Guide to the 2009 1080p Projector Comparison Report

Guide to the 2009 1080p Projector Comparison Report

Welcome! This year's report is pretty massive. To assist those not familiar with our site, or for that matter, our projector review layouts, and writing style, this guide should prove to be helpful

The topics covered are:

What's in this Report

Defining your expectations: Are you an average consumer, enthusiast, or purist

Understanding your room environment in selecting the proper projector equipment

About the Photos in this Report

You'll find the writing style of the report to be long on explanations. As you get the hang of things you will be able to scan though some content quickly. Because of the many sections here, and the overlapping effects of some features, you may find somewhat similar, fairly in-depth, explanations of the same feature, on the same projector. A good example are the discussions about Creative Frame Interpolation. (We'll explain that to you elsewhere.)

On a personal note:

Much of this report is subjective. You are reading my opinions as to how these projectors look and feel, and my take on which are best. I realize some people get to see one, maybe two projectors "live" before buying, and most who buy on the internet buy sight unseen. With that in mind, I take my reviewing seriously. I get to watch each one extensively and play with it at length. From that, I draw my conclusions. Because there is subjectivity, my opinion isn't fact, but I do get very positive feedback from almost everyone that emails me, who has bought based on the information I provide. I wouldn't have it any other way!

As I like to say when people ask me what I do: I pay myself money to sit and watch movies and HDTV. Well, it's obviously not that easy, but it works for me.

I digress. Time to move on.

What's In This Report

This is as good a place to start, as any.

Organization: This report considers 25 1080p home theater projectors.

The 25 projectors consist of:

• 20 with full reviews
• 2 additional projectors that are almost identical to ones reviewed, but for a couple of extra features (the Epson Pro Cinema 7100 and 7500UB), which are similar to the Home Cinema 6100 and 6500UB respectively.
• 2 projectors not reviewed, that are updates from important models from last year's report; the Sony VPL-VW70 (replaced the VW60) a fairly popular higher end projector, and the other, the Optoma HD8000-LV (replaced the HD81-LV) and is included because it is the brightest projector covered.
• 1 projector in mid-review - the Optoma HD8200. It's calibrated and I've been watching it, but the review will follow this report.

Projectors are organized into three tiers, or as we call them Classes:

Awards are issued in each of the classes. The awards are:

Best In Class, Best In Class - Runner-up, and Special Interest

Pricing is based on estimated "street price" from authorized dealers. We say authorized, because once in a while you may see what seems to be a price ridiculously lower than everywhere else, from a non-authorized dealer. Remember - "let the buyer beware". If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

There are NINE sections to the review, excluding this guide: