Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 2,650:1

At 78 inches wide, my screen (also a Stewart StudioTek 130, 16:9) is considerably smaller than Kris Deering’s. The contrast ratio shown above was taken on my screen with the lamp on Economy and the iris on 3 (fully open). The gamma was set to Standard (for both the above and following results).

I measured the contrast ratio with two other possible combinations of iris and lamp setting. With the iris set on 3 and the lamp on Normal, I obtained a peak contrast ratio of 1,805:1 (19.85 ft-L white window / 0.011 black). With the lamp on Normal and the iris on 2 (middle position), the result was 2,650:1 (10.6 ft-L white window / 0.004 ft-L black). In the latter condition, I would expect the brightness on KD’s 120-inch-diagonal screen (104.4 inches wide) to be approximately 6 ft-L. (Judged by calculation; the light output on a larger screen with the same gain should decrease in direct proportion to its increased area.) A level of 6 ft-L would be dark city for me, but KD’s room is practically a black hole to room reflections, so he can tolerate a dimmer screen image.

For the Before measurements for color tracking, the color temperature control was set to 3, with the individual gain and bias calibration adjustments in their neutral position. While the color temperature did measure very close to 6500K in these settings, it was clearly not on the D65 standard. There was too much green. Fortunately, it took little effort to dial in a very accurate (After) result. The Before readings are not particularly relevant for a display in this price range. Anyone who spends this much for a projector and does not get it professionally set up and calibrated is exercising false economy.

The Marantz color gamut, as KD points out, is oversaturated in red and green (see the CIE chart). While the deviations were not enough to produce overly vivid colors, Marantz might consider putting a good color management system on its to-do list for its next generation of projectors.

The VP-11S2’s HDMI resolution earned straight A’s across the board. The component resolution ranged from good (1080i and 720p) to satisfactory (480i/p).

The overscan in both HDMI and component was 0 percent on all sides for 720p and 1080i/p and no more than 0.5 percent (on the left side only) for 480i/p.—TJN