Shadow Detail Performance

Overall, the Vivitek’s shadow detail performance is very good post calibration. Pre-calibration, however, due to the default brightness being too low, the projector crushes a fair amount of near black detail. (That was very evident when I first looked at the uncalibrated H9080FD.) I should note that the Adaptive Contrast feature adds a lot of wow factor to most images, but is usually over the top, crushing blacks and near whites as well, when engaged. It will be a helpful feature if you have some ambient light, to add more punch to the image, but can severely limit the dark shadow detail in particular. Consider these two images, from Casino Royale. The first has Adaptive Contrast turned off, the second, the same exposure but with it turned on. Note the areas to the left and right of the window the sillouetted men are standing behind. With Adaptive Contrast turned on, parts of what is probably the frame of the window vanish, whereas they are very visible in the first image. You can also see the near whites get crushed in the lower image with it on. The fluorescent light is fairly well defined in the first image, while the whites have spread significantly, in the second one (and bright detail lost). As I said, more punch, but Adaptive contrast is very destructive to near blacks and near whites.

General images relating to shadow detail are next.

From Lord of the Rings:

Top left: H9080FD, Middle: Sony VPL-VW70, Right: JVC RS10