Planar PD8150 Home Theater Projector Review: General Performance-5

Posted on October 22, 2008 by Art Feierman

I believe Planar has implemented the Brilliant Color and Adaptive Contrast so well, that for those concerned about ambient light, you just might want to consider their "brightest mode" to be roughly equivalent to having 1200 lumens or so, for a brightest mode, which brings the Planar PD8150 up to about average, or a little better than average for brightest mode viewing.

One more pair, a very telling set. This is the usual image from Space Cowboys that I like to use to demonstrate shadow detail in a scene that has a lot of bright. Click on the thumbnails to see the larger, images (the thumbnails are the same). Left are with these features off, and on the right with the special features on.

As you will see, much of the workings of the satellite, are much darker on the image with the features on, that image has more "pop", but you can easily see that much of the detail is gone in those dark areas.

PD8150 spacecowboys walk large

PD8150 spacecowboys walk AC

Ok, you should get the idea. Remember, in each case, the images with the Adaptive Contrast and Brilliant Color on, were shot at a faster exposure, so that the overall brightness is close, so you can compare.

Planar PD8150 Projector: Light Leakage

The Planar PD8150 is very clean, in terms of light leakage. There is just the tiniest amount, coming through the lens and hitting outside of the image area. The light streaks are curved, indicating reflections from the lens. Even with a fully black image on the screen, it's barely noticeable, even if your wall by the screen is white.

I never noticed any issue during viewing of content!