Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio—15,560:1; ANSI Contrast Ratio—250:1

Measured Resolution with the Leader LT-446:
480: 480 (per picture height)
720p: 720 (pph)
1080i: 1080 (pph)

DC Restoration (poor, average, good, excellent): Excellent

Color Decoder (poor, average, good, excellent): Excellent

Measured Color Points:
Red Color Point: x=0.667, y=0.331
Green Color Point: x=0.289, y=0.695
Blue Color Point: x=0.144, y=0.045

The top chart shows the DLA-HD1's gray scale relative to its color temperature at various levels of intensity, or brightness (20 IRE is dark gray; 100 IRE is bright white). The gray scale as set by the factory, in the Middle color-temperature mode, measures slightly warm with the darkest images, slightly cool with lower midtones, and very nearly accurate with brighter images. After making adjustments using the Photo Research PR-650, the gray scale has a similar shape, although, on the whole, it measures slightly closer to D6500, the accurate color temperature.

The bottom chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display's red, green, and blue LCOS panels. These are off those specified by SMPTE. Blue is slightly oversaturated, red is oversaturated, and green is very oversaturated.

After calibration, and using a full-field 100-IRE white (15.56 foot-lamberts) and a full-field 0-IRE black (0.001 ft-L), the contrast ratio was 15,560:1. Using a 16-box checkerboard pattern (ANSI contrast), the contrast ratio was 250:1. The best contrast ratio was achieved with the lamp in the High setting. The Normal lamp setting yielded the same black-level amount, yet a lower full white (12.72 ft-L). This is most likely due to the resolution of our Minolta LS-100 (i.e., 0.0006 ft-L and 0.0014 ft-L would both read 0.001 ft-L on the LS-100). Depending on your screen, the Normal lamp mode may result in a lower visible black level. All results were achieved on an 87-inch-wide, 1.0-gain Da-Lite Da-Mat screen.—GM