Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio—5,600:1; ANSI Contrast Ratio—206:1

Measured Resolution with the Leader LT-446:
480: 480 (per picture height)
720p: 720 (pph)
1080i: 1,080 (pph)

DC Restoration (poor, average, good, excellent): Excellent

Color Decoder (poor, average, good, excellent): Good

Measured Color Points:
Red Color Point: x=0.650, y=0.341
Green Color Point: x=0.325, y=0.652
Blue Color Point: x=0.143, y=0.056

The top chart shows the HC5000'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 Medium color-temperature mode, measures very cool with dark images and slightly warm with brighter images. After making adjustments using the Photo Research PR-650, the gray scale measures closer to D6500, the accurate color temperature, but still bounces around a bit.

The bottom chart shows the gray scale (or color temperature) relative to the color points of the display's red, green, and blue liquid-crystal panels. These are somewhat off those specified by SMPTE. Red is slightly oversaturated and very slightly reddish-orange. Blue is very slightly oversaturated and very slightly greenish-blue. Green is oversaturated and somewhat yellowish-green.

After calibration, and using a full-field 100-IRE white (11.20 foot-lamberts) and a full-field 0-IRE black (0.002 ft-L), the contrast ratio was 5,600:1. Using a 16-box checkerboard pattern (ANSI contrast), the contrast ratio was 206:1. The best contrast ratio was achieved with the lamp set to Low and the iris set to Auto Iris2. The brightest image was achieved with the lamp set to Standard and the iris set to Auto Iris2. This produced 15.48 ft-L with a 100-IRE window and 0.003 ft-L on a 0-IRE field for a contrast ratio of 5,160:1 (on an 87-inch-wide, 1.0-gain Da-Lite Da-Mat screen). The maximum light output stayed the same regardless of iris mode; only the black level changed.—GM