Projector Reviews

User Interface
The remote control is dedicated to operating the projector, not your TV, DVD player, and microwave oven, so the buttons are as large and well-spaced as they need to be. It also provides direct access to several key video adjustments, three memory presets, and five of the inputs (you can program which keys select which input).

And your remote will be busy—the Planar is loaded with adjustments. There are no picture modes as such, but rather four selectable memories that can be programmed as desired. Two of the memories are ISF Day and Night, which can be saved and changed only by using a password, thus preventing unwarranted tampering. The memories can be set up separately for each input.

Brightness, Contrast, Color Saturation, and Color Tint are all straightforward, though Saturation and Tint are not available for the HDMI inputs. But then things get more interesting. If you set the Sharpness mode to Simple, you get a single Sharpness adjustment. Select Advanced, however, and nine different Sharpness controls pop up, including sharpness for different directions and such arcane controls as Overshoot and Texture. You also get extensive—though fewer—options for Noise Reduction.

Overscan offers only three options: Off, Crop, and Zoom. The Crop setting masks off 3% of horizontal and vertical resolution, leaving small black borders around the picture but otherwise does not compromise the remaining image, while Zoom crops and enlarges the image, which can reduce detail.

The Advanced menu has a raft of additional controls. Several of them have an Auto option, which, in most cases, is the best choice (see Settings in the Measurements section).

RGB Adjust lets a technician calibrate the selected color temperature. It provides red, green, and blue controls for the top and bottom of the brightness range, but don't try this at home without the requisite skill and equipment.

The remaining Advanced menu controls—things like Image Position, Phase, Tracking, and Sync—may be useful in special situations. But I found no reason to change them from their factory-default settings.