1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report - Image Quality-3

Sanyo PLV-Z3000

It was a long time ago when I wrote this: The Sanyo PLV-Z3000, out of the box provides a watchable image, but not a great one...Out of the box settings are a bit cool (shift away from red, to blue), and have a bit too much yellow green in the images.

Sony VPL-HW15

Bingo, Sony's got their out of the box act together: Impressive, skin tones, right out of the box are pretty good, just a little strong on reds. Overall, the VPL-HW15 is very watchable right out of the box

Above, from Space Cowboys, with the Panasonic PT-AE4000. Below, from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Epson Home Cinema 8500UB

$3500 - $10,000 Home Theater Projectors

InFocus SP8602

This one is easy, I just wrote this a couple of weeks ago: Find the right preset mode, and the InFocus SP8602 looks very good out of the box...Let's get back to the "Out of the Box" picture quality: Yes, it's pretty impressive. The color is pretty consistent from white, down to the darkest levels. It is, though just a little cool - thin on red. Remember, just a little.

JVC DLA-RS15

Too bad, of the three JVC projectors - only this one has less than stellar out of the box performance. The two more expensive projectors have THX modes... None the less, the out of the box performance of the DLA-RS15 projector: Very good, yet, can be much improved! Oh, it's true, put on Cinema 1 and most folks will just go wow. Those of us looking for pretty accurate color, and a higher level of performance though will definitely appreciate a calibration. Unlike the more expensive JVC projectors, the RS15 does not have a pre-calibrated THX mode.

JVC DLA-RS25

Unlike the RS15, the JVC RS25 offers a THX mode, and that means really excellent out of the box performance. While a calibrator can improve on THX, that's likely because they would be calibrating the individual projector - not applying an average group of settings that should work across all the RS25s as they will vary from unit to unit, due to the lamps, and even other components.

JVC DLA-RS35

People, remember that the RS35 is simply a better RS25. Again, you've got a THX mode which guarantees you great out of the box color accuracy.

Optoma HD8600

From the HD8600 full review: Right out of the box, the HD8600 really does look pretty good. Definitely not the best color performance but definitely watchable. Overall, the image in Cinema 2 mode ("best" for our purposes), is a bit warm - strong on reds, but not too much so. Other than the slight extra reds, the skin tones looked pretty good.

Planar PD8150

No issues here. OK, this is one of the older reviews, and maufacturers are slowly moving to providing more accurate color "out of the box." I had this glowing statement for the Planar: The PD8150 is one of the best home theater projectors we've seen in the last couple of years when it comes to out of the box performance. Color accuracy is very good, but a touch on the warm (red) side, still it's very close to ideal, and very watchable.

Sony VPL-VW85

It's a Sony, I guess we expect no less: Out of the box performance turns out to be especially good. Color temp hovers around the ideal 6500K, although after calibration, we get tighter results, just slightly improved. This is a projector you could live with just fine without having it professionally calibrated

Vivitek H9080FD

Ahh, the one projector in this report that costs way more than our $10,000 maximum. I have more to say than this, but it keeps things simple:

Bottom line for the H9080FD, for out of the box performance. Overall color and skin tones are good to very good, but definitely visibly improvable