1080p Home Theater Projector Comparison Report - Image Quality-5

Vivitek H1080FD

Upon close inspection: Skin tones are very good. There is a very slight, almost paleness to faces [like Gandalf's below], due to the touch less red than there should be. When viewing, the projector doesn't really feel like it's a little thin on red, as the image has a good bit of contrast, and a lot of punch.

Bottom LIne: Even the least of the projectors these days does a pretty good job. If I had to be pinned down as to which three of these 10 projectors had the best looking skin tones, overall, I think I'd have to go with the Panasonic, the Mitsubishi HC3800 and the Sharp XV-Z15000.

$2100 - $3500 1080p Home Theater Projectors

BenQ W6000

That's right, I like the skin tones even with Brilliant Color on, but especially with it off: I slightly preferred the skin tones, post calibration, with Brilliant Color off. Overall skin tones really were impressive. Rich without being over the top, and very natural looking. With Brilliant Color on, the skin tone color wasn't quite as right, but minor tweaking can probably solve that problem. Brilliant Color gives the image some more kick, and with it just a tad less natural looking skin tones

Cinetron HD700

From the review: Bottom line on skin tones: Impressive. A calibration, (or try our calibration numbers), definitely makes a significant difference...After calibration though, the numbers and the balance between red and blue, become very, very good...

While the Cinetron HD700 doesn't have the most perfect color accuracy around, it certainly is very competitive. I did a fair amount of switching between the HD700 and my JVC RS20 - a projector roughly 3x the price. While the skin tones never looked as good as my JVC, I must admit, that, compared to the JVC, they always looked at least respectable

Epson Home Cinema 8500UB

The Pro Cinema 9500UB I've got here is the basis for these comments on the effectively identical 8500UB: I'm finding the skin tones of the Home Cinema 8500UB projector to be a touch better than the older 6500UB especially when viewing side by side. With the 6500UB, overall skin tones were very good, but not the best. Sometimes they leaned a tad to "over the top", and this probably relates to the general dynamic look that Epsons seem to have...the 8500UB skin tones look more correct, in that regard, than the projector it replaces. Let's say it's a touch more "film-like" in terms of skin tones.

Epson Pro Cinema 9500UB

Instant replay, from above: I'm finding the skin tones of the Home Cinema 8500UB projector to be a touch better than the older 6500UB especially when viewing side by side. With the 6500UB, overall skin tones were very good, but not the best. Sometimes they leaned a tad to "over the top", and this probably relates to the general dynamic look that Epsons seem to have...the 8500UB skin tones look more correct, in that regard, than the projector it replaces. Let's say it's a touch more "film-like" in terms of skin tones.

Epson Pro Cinema 9100

Not quite as good as the more expensive UB: Same as I just said above about the Home Cinema 8100: The Epson Home Cinema 8100 calibrated very nicely. Skin tones ended up looking very good, but could be a touch better. Mike's calibration tends to leave the skin tones with just the slightest green tint. We don't calibrate the individual colors, where one would work to remove that slight tinge, due to oversaturated greens.

LG CF181D

Skin tones and overall color are a key reason the LG picked up one of our top awards: Great skin tones. I am extremely pleased. I've watched tons of hours of Olympics with the LG, as well as at least 20 hours of movies. The LG has some of the best skin tones I've seen. Not the very best, but up there. I still give my own JVC the advantage, after calibration, but, I found the LG has no problem taking on projectors like the Epson (which exhibits just a touch of yellow green in skin tones), or the Sony HW15, with its just a touch too strong reds. It's probably comparable to the PT-AE4000, but the LG is just so much brighter...

Mitsubishi HC6800