1080p Comparison Report - Image Quality6

Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector

Another excellent projector in this regard: "Excellent. With some 40 hours of watching the PT-AE3000, I have found the flesh (skin) tones to be very natural (after our minor changes when we calibrated). The PT-AE3000U isn't as natural as the InFocus IN83, which I raved about when speaking of flesh tones, but it is very, very, good."

Sanyo PLV-Z3000 projector

The PLV-Z3000 managed to still have a very slight color shift to yellow green after calibration, and it can be noticed in skin tones. I suspect a more in-depth calibration can solve that, however. In the review I stated: "Post calibration, skin tones are very good, given the slight yellow-green emphasis. I find that in Pure Cinema mode, however, (perhaps, in part due to limited brightness), that faces tend to look a little dark and flat".

Remember, we tend to quibble over fine points, for the hard core enthusiast that cares about every minor flaw. In other words, don't get me wrong, this one looks pretty good too (as do the Epsons).

Sony VPL-HW10 projector

Viewsonic Pro8100 projector

Very respectable. In the review: "once the projector gets even a basic grayscale calibration and the saturation is toned down, it starts looking really good on skin tones." I'd put the Viewsonic about even with the Epsons, a touch better than the Sanyo PLV-Z3000..., and down a fraction from the best.

$3500 - $10,000 Home Theater Projectors

BenQ W20000 projector

"After calibration, Skin Tone handling is very good! Not perfect though, I've seen better, notably the InFocus IN83." Well, considering I feel the IN83 has the best skin tones of any projector in the review, that's a pretty positive statement.

InFocus IN82 projector

The older IN82 didn't do quite as well as the newer X10 and, of course, the IN83, but still: "The InFocus IN82 does a very good job on skin tones. After the minor adjustments I made to the grayscale, I found skin tones, overall, to appear very natural looking."

InFocus IN83 projector

The best of all the projectors in this comparison. From the InFocus IN83 review: "I'll keep this simple. Skin tones on the IN83 (which I'm watching right now - National Treasure (the first one), are superb. I haven't seen better to date. Even my adjusted JVC DLA-RS1 can't match them." In fact, even after a very in-depth calibration, my own, brand new JVC RS20, still can't quite match the IN83 in this regard, and it looks great until viewing both side-by-side, where the IN83 still has a slight advantage.

JVC DLA-RS10 projector

The RS10 is really rather excellent. Once again, though, I couldn't help but to compare to the InFocus in the RS10's review: "After calibrating and tweaking the JVC DLA-RS10, skin tones improved and we ended up with skin tones that we liked even better than (the RS10's) THX mode, although they are pretty similar. I was really loving the skin tone handling until I put the RS10 up, side by side with the InFocus IN83, which has the best looking skin tones of any projector I have worked with. Side by side, the IN83 still gets the slight advantage, but again, the RS10 only really comes up a little short by direct comparison."

JVC DLA-RS20 projector

So, how did our top award winner, the JVC RS20 stack up? Well, the answer is, exactly the same as the RS10. Once again, I found skin tone performance to be truly excellent, extremely natural looking, and only bested (by a very slight margin), by the InFocus, in a side by side comparison. Without putting them side by side, I don't think I could possibly determine which one was the better of the two!