Hi folks,

The latest on the review schedule is this ... the Optoma HD806 is now in review, and we will have it done this week. The Sanyo Z3000 is scheduled to arrive next week. We currently have no concrete word on when the latest JVC and Epson 1080p models will be here, but we will be hearing shortly.

Thanks for all the feedback on the article regarding judder and 24p. Obviously this is an emotional issue for some people. Whether one prefers 24p to 60p is rather like asking whether one prefers blondes or brunettes. There is no right answer. For those who like 24p, we say, please use 24p and enjoy it.

The purpose of the article was to point out that judder is inherent in 24p playback of 24 fps films encoded in 1080p/24 on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Contrary to popular expectations, eliminating the 3:2 pulldown conversion by using 24p transmission instead of 60p does not make judder disappear. In many cases, judder in 24p looks somewhat exaggerated compared to the way it looks in 60p.

The bottom line is this: Don't use 24p transmission just because someone said it is better. Experiment with it--run your movies in both 24p and 60p and decide which you prefer. Concentrate on scenes in which the camera pans. That is where the juddering effects become most apparent. Trust your own eyes, and forget about what other people say. If you find that you prefer 60p, don't be surprised. You are not alone.

And if you happen to have frame interpolation capability either on your projector or a video processor, experiment with that too. In our experience it can eliminate judder entirely. For some people it can make the picture look too clear and three-dimensional, or too much like video and not like traditional film. We love the clarity, but others don't. This is an aesthetic preference, and there is nothing right or wrong about it. But it is great that vendors are beginning to add this feature to their projectors to give you the option to use it if you want to.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Friday, November 7

Hi folks,

We just posted the review of the Sony VPL-HW10 earlier today. Overall, a great product from Sony with one of the brightest video optimized pictures we've ever seen. Several requests have already come in for a shootout between the Sony HW10 and the Panny AE3000. We will have that posted no later than the middle of next week.

Also, as promised, we've been able to go back and add 5-star ratings to each of the 1080p models we've reviewed so far this fall. See each of the reviews for details. More comments will be forthcoming on these ratings as we discuss the relative merits of the projectors coming to market in the weeks to come.

The Optoma HD806 arrived and it is now in review. That review will be posted later next week.

In addition, frame interpolation is going to become a very big issue in the months to come. What is the big deal? Stay tuned for an article on the subject to be posted no later than this coming Tuesday.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Monday, November 3

Hi folks,

We've just posted a review of the Samsung SP-A800B, which is the 1080p DLP projector designed in consultation with Joe Kane. It's an elegant projector with excellent color and gray scale performance, and those who need a projector with perfect color should have it at the top of their list. However, with the latest competitive releases this fall the SP-A800B is not on the leading edge of price/performance. This industry just moves too quickly these days.

Next in the review line up is the Sony VPL-HW10, which I expect to post by Thursday or so. We are still waiting for the arrival of the Optoma HD806, which was supposed to be here by now. Hopefully that will show up in the next couple of days, so we can get that done by next week.

After completion of the Sony HW10 review, we will have reviewed enough of the new 1080p products to begin assigning 5-star ratings. We've already included them in the Samsung review. The rest of the 1080p reviews done so far will be updated with that information by the end of the week.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Monday, October 20

Hi folks,

Just a quick note to let you know what we've got going at the moment. Currently we've got the Samsung SP-A800 and the Mitsubishi HC6500 in review. Those reviews should appear later this week and early next week, although I'm not sure which will be done first. The Sony VPL-HW10 and the Optoma HD806 are expected to arrive shortly. So there are a lot more 1080p reviews in the pipeline.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Thursday, October 9

Hi folks,

We just posted a new review of Mitsubishi's HC7000 Diamond Series home theater projector. The 5-star ratings are not included since we are withholding those until we've done some side by side testing with other 1080p models being released this fall.

The review of the Pansonic AE3000 should be completed and posted by Monday night. We are still putting it through some paces and evaluating the effects of the Frame Creation feature. But this model is certain to be a very high scoring projector, and one of the most popular of the fall releases.

As you might have noticed, we are trying a new home page format. Your comments and critiques would be welcome. Please drop us your thoughts.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Tuesday, September 30

Hi folks,

The review of the Sanyo Z700 has just been posted. Don't miss this one if you are looking for 1080p at a rock bottom price. As we did last year, the reviews of this year's 1080p models will be posted, initially, without the 5-star ratings. We want to be able to do some shootouts before making final 5-star rating assessments.

ANSI Contrast update: In my review of the CEDIA show earlier this month I mentioned that the latest high contrast LCD projectors appeared to be showing significant strides in ANSI contrast. This is a significant competitive issue, since one of DLP's primary advantages over LCD has been superiority in ANSI contrast (which is essentially contrast potential within a given frame, without the effects of an auto-iris).

We currently have the Mitsubishi HC7000 and the Panasonic AE3000 in house. They have Full On/Off contrast ratings of 72,000:1 and 60,000:1 respectively. It will take a while to get these reviews completed, but I want to give you a peek at the ANSI contrast data in advance. The Panny AE3000 gave an ANSI contrast reading of 446:1. Viewed side by side with the last year's AE2000 (305:1), the AE3000 is quite obviously much higher in visible contrast and superior in shadow detail. Meanwhile, the Mits HC7000 measured 409:1, which is a huge improvement over their HC5500's 260:1.

Is this a big deal, you ask? Yes, indeed it is. Most of the LCD projectors we've tested have given readings in the 200:1 to 300:1 range, with a couple exceptions--the Panny AE2000 was 305:1, and the Sanyo Z2000 was a particularly noteworthy 350:1. Meanwhile, the DLP home theater models we've tested tend to be closer to 500:1. As examples, the Optoma HD80 was 515:1, and the Mitsubishi HC1600 was 493:1. So until now there has been an obvious performance gap between LCD and DLP as far as ANSI contrast is concerned.

Therefore, the early returns indicate that the newest LCD light engine tweaks have made important strides in narrowing the contrast performance gap with DLP. We have yet to measure the other high contrast models coming to market this fall, including the Sony VW70, the Epson Pro Cinema 7500, and the Sanyo Z3000. But we expect to see similar improvements on those models. Stay tuned for more info!

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Monday, September 29

Hi folks,

Well, we were able to get the Sanyo Z60 review posted last week, but I decided to hold the Z700 review until tomorrow. The reason is that we have received the Mitsubishi HC7000, and the Panasonic AE3000 is arriving today. Since we have the opportunity, we want to see these units side by side before publishing any comments.

As we did last year, the reviews of this year's 1080p models will be posted, initially, without the 5-star ratings. We want to be able to do some shootouts before making final 5-star rating assessments. It will take take a few weeks to see and evaluate enough of them to develop a baseline for comparison. But we will post the reviews of each model as soon as we can, and from the discussion of each unit you will be able to get a good idea of how we are seeing the strengths and weaknesses of each model.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Monday, September 22

Hi folks,

We currently have the newest Sanyo units, the Z700 and the Z60, in the review process. We will get them both posted this week. Following those, if the review units arrived on schedule, will be the Mitsubishi HC7000 to be posted next week, and the Panasonic AE3000 will be the week after.

If you are into video gaming, we need your thoughts and feedback--we'd like to know how many of you use a projector exclusively or primarily for video games as opposed to movies, TV, and/or presentation uses? Or do you use a projector for both gaming and movies/TV? When you are selecting a projector, are you more concerned about its viability as a gaming projector, or its video quality for movies and TV? Please drop us a comment or two with your thoughts on the matter. As always, we will try to respond to everyone individually.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Tuesday, September 9

Hi folks,

The CEDIA trade show has wrapped up for another year, and our review of the show has just been posted.

Fascinating things appeared at this show. The big competitive battle this fall between LCD and DLP will be in the area of ANSI contrast. The latest LCD products are showing contrast potential that nobody ever thought would be possible with LCD. We are anxious to get our hands on some of these new high contrast models to see what they can really do. We are working with the vendors to schedule the delivery of review samples of all of the latest releases.

However, it looks like the first of the new models to arrive will be the Sanyo units, the Z700 and the Z60. We will get these reviews done as soon as possible, and I can give you a better time frame once we see them on our doorstep.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Friday, August 29

Hi folks,

The big CEDIA trade show is happening next week in Denver. This is the annual show focused on home theater technologies--projectors, screens, audio systems, vibrating seats, popcorn machines, you name it. If it has to do with home theater, it is at CEDIA. This is the show vendors use to announce many of the new products for the fall season.

Normally, we don't have the product announcements happening until the first day of the show, but this week we've seen a number of advance announcements. Mitsubishi, Planar, projectiondesign, and Sanyo have pre-announced new home theater projectors to be unveiled next week. (See NewsWatch for details on them). Many more announcements will be forthcoming in the next week. Since we will be at the show all week, and since it ends Sunday, Sept 7, we plan to be back in the office late Monday, Sept 8. We will get a review of the show compiled once we have assembled all the product release data.

With all of the feedback coming in on the issue of anamorphic lenses and 2.35 screen formats, the awareness of issues related to ideal screen size and viewing distance was definitely lacking. Whether you are going with a standard 16:9 ratio screen or the wider 2.35, it is vital to figure out what is the best overall combination of screen size and viewing distance for your particular theater. For more on this, see this new article just posted yesterday.

We're still waiting on the arrival of a couple more anamorphic lenses so we can complete a lens review. We will try to squeeze it in among all of the new projector reviews we will be tackling after the show. Also to come, more commentary on the pros and cons of 2.35 format home theaters.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Friday, August 22

Hi folks,

Well, there's a heck of a lot more interest in 2.35 format rigs than we'd have guessed from prior feedback. My request for comments last week generated a huge influx of email, and I thank all of you that wrote in for your thoughts on the matter.

As you might have anticipated, the single largest complaint about anamorphic lenses was the cost. Nobody wants to spend more on an accessory lens than they do on a good 1080p projector, and price is clearly the big stumbling block for most readers. However, there were plenty of other considerations and questions that were on people's minds. We are compiling the most frequently asked questions and most insightful comments, and will post them along with our comments in response next week.

If you have not yet written and want to give us your ideas, experiences, suggestions, compliants, or praise regarding 2.35 screens and anamorphic lenses, we are anxious to hear from you. Please drop us a note if you have any thoughts on the matter!

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Friday, August 15

Hi folks,

We've just posted Bill's overview of five hot projectors that you will want to look at if you are into PC gaming. As projectors have gotten cheaper, many gaming enthusiasts are looking for big pictures to enhance the entertainment experience.

I've got a question for you ... how much interest do you have in anamorphic lenses and the 2.35 screen format? We don't get a lot of email asking for information on this subject, and I am wondering why? Is it because the cost of the lenses makes the concept prohibitively expensive? Is the idea confusing? Or is there just not that much interest in the idea of super-widescreen home theater among our readers? Any feedback you have on this subject would be welcome. Please drop me a note if you have any thoughts on the matter!

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Friday, August 8

Hi folks,

If you are into large screen video gaming, you'll not want to miss the next review. Bill is currently testing five 1280x800 format projectors to see how they stack up as video gaming machines. We should have the results of this work posted next week.

We are also continuing to work on an updated article comparing the relative merits of LCD and DLP. One of the areas we've been examining is the susceptibility of LCD technology to image persistence. At the Infocomm show in June, Texas Instruments demonstrated the tendency of LCD projectors to retain a faint ghost of a static image that had been displayed for an extended period of time. The point of the demo was to highlight the fact that DLP projectors are not susceptible to this particular phenomenon.

In trying to reproduce the demo that was featured in TI's booth, we discovered that not all LCD products behave the same with regard to image persistence. In particular, we tested a total of ten LCD projectors, five of which had inorganic LCD panels, and the other five had organic panels. The unexpected surprise in our testing was that the inorganic units showed very little susceptibility to image persistence. On four of the five, we simply could not get them to retain a ghost image no matter how long we displayed a static image. On one inorganic model, we found an extremely faint residual image which was easily reversed with a few minutes of white screen display.

On the other hand, the five organic units did indeed retain a ghost after at least an hour of displaying a high contrast black and white static image. (We used the ANSI contrast checkerboard test pattern for this evaluation.) In general, the ghost image could be reversed by displaying a full white screen for about half the length of time the original checkerboard image had been displayed. On four out of five of the organic models, the image persistence was fully eliminated using this techique. On the fifth unit, we found that an extremely faint residual ghost could be detected on a 50 IRE gray screen no matter how long we displayed the white screen. The image faded substantially, but never was completely eliminated.

This has been an interesting set of results. We will discuss it more in the upcoming article on the differences between LCD and DLP technologies.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Wednesday, July 30

Hi folks,

We've now got five 1080p projectors lined up, and we are taking copious notes on the relative merits of each. My original plan on Monday was to post a comparison between the Mits HC5500 and the BenQ W5000 today. However, as I see now, that piece would be too limited, and would only stimulate more questions about how they compare to others. So I have modified the plan to write a single piece that highlights the advantages and limitation of each of them as compared to the others.

The Epson 1080 UB has been included in the group, so we now have the Epson as well as the Panny AE2000, the Sanyo Z2000, the Benq W5000 and the Mits HC5500. At the moment, that rounds out the top five most popular home theater projectors in the 1080p category. I will make every effort to get this whole thing posted by Friday.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Monday, July 28

Hi folks,

We've received a number of emails asking about comparisons between the Mitsubishi HC5500, and other 1080p models in the same price range. In particular, the BenQ W5000 is of interest since it is a DLP-based model selling for street prices below $2,500. We are currently looking at the HC5500 and the W5000 and should have comparative notes posted by about Wednesday or so. Following this we will also do side-by-sides between the HC5500 and the Panasonic AE2000 as well as the Sanyo Z2000. We will try to get notes on them done by the end of the week. As of this writing, these are the four most popular 1080p models on the site, as measured by the total number of database accesses by readers in the past week.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,

Evan Powell
Editor

Friday, July 18

Hi folks,

Well, as promised we got two reviews up this week. One being the entry level Mitsubishi HC1600, and the other the Canon REALiS SX80. The Mits HC1600 is an outstanding entry level projector for graphics and photography, but the switch to a 2x wheel from its predecessor, the HC1500's 4x wheel means a greater number of users will be bothered by rainbow artifacts when using it for video and film.

We are really enthused by the Canon SX80. It delivers extremely bright, well balanced color in 1400x11050 resolution for under $3,000. If you can live with a couple limitations as itemized in the review, it is a highly competitive model for large scale display of photography, graphics, and highly detailed material of all kinds.

We are currently working on the new Mitsubishi HC5500, the latest 1080p model from Mits selling for $2,495. This is a significant upgrade to the HC4900 which is on its way out of production. The HC5500 is 20% brighter, much higher in contrast, and has more powerful video processing circuitry. The increase in brightness comes from a switch to a new, shorter 1.2x zoom lens.

The HC5500 also features two anamorphic lens modes that enable the user to leave an anamorphic lens permanently deployed without ever having to move it. With this feature, no matter what aspect ratio your subject matter is in, you can see it in proper format with the anamorphic lens in place. This eliminates either the nuisance factor of using a manually mounted anamorphic lens, or the significant cost of the automated track. Either way, the option to go with a 2.35 format screen is simplified with this new feature of the HC5500.

A formal review of the Mitsubishi HC5500 will be posted next week.

Thanks for using ProjectorCentral,