Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 2,322:1

For the picture settings used in this review, go to HomeTheater.com. Except as noted, all of the measurements were taken with the projector adjusted for the most accurate image, Lamp Power on Standard (high mode), Gamma on Video or Punch, and Dynamic Black and Adaptive Contrast off. There were approximately 400 hours on the lamp. The screen was a 118-inch wide Stewart Studio Tek 130, gain 1.3, and the projector was located just short of its maximum zoom (maximum throw) range.

The full-on/full-off contrast ratio shown above was measured directly off the projection lens using a Minolta T-10 (illuminance) light meter (value shown is the average of three separate, closely clustered results). I also measured a full-on white reading of 18.02 foot-lamberts directly on the 118-inch screen with a Minolta LS-100 (luminance) spot light meter. From this, a value for onscreen black of 0.0078 ft-L was derived from the LS100’s onscreen white reading and the measured contrast ratio from the T-10.

A reading with Dynamic Black engaged increased the contrast to nearly 10,000:1, but for reasons described elsewhere, I didn’t use this feature either for the measurements or my primary viewing. Compared to the best, less costly projectors we have tested—though (to be fair) on much smaller screens—this is not particularly impressive contrast or black level. But full-on/full-off contrast is not a strength of three-chip DLP projectors in general, unless their peak brightness is so high that it overcomes their middling black levels.

As noted elsewhere, in the Economy Lamp Power mode, at a Contrast setting needed to achieve our desired brightness, the white levels just below and above normal peak white (100 IRE) turned distinctly pink—with or without Adaptive Contrast on. This wasn’t the case with Standard Lamp Power (whose whites remained untinted up to 5 percent above the peak-white level of 100 IRE). While this pink shift didn’t appear to affect normal images in any way, it did indicate that the Contrast setting needed to reach our desired brightness in the Economy lamp mode was pushing things a bit too hard on this large screen.

The Color Tracking charts show how well a display adheres to the D65 standard white point. The Before Calibration result was taken in the 5,500 kelvin Color Temp setting, which produced the best result out of the box—though it was still off significantly, with a notable green shift. After Calibration, the result was excellent, with no Delta E values above 2.32 and all but two of (20 IRE and 50 IRE) below 2.0.

The CIE chart shows the color gamut in the Auto setting with a Rec. 709 (HD) source. The color points were accurately positioned apart from a slightly bluish magenta. The luminance values of each color were not optimum. In particular, green was about 6 percent too bright. But neither of these slight deviations was obvious visually. Overall, the projector’s color performance was hard to fault.—TJN