1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report - Image Quality10

Posted on March 14, 2008 by Art Feierman

$3500 - $10,000 Home Theater Projectors

InFocus SP8602

The InFocus Screen Play 8602 looks great on skin tones. At the moment, only the RS25 and RS35 of the dozen plus projectors sitting here, can match or potentially beat the SP8602 when it comes to skin tones. I wrote this about it, in the recent review: Quite honestly, Mike's calibration of the SP8602 resulted in a great picture. Still, I don't think over all, that the colors are quite as excellent as the InFocus IN83 projector, which I had here for a very long time, but never managed to put another projector up against it that had better, more natural color. That said, after his calibration I'd have to say the SP8602, in terms of skin tones, may well be the next best (in fairness, how perfect, will depend on what approach the calibrator takes). In my statement above, relating to the two JVCs, for the InFocus SP8602 to be right up there, Brilliant Color needs to be Off.

JVC DLA-RS15

With our calibration giving us a much more accurate, and more consistent color temperature, the skin tones of the RS15 are looking to be truly excellent. The projector just looks vibrant on skin tones. Not the dark vibrant, that is associated (by me) with the DLP "look and feel" but more of a mid and bright range vibrance. In this regard, it is more vibrant than even the more expensive JVCs, which seem a touch "dark" overall, by comparison.

JVC DLA-RS25

Excellent skin tones. THX mode does a great job, but our individual calibration even slightly improved on that. Between the RS25 and the InFocus SP8602 I can't really tell you which has the better skin tones. The dynamics are slightly different, despite the overall colors being close and equally natural looking.

JVC DLA-RS35

Same as the RS25, of course.

Optoma HD8600

Very nice. Post calibration the skin tones on this Optoma are expecially impressive. Some of the best I've seen. I still hold the InFocus IN83 in awe, in this regard, but the HD8600 comes close. At the time I wrote it, I also mentioned, that at the moment, I even slightly preferred the HD8600's skin tones to my RS20s. For clarification, my RS20 was calibrated when the lamp was almost brand new. With about 800 hours on it by the time I was watching the HD8600, colors had shifted, however slightly, due to the lamp aging.

Planar PD8150

Remember, we found the PD8150 to be one of the very best in terms of accuracy, out of the box (last year -art). Relating to skin tones, my comment in the review: "After calibration, the image was even better, removing almost all of the slight shift towards red. The end result was excellent handling of skin tones, as the images below show..."