Planar 7060 SDE and Rainbow Effect

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Art Feierman

Planar 7060 SDE and Rainbow Effect

The Planar projector has a 5X color wheel, making the rainbow effect an issue only for a very small percentage of people, probably just a few percent, although I have never seen an official number.

As to Screen Door Effect, the 7060 projector is a typical 720p DLP projector. Most people will find pixels unnoticeable most of the time seated about 1.3x the screen width. At those distances you are likely to only notice pixels in things like credits in movies, large stationary bright areas (such as a cloud), or signage (like the score and other overlays for sports), and then, mostly if looking for it. Most of the time, most people at those distances just wont notice anything. For those really pixel adverse, try 1.5x - 1.6x screen width.

If you have a 100" diagonal 16:9 screen 1.3x screen width works out to about 9.5 feet back.

To take a look, and compare the pixel structure, and sharpness, click on the thumbnail below, for an extreme closeup of my cable guide on the Planar

The pixel structure and sharpness Slideshow

The pixel structure and sharpness

The pixel structure and sharpness from The Planar 7060

The pixel structure and sharpness

The pixel structure and sharpness from The Sanyo_PLVZ5

The pixel structure and sharpness

The pixel structure and sharpness from the 1080p BenQ W10000

Planar 7060 Light Leakage

A small amount of light leaks out the vent grates on the sides, and is apparently designed to make the projector look cool. This is not enough light to pose any issue. Of more concern is light leaking out the lens, as seen in this image below. The good news is that the amount is very dim, only likely to be seen when the projector is on, and no source or a completely black scene is up. The image below, the "bright" rectangle is actually the small amount of light coming out with a black image. As you can see that is many times brighter than the leakage above. Interesting, but not a problem.

Click Image to Enlarge

Planar 7060 Audible Noise Levels

Interesting, I looked high and low, data sheets, manual, could not find a posted spec for noise levels. The good news is that the Planar 7060 is a bit quieter than most DLP projectors.

Just as interesting, all three modes - Eco, Normal, and Boost, for the lamp, have the fan, and therefore the noise level unchanged. I would guess that the 7060 is about 30 db, or a bit less. which is about typical for eco modes, and quieter than most DLP's do in full power (usually 31 - 34 db. The only downside, the overall noise does seem to have a bit of a high pitched whine from the color wheel (or a fan). Because the overall noise level is fairly low, this should not be an issue. It is certainly less intrusive than the fan noise of the Optoma or Mitsubishi DLP projectors previously mentioned.

Planar 7060 Projector Brightness

The nature of things, these days, is that DLP projectors are typically brighter in "best" modes, than LCD projectors, but the brightest LCD projectors, in their brightest (and least color accurate modes, tend to be a notch brighter than most DLP projectors.

That general description holds for the Planar 7060. In its "best" mode - low power, Color Temp set to 6500K and gamma set to Cinema, the 7060 cranks out a measured (and very impressive, 592 lumens! Changing the lamp setting to normal, increases brightness to 649 lumens, and Boost 777 lumens (about 31% brighter than eco mode).

In addition, I pushed contrast (to 81) and brightness (68) a bit still yielding a very watchable image, and in boost mode, I was able to measure a very satisfactory 904 lumens.

I tried two other Color Temp settings - 7500K and 9000K expecting brighter measurements, but instead found that 7500K yielded a few lumens (7) less than 6500K measured, and 9000K dropped even further, down to 530 lumens (from 592 lumens). go figure!

All in all, the Planar would have to be considered a fairly bright DLP projector, and it has particularly good brightness in best mode. I used Normal, Cinema, and 6500K to fill my 128" Firehawk for movie watching, and the Planar 7060 was up to the task. While it won't begin to match the brighter LCD projectors, or even the brightest DLP projectors in output in lower quality modes, the roughly 900 lumens is still very respectable for tackling a bit of ambient light, for watching HDTV, sports, etc. In this regard, it's not too dissimilar from my BenQ PE8720's performance (with Iris open). The BenQ can muster a few more lumens in brightest mode, and a few less, in best mode, but they are close in this regard.