Projector Reviews

The top chart shows the PT-L300U'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 0 color-temperature mode and the Cinema1 gamma mode, measures somewhat blue with dark images and overly green with brighter images (green enough that we could not measure a color temperature). After making adjustments using the Photo Research PR-650, the gray scale measures somewhat better—within 150 Kelvin of D6500, the accurate color temperature—throughout most of the range. This is a marked improvement compared with the performance before calibration. The bottom chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display's red, green, and blue liquid crystals. Green (x=0.309, y=0.648), red (x=0.348, y=0.340), and blue (x=0.146, y=0.056) are more saturated than those colors specified by SMPTE, which means that the display will be able to reproduce the colors available in the system and then some. Green is slightly yellow. The light output was approximately 16 foot-lamberts (on a 6-foot-wide Studiotek 130 screen). To get gray-scale results close to those we achieved after calibration, the light output can be no higher than 9 foot-lamberts. The display has excellent DC restoration and a very accurate color decoder. The PT-L300U displays approximately 460 lines (per picture height) with NTSC sources and, using our Leader LT-446 HD generator, is capable of resolving DTV signals out to the limits of its 960-by-540 chips.—GM