Cedia 2005 projectors on projectorcentral.com

[brendon]

There is a an interresting article "LCD Comes on Strong" on http://projectorcentral.com/cedia_2005.htm
which has 5 LCD projectors with greater than 5000/1 contrast and a couple of very interesting HD DLP's at lower price points than seen before.
Definately starting to look as if afforable HD projection is here . :T
Brendon

[George Bellefontaine]

It's good to see both lcd and dlp increase their contrast ratios while lowering prices. No doubt about it, front projection is taking off.

[Adz]

Here is a great and informative review from CEDIA on the new front projectors and screens from a reseller's website (VERY LONG):

CEDIA REPORT

WHAT WE SAW AT CEDIA 2005

The operative phrase at this year’s CEDIA show was 1080P, as in 1920 x 1080 native resolution displays. Everyone was showing 1080P product in front and rear projection, including Texas Instruments with their prototype 1080P single and triple chip DLP front projection systems. Sony made a big splash with an SXRD based front projector that displays full 1920 x 1080 resolution for right at $10,000, which seems to have created quite a stir. While not a “DLP Killer” by a long shot, it will be interesting to see how their $10,000 offering affects pricing on 1080P DLP once it ships (looks like mid-2006).

Another product that seems to be attracting quite a bit of interest are the new black front projection screens from Sony and DNP. The latter was represented at the show by Screen Innovations (DNP’s only authorized US distributor), who had a small display set up in the RCA dome. The cool thing about the new black screens is that they are just about impervious to ambient light and will work in (literally) just about any lighting situation. The question is, are they really suitable for home theater? More on those later…

PROJECTORS

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

Texas Instrument’s 3 chip 1080P DLP prototype was hands down our favorite display at the show. The clips we saw of SIN CITY, MADAGASCAR and BACKSTROKE OF THE WEST (oops, sorry, I mean REVENGE OF THE SITH) looked superior to even what we have seen at the DLP Digital Cinema in Denver. Contrast was outstanding, with deep blacks and incredible depth and three-dimensionality. The SITH trailer looked the best, with great detail and rich saturated colors. In fact, it’s hard to imagine home theater getting any better than this. It literally looked better than what we have seen at the best commercial theaters, digital or otherwise, outside of an IMAX presentation. Of course, this is a purely subjective evaluation, but the best time we had at the show was stopping by the TI theater after their canned presentation was over on Sunday afternoon. The TI personnel had definitely “let their hair down” and were taking requests – and our request was to play all of their demo clips up on the 3 chip. To quote their very attractive but plastic and painfully over-rehearsed spokesmodel, “WOW.”

The single chip version also looked stunning, but lacked a bit of the incredible contrast, depth, and brightness that the 3 chip possessed. Essentially imagine the very best single chip 720p piece out there today, eliminate the screen door effect, add about 25% more perceived detail, and you have an excellent idea of what it looked like. There was no 720p piece as a reference, so again, this is all subjective.

Dropping by after the presentations are over also allows you the opportunity to quiz the TI reps in detail without a crowd standing impatiently by. Here is the lowdown on 1080P DLP, single chip or triple chip:

Single Chip 1080P DLP is in the hands of the major front projection manufacturers right now, who are all developing their own optics, electronics, etc. The new 1080P chip is based on the Dark Chip 3 platform, so expect contrast and overall performance to be comparable to the best 720p DLP projectors today, only with higher resolution (obviously). Pricing should be in the $10,000 on up category, with most being $15,000 plus (interesting – initially we had heard that all would be over $15K, but our guess is that Sony’s SXRD piece is already forcing downward pricing pressure on TI). As to when they will ship, that’s up to the individual manufacturers and their engineering teams. Best guess is mid-2006.

Three Chip 1080P DLP is also in the hands of the far fewer manufacturers pursuing this higher end of the market. Look to late 2006 and an initial price in the 30K + range. Pair a 3 chip 1080P with an anamorphic lens and a Stewart CineCurve 2:35 masking screen and you’ve reached home theater nirvana, in our opinion.

SONY

Sony’s big attention getter was their new VPL-VW100 1080P SXRD projector, mentioned above. The big story here is the price point - $10,000 list for a true 1920 x 1080 front projection display. The big question is, how did it look? The short answer – pretty good.

The A/V world seems to be split into two camps, Sony worshippers and Sony haters. We like to think that we buck this trend by being Sony agnostics – we will acknowledge Sony superiority only when we see evidence of it. With the VW100 we saw evidence that could bolster the arguments of both camps.

First of all, Sony claims a contrast ratio of 15000:1. Here’s where Sony’s marketing department earns their (I’m sure) huge paychecks. What the (thankfully honest) Sony rep told us is that the actual contrast of the panels are more in line with a 2000:1/3000:1 contrast spec, which is what our subjective viewing bore out (keep in mind that even specs like “2000:1” and “3000:1” are mostly bogus in and of themselves, but what we saw was in line with what most manufacturer’s would claim to be a 2000:1 contrast ratio). Blacks were very deep and convincing, but the overall contrast in dark scenes was not nearly as good as the best DLP projectors we’ve seen. Sony works its contrast magic by opening and closing an iris, which raises and lowers the overall brightness within a scene or shot (basically, on/off contrast). It does nothing toward improving ANSI contrast, which is the ratio of how well the projector does in reproducing bright whites and deep blacks within the same scene, even within a single shot. The DLP projectors we saw all did a better job in terms of ANSI contrast than did the SXRD pieces. This was especially obvious when we compared how the 3 chip DLP design handled dark scenes in the SITH trailer, vs. how well the Sony handled dark scenes in the ZORRO trailer. With the DLP piece, there was much greater depth and range to how it handled light and dark within a scene, while with the Sony these scenes looked a bit flat. The blacks were extremely deep, but it didn’t have the vividness of the DLP design. Of course, the Sony displays deep blacks by closing down an iris, which reduces overall brightness at the same time. DLP, on the other hand, is able to deliver deep blacks while maintaining overall brightness.

Our argument is that ANSI contrast is much more obvious and important when viewing typical video content. If a particular scene in a movie has both light and dark elements within the same shot, a projector with greater ANSI contrast will reproduce these scenes with greater accuracy, depth, and dynamics.

This is not to say that the Sony VW100 had poor contrast or a poor image – it doesn’t! The ANSI contrast was very good compared to most LCD or LCOS projectors, it just wasn’t as good as most DLP designs. Our point here is that resolution is NOT the most important spec in determining image quality, but it’s the one most people seem to get caught up on. Color accuracy and contrast are at least as important, if not more so.

In terms of color, the Sony did very well. Reds seemed a little “hopped up,” but overall color balance was smooth and natural.

Speaking of smooth, this is one area the Sony excelled at. Like JVC’s DILA designs, SXRD has a rock solid smoothness that is very appealing. In this regard it was superior to 720p DLP designs, equal to the DLP 1080 designs. Of course, for those driven to distraction by DLP rainbows, SXRD and DILA have it all over single chip DLP.

Another plus – Sony recommends the VW100 for screens 120” and under. Judging from the image on the 120” Dalite Cinemavision they had it on, you could probably go even larger, as the image seemed quite bright. Since visible pixels are not an issue with this projector, larger screen sizes won’t reveal any screen door artifacts but will reveal more mpeg and picture artifacts.

Speaking of picture artifacts, this is the one area that we feel that the VW100 could stand some improvement. While the overall image looked smooth, there was an overly processed, “smeary” look to the picture that was distracting. What we saw here was exactly the kind of artifacts you see on some rear projection and CRT sets when the set has all of those so-called “picture enhancement” effects turned on. Edges looked both soft and overly enhanced at the same time, and fast motion had a bit of an unnatural feel about it. Interesting – when queried as to the difference between the Qualia and the VW100, the Sony rep stated that the Qualia had a considerably more refined image. Based upon our past experience with the Qualia, we would have to agree (he also mentioned brightness as a major difference).

Also on the negative front, the $1000 bulb price is more than a bit steep! That, plus their main demo clip was the trailer for Sony Picture’s STEALTH, which looks beyond idiotic.

Sony was also showing off their 3640 x 2160 SXRD. Unfortunately, they now subjected us to an entire scene from STEALTH to do so (did we mention that Sony’s marketing execs absolutely earn their paychecks?). While there was nothing negative to say about the picture on this commercial cinema projector, it sure didn’t leave us with the same weak-kneed “WOW” feeling we had when we first saw the Qualia two years ago. Funny – most of the people walking out of the presentation were saying the same thing. Our opinion is that they sacrificed a potentially spectacular demo in favor trying to generate renewed interest in the upcoming video release of a major box office bomb…

INFOCUS


InFocus will continue with their current Screenplay 4805, 5000, 5700, 7205, and 7210 for the time being. There are some cool things on the horizon from InFocus in the “under $10,000” price range, mainly an extremely attractive new chassis design that is much more “consumer A/V component” oriented and a new quieter fan design. Don’t hold your breath, though – the new models are still months away, and the current InFocus lineup still hits the performance and price points it needs to.

The big news from InFocus is the major price drop and performance enhancement of the Screenplay 777 3 chip 720P DLP projector. The enhanced 777 has a new optical engine developed around 3 TI Dark Chip 3 720P DLP chips and has a greatly improved contrast ratio as a result. An effective demo was switching to the 777 from the 7210 right in the middle of a clip from I ROBOT. The 7210 looked very good, but the picture coming from the 777 was brighter, richer, more solid, and had that “real” quality that we have only seen on 3 chip DLP projectors and the original demo of the Qualia. There are definite improvements in picture quality by going up to a 3 chip DLP design over a single chip piece, improvements in ANSI contrast and other areas that are immediately apparent in a side by side comparison (we also saw this in our evaluation of the SIM C3X, but more on that later).

The best news of all is the new price of the 777 – a list of $14,995. That makes the 777 the least expensive 720P 3 chip DLP projector on the market, and it is an excellent performing and very attractive unit to boot. Finally these things are out of the pricing stratosphere and may actually end up in some home theaters.

OPTOMA

Not much news here, although it looks like the Optoma H31 is coming back into the lineup after we were told it was discontinued earlier in the year. This is good news as the H31 is one of the best performing 480p DLP projectors on the market. The H79 still looks great and is still current.

One of our goals in talking to Optoma was to find out what the altitude restrictions were on the H79, but were not able to get a clear answer. We bring this up since there is a persistent rumor that the H76/77/79 will overheat and shutdown at altitudes over 5000 feet. Since we are at 6000 feet here in Colorado Springs/Denver, this is kind of a big deal to us (so is a large portion of the country, so we feel that Optoma *might* want to take a look at this). We’ve got an H79 in here now we are testing that seems to be working fine. Basically what Optoma tells us that that H79 should work fine at high altitudes providing the room it is placed in has good ventilation and is cool year round, plus the projector itself have plenty of room around it for air flow.

We were also told that the H77 and H57 are gone for good. Then again, we’ve heard these kinds of things from Optoma before only to have the units rise again, Phoenix-like, to once again take roost in home theaters around the country.

We like Optoma’s projectors, we really do. We just wish that Optoma as a company was a little more organized and a little less inconsistent!

BENQ

Not much new here either. BenQ was relegated to a fairly small area in the dome compared to the usual huge “BenQ compound.” Both the PE7700 and PE8720 projectors on display, although neither was up and running. Unanswered was why the 8720 is taking so long to get to market. This time we were promised October (after hearing May, then July, then September).

NEC

Another booth in the “nothing to see here, please disperse” category. NEC had the HT1100 on display (still a great little projector, and a great deal at current pricing) and the HT410 and HT510 “rainbow generators.” Why NEC, with having such a great track record with the HT-1000 and 1100, should ignore the HD2 and 2+ market and instead offer two low resolution projectors with slow 2X color wheels (hence the term “rainbow generator”) is beyond us.

NEC, please come back!


SIM 2
Another big favorite for us was the SIM C3X. We didn’t spend much time with it at the show, since we had an extensive opportunity to evaluate one a few weeks ago when SIM brought one in specifically for us to evaluate.

Based upon the two hours we had to play with the C3X at one of our showrooms here in the ‘Springs, we would say that it is comparable to the other 3 chip DLP designs we’ve seen but in a much smaller case (and, with the exception of the Screenplay 777, a much more attractive case as well). Pictures on the C3X were rock solid and real, an adjective we use when you forget you are watching a video display and just plain accept the image before you as a reproduction of reality. We put on SIM CITY and were just blown away (a phrase I hate, but accurate here) with the depth and solidity of the image. ANSI contrast was excellent, as was revealed in our standard ANSI torture test clip of the inside of a boat cabin with bright sunlight revealed through the windows. In this regard it was clearly better than the H79 and Screenplay 7210 we had in our shop, which rendered the scenery outside the window accurately but made the inside of the cabin look dark and dreary. The SIM, on the other hand, rendered it as you might actually perceive it in real life.

This is the exact same test we used with the Screenplay 777 over a year ago, one that the 777 also passed with flying colors. This area of ANSI contrast is clearly an important one, one where 3 chip DLP designs have demonstrated to us consistent superiority over their one chip counterparts.

Compared to the Screenplay 777, the C3X has one area in which we feel it is superior and one where we feel like it is lacking. The main advantage of the C3X is its small size – it’s not much bigger than a SIM HT300E, for example. In this regard it certainly will be easier to install, not only from a size perspective but from an aesthetic one as well. On the negative side, we believe that the InFocus colors were a bit more accurate and we like their out of box gamma curves better as well. The SIM gammas all seem to reveal a tiny bit more MPEG noise in darker scenes, especially with DVD. Still, a good calibration should eliminate this “problem.” An extremely impressive performer.

PANASONIC

We showed up for the presentation of the Panasonic PTAE900 at 2:00 pm on Sunday(an hour before they were supposed to close up shop), but Panasonic was already tearing down before we got there. Disappointing! Supposedly the AE900 is a noticeable improvement over the AE700, which is one of the few LCD projectors we like.

JVC

JVC had a very nice suite set up with 3 HD2K DILA projectors, two of which were stacked in order to show off the Sensio 3-D projection system. This was VERY impressive – the best 3-D presentation we have ever seen, including 3-D IMAX presentations. Unlike IMAX and other 3-D systems, the image does not collapse if you turn or tilt your head. The 3-D process really seems to benefit from DILA technology, as the almost total lack of screen door effect and the rock solid quality of the image really contribute to the illusion of reality.

In another room JVC had set up the HD2K solo on a 120” diagonal screen. Despite the low lumen rating, the image looked plenty bright. As always, the HD2K looked extremely clean and solid, with none of the picture artifacts we noticed on the Sony VW100. Colors were bright and vivid, and detail was plentiful just like on all of the 1080P pieces we saw. JVC doesn’t play any games with variable irises, so contrast specs are not all that impressive on paper. Yet the HD2K has the best contrast of any DILA consumer projector on the market. We had seen the HD2K earlier this year, and one of the things we could not figure out was why the HD2K set up solo in the room at CEDIA looked washed out with middle grey blacks. The one we had seen earlier in the year – AND the two stacked units in the 3-D display – had considerably deeper blacks. We brought this to their attention, but were told that the solo HD2K was calibrated properly. We think someone got a hold of the remote and cranked the brightness up way too high and no one had bothered to recalibrate it. Normally the HD2K is one of the most impressive performers out there - the 3-D display proved that. Blacks on the stacked units were very deep and rich. Not as deep as a DLP projector or the Sony VW100 with the iris closed down, but very good nonetheless. If only JVC had let us play with the remote for a moment, we might have been able to dial in an impressive black on the solo unit.

SCREENS

STEWART
One of the coolest demos at the show was Stewart’s new CineCurve 2:35 to 1 motorized masking screen combined with Runco (and Vidkron’s) new Cinewide projectors. The visual impact of movies stretched out to their full 2:35 to 1 aspect ratio without black letterbox bars is greater than I would have imagined. With the demo clips from THE ROCK and THE INCREDIBLES, it was amazing how the considerably wider image simply did a much better job of drawing you in to the action. The idea really is the same as Stewart’s other masking screens, except in this case the basic screen is not 4:3 or 16:9, but 2:35 to 1, the same widescreen ratio as most big budget Hollywood spectaculars (think STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, etc) . This way you have a “constant height” screen where the masking only varies the width of the image from 2:35 to 1 down to 16:9 down to 4:3. The other cool factor is that fact that the screen is slightly curved, just like in the older movie palaces. This helps with viewing angle, engages your peripheral vision, and compensates for the pincushion distortion common to anamorphic lenses. Extremely impressive.

We keep getting inquires as to whether or not Stewart is developing a black screen, like the Sony black screen or the DNP Mirage. The answer is yes. Stewart has been working on one for ages, but they don’t want to release one until they feel it is up to their standards. They have looked at the other black screens out there and don’t feel that the quality is at a level where they would feel comfortable putting their name on it. Stewart’s attitude is that you’ll see it when they get it right.

Even so, Stewart is saying that they would not consider a black screen (even theirs) for critical home theater use, but only where the black screen is the only solution to an extreme ambient light situation.

SCREEN INNOVATIONS/DNP

Screen Innovations is purported to be the only legitimate importer of the new DNP black screen, the Mirage. The sample set up at the Screen Innovations booth was certainly impressive in how it handles ambient light. Compared to the white screen sample right next to it, there was a night and day (no pun intended) difference between the two materials. The Mirage material simply did an amazing job in rejecting ambient light, to the point that it almost looked as good as most white materials in a totally darkened room. Please keep in mind this is a totally subjective comparison, as we really had no way to really test the Mirage material other than out on the show floor under the glare of the stadium lights. Still – the pictures some of you have seen online are accurate. It is that good with ambient light.

Negatives – the material does definitely hotspot. While it was hard to make a true evaluation of it under the conditions it was displayed under, it was clear that moving your head around the screen resulted in the brightest part of the image moving with you, always centered in your field of view. This would indicate to us that the area of the screen closest to your seating position will have a noticeably brighter image than any other part of the screen. Again, please keep in mind this is all preliminary and based upon viewing a small demo screen under far less than optimal viewing conditions.

One last point – someone we trust with an excellent working and technical knowledge of screens told us that their evaluation of the DNP and Sony screens led them to a couple of conclusions. One, that the DNP product was considerably better engineered and had far less color shift than the Sony, and that neither is really up to critical home theater use and he would recommend them only where ambient light is excessive and uncontrollable.