Projector Reviews

I performed my white-balance calibrations with a Minolta CL-200 light meter; selecting the D6500 factory white balance and then adjusting the red and blue gain controls, using both the Video Essentials stepped IRE windows and my AccuPel HDG2000 with 720p stepped IRE windows.

The factory calibration, although low (averaging around 6300 kelvins), resulted in a smoother grayscale and less variation than my calibration. This is most likely due to the lack of a green gain control. After calibration, I measured closer to the desired D6500 at most IRE levels except the lowest (20 IRE) and highest (100 IRE), both of which had a faint but noticeable green shift.

As noted in the review, the XV-Z2000 has several brightness modes for the lamp, color wheel, and iris. Careful adjustment for best grayscale yielded brightness readings of 449 ANSI lumens with the iris turned on, and 723 ANSI lumens with it turned off. (The Economy lamp mode was turned on and Bright Boost was turned off for both readings.)

Brightness measurements will vary by just over 1 f-stop (about 60%), depending on which combination of lamp, iris, and Bright Boost settings you've selected. Brightness uniformity for this projector is average at 71% across the screen and 63% to the worst corner.

With the iris set to High Contrast mode, I measured ANSI contrast at 420:1 and peak contrast at 806:1. Switching to High Brightness (iris off), those readings came in at 411:1 and 673:1 respectively, which is not a significant reduction in either case. You may find that operating the XV-Z2000 in High Brightness mode and using a gray projection screen suits your tastes just fine.—PP

While some experts do not consider the peak contrast (100 IRE, full field white/video black) significant, that is the contrast specification trumpeted by most manufacturers. On the Sharp, with the Brightness Boost Off and the projector set to the High Contrast mode (iris closed down) on my 80-inch wide, Stewart FireHawk screen, I measured a peak contrast of 1996 with the Economy mode off (15.97foot-Lamberts white/0.008fL black) and 2245 (13.47/0.006) with Economy on. The latter black level is close to the best we have measured on this screen (0.004-0.005fL). And for those who must use the projector, at least occasionally, with a significant amount of ambient room light, I measured a useable peak output (no white clipping) of 28.7fL on this same screen (Eco Off, Iris open, Brightness Boost Off).–TJN