Projector Reviews

Comparisons
As mentioned earlier, the HD100 is considerably less bright than my RS1. I measured 13.47fL on my screen in the Normal lamp mode vs. 18.46fL from the RS1 in as near an identical setup as I could manage. In the High lamp mode, the HD100 measured 15.46fL vs. 22.28fL from the RS1. The High lamp mode gives the HD100 a 15% boost in output, but it's still less than the output of the RS1 in its Normal lamp setting. And my RS1 has twice as many hours on its lamp as the HD100 (approximately 400 hours vs. 220).

On the other hand, the HD100's blacks were even deeper than those on the already impressive RS1, possibly because some peak-light output has been sacrificed. As an additional bonus, the HD100 produced a very uniform full-screen black field. With the same image on the RS1, the corners of the screen were subtly brighter, though this is rarely seen with real program material.

The HD100 also looked a hair sharper than my RS1, and in a totally natural way. I can't say whether this was due to a different lens (which I doubt—apart from the motorized features, the lens specs of the two projectors are the same), a slightly better sample, or a slightly better convergence (the RS1 has a small red misalignment, less than a pixel, that cannot be totally corrected even in mid-screen). Whatever the reason, there was a very subtle, though real, difference between the two projectors in this regard that was clearly visible in a direct AB comparison.

While comparing the two projectors, I also noticed that the RS1's greater brightness was more merciless in revealing noise in dark scenes. This was never a problem on HD content, but it was visible on marginal SD material. Its brightness did give the picture more punch than the HD100, but the latter looked more subtle, relaxed, and filmlike. Oddly, the colors on the RS1 appeared more vivid, saturated, and a bit less "real," despite the fact that the color space on the HD100 was more oversaturated and even less well-matched to the HD (Rec. 709) standard than the RS1.