the dynamic range to capture the full capability of this or, other home theater projectors. That is why you will see a number of intentionally, badly overexposed photos, so that we can see details in the shadow areas, that the cameras lose with a normal exposure.

 

 

 

From Space Cowboys - the re-entry shot. Click on the first thumbnail for the HD8000, and look to the dark areas on the right and bottom right. Next you can click on the other two thumbnails. The right one is a similar shot using the InFocus IN82, and the one below is from the new Mitsubishi HC6000, an LCD projector with some impressive shadow detail capabilities. It's impossible for me to end up with identical exposures, so you have to "compensate", but the trick is how much subtle (and I mean dark, subtle) detail can you make out in each.

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