When I first started writing about TV — instead of just watching it — I had the privilege of attending an eye-opening demonstration of high-end projectors. The corporate host had set up a series of these light cannons in a room and proceeded to show the same scene from Shakespeare in Love on each one. As the engineers switched from screen to screen, each projector looked better than its predecessor. Finally I asked my buddy how much the best one cost, and he muttered something like, “about 40,000 bucks.”

The projectors I experienced that day were three-gun CRT (cathode-ray tube) models, with separate red, green, and blue tubes. Although CRTs are still the height of high-end projector performance, another technology is catching up fast. Called Digital Light Processing (DLP), its chief advantage is price, but it also promises smaller size, easier setup (a single lens means no convergence issues), lower maintenance, and longer life than tubes. Its bitter rival among projectors is LCD, but DLP has enjoyed one important edge: better black-level performance. That is, shadows and other dark areas of the picture look more natural.

To check out a cross section of DLP technology, I rounded up three projectors: the BenQ PE8700 ($7,995), the Sim2 Domino 30 ($7,995), and the Sharp XV- Z12000 ($12,000). All use a single 1,280 x 720-pixel Texas Instruments DLP chip — the Sim2 uses the HD2 chip, while the BenQ and the Sharp employ the latest-generation HD2+ version. To evaluate them, I used a 96-inch (diagonal) Stewart Grayhawk screen with a wide (16:9) aspect ratio.

BenQ PE8700
Although BenQ’s projector is relatively inexpensive for a high-def DLP projector, it’s still capable of spraying your screen with a remarkable-quality image. As noted, it uses the new HD2+ chip, which Texas Instruments says provides increased contrast ratio by placing the tiny mirrors on its surface closer together, so less light is lost between them. Confusingly, earlier versions of the projector do not have the new chip, and BenQ didn’t assign the updated 8700 a new model number. (According to the company, HD2+ models will have an identifying sticker on their packaging.) As I discovered, the new chip has a big impact on performance, so be sure you’re getting the latest version of this projector.

True to its “low” price, the PE8700’s pedestrian design resemblesa solid silver brick, topped by a patch of purple plastic that encompasses the controls and the recessed zoom/focus rings. Bright red backlighting illuminates every key on the well-thought-out remote. The buttons are generously spaced and grouped into four distinct categories. One set is for menu access, two more let you choose from among the display and input modes, and one controls picture-in-picture (PIP) — something you don’t find on most projectors.

BenQ did throw in some extras, though. Each input gets its own custom picture settings, and three global memory slots let you save picture settings for different lighting conditions. The five display modes (aspect ratio settings) each work with every source. All of the video inputs I expected to see were present, including DVI (Digital Visual Interface) and a set of dual-use BNC-type component-video/RGB jacks. I’d have appreciated an additional wideband (HDTV-capable) component-video input, however.

When I slipped Ridley Scott’s Matchstick Men into my DVD player, the darker scenes in this film about an obsessive-compulsive con man had plenty of detail and remarkably clean gradations between various shades. A nighttime pan around the bedroom of Nicholas Cage’s character, Roy, revealed very little visible noise or the artificial-looking contours I’ve noticed on other projectors. The blacks weren’t as deep as I’ve seen on CRTs, but they were as dark as anything I’ve seen from a DLP projector and made everything in the movie seem that much more realistic.

BenQ PE8700

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 15 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 11 1/8 inches WEIGHT 17 pounds PRICE $7,995 MANUFACTURER BenQ, www.benq.com, 909-569-0700

The BenQ’s color was accurate and compelling for the most part. In the laundromat where Roy’s daughter, played by the ridiculously cute Alison Lohman, cons a female mark, the setting sun gave their skin a realistic red-orange L.A. glow, but it wasn’t overpowering. Only the greens — in Roy’s lawn, for example — seemed a little less green, more lime-toned, than I expected.

In another scene, where Roy and his partner Frank convince an old couple to sign over access to their bank account, the closely spaced stripes on Roy’s suit moved unnaturally and tended to blend together as he moved — a sign of imperfect video processing. This effect was only visible with interlaced signals, though, so you won’t notice it if you’re watching movies with a good progressive-scan DVD player.

The PE8700’s image improved when I switched to the DVI output on my V Inc. Bravo D1 DVD player. I expected as much, since the player’s 720p (progressive-scan) output exactly matches the 8700’s native resolution. Fine details looked a couple of notches sharper. As Roy argued with Angela in the street, I could more clearly see the faint wrinkles in her neck.

As I expected, HDTV looked brilliant on the BenQ. I watched a recording of CBS’s broadcast of an early-round NCAA tournament basketball game: Oklahoma State vs. Memphis. The image was obviously much more detailed than DVD — I could make out scratches in the paint covering the court and clearly see the cheerleaders from the long-range press-box camera.

The PE8700 is one of the least expensive DLP projectors available with HDTV resolution, and thanks to the new HD2+ chip it delivers a level of performance that would put many cineplexes to shame. Those strengths easily compensate for its shortcomings and make the PE8700 an excellent value among high-def DLP projectors.

Sim2 Domino 30
The Italian projector company Sim2 Sèleco apparently named its latest DLP projectors after a color scheme: they’re available in either glossy Black Shadow or White Evolution. The Domino 30 wears its Italian design chops proudly, with so many organic curves that there doesn’t appear to be a flat area anywhere on its carapace.

Its sleek look comes at the expense of control buttons on the back panel. Zoom and focus are controlled by buttons on the remote, not dials on the projector. But there’s also a convenient lens-shift feature that let me manually tweak the vertical height of the image.

I found the bland, rectangular remote just unfamiliar enough to be annoying. It lacks a backlit keypad, and to turn the projector on you need to press a number key, not the more obvious power button.

Unlike other projectors I’ve tested, the Domino 30 was unable to automatically detect incoming signal types. When using the single component-video/RGB input, I had to access a separate menu to switch, for example, from standard 480i to progressive-scan 480p. And when I fed the projector a 720p signal, I had to hit the Auto button to get it to display correctly.

The Domino 30 lacks a DVI input, which isn’t good news for people who prefer as much future-proofing as possible. (Copy-protected DVI connections are becoming a standard feature on new HDTVs.) On the plus side, the Sim2 has a VGA-style jack for a computer hookup — the only projector among the three here to have this.

Sim2 Domino 30

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 13 5/8 x 6 7/8 x 12 1/2 inches WEIGHT 11 pounds PRICE $7,995 MANUFACTURER Sim2 Seleco USA, www.sim2usa.com, 888-695-3113

Matchstick Men proved that the Domino 30’s image could stand up to the competition. Colors looked good, with none of the over-accentuated reds that can make skin tones ruddy. In a scene where Roy waits for his daughter outside a playground, the sky looked deep blue and his worried face appropriately pasty. The only color flaw was a slightly desaturated green, which made the grass appear just a bit less lush than it should.

The projector’s blacks weren’t truly inky, but I saw plenty of detail in the shadows. When Roy awaits his daughter’s return in a dark room, I could see blemishes on an outside wall near the pool and make out the contours of the shrubs in his backyard. Transitions between lighter and darker shadows were smooth and even.

On a few occasions I noticed what videophiles call the rainbow effect — a subtle visual artifact of the color wheel that separates the image coming off the projector’s single chip into its red, green, and blue components. When Roy dresses down his daughter for coming home late, I caught a faint rainbow that followed the top edge of his sweat suit. But I never saw this effect unless my eyes moved, and it only showed up where a bright patch appeared adjacent to a dark area.

What was more noticeable was the Domino 30’s sub-par video processing. When Roy moved, the stripes on his jacket also moved, creating a distracting cross-hatch pattern. You can avoid this problem, at least for DVDs, by simply pairing the projector with a good progressive-scan DVD player.

It took HDTV to really show off the projector’s capabilities. Watching the basketball game, I saw a clean, vivid image with deep, rich colors. The thundering dunks perpetrated by Oklahoma State came alive with ferocious reality, and I could see the NCAA logo on the ball during a slow-motion replay.

Anyone who likes to take a different approach will appreciate Sim2’s Domino 30. Its unique design is ideally suited to placement where all your friends can see it, and paired with the right type of programs it’ll really shine.

Sharp XV-Z12000
Sharp’s XV-Z12000 looks as much like a model for a futuristic sports car as it does a projector. Its silver case looks like it was shaped in a wind tunnel, and the lens protrudes forward like a cyclopean headlight.  The projector is big, measuring a good foot-and-a-half square and tipping the scales at 20 pounds, so you’ll certainly want to mount it on the ceiling.

All of the controls are hidden beneath a small door toward the rear, leaving the top smooth and unmarked aside from the lens-shift dial and a huge SharpVision logo. The main vent is on the right side.

Every button on Sharp’s excellent remote is backlit, and its sensibly spaced keypad offers direct access to video inputs. The projector’s onscreen menus also deserve mention. The individual animated screens provide a wealth of information at a glance, and a big “status” screen sums up a total of 35 settings in one display.

Sharp offers more picture controls than the BenQ and the Sim2 combined. Two global picture presets and two custom global memory slots are joined by an individual picture memory for each input, and there are presets and custom memories for gamma (to fine-tune gradations between light and dark parts of the picture) and color balance. Along with noise-reduction and edge-enhancement settings, you can select from three film-mode processing options to help remove jagged edges from film-based DVDs and TV shows (I’d have appreciated an auto setting here, too).

As with many HDTVs, the number of available display modes (aspect ratios) varies with the type of program being displayed. There are four modes for regular TV and progressive-scan DVD, but only widescreen for HDTV. Highlights on the Sharp’s well-endowed rear panel include a DVI input and two sets of RCA-type jacks that accept either wideband component-video or RGB signals.

Sharp XV-Z12000

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 18 3/4 x 7 x 16 inches WEIGHT 20 3/4 pounds PRICE $12,000 MANUFACTURER Sharp Electronics, www.sharpusa.com, 800-237-4227

The Sharp also features the same lens-shift function as the Sim2 projector, but with a much wider range. A convenient Iris button let me switch between high-brightness, high-contrast, and medium modes to better deal with different room-light conditions. Of course, I did my testing in high-contrast mode in a completely dark room.

While I’m on the subject of darkness, Sharp’s XV-Z12000 matched the BenQ in reproducing dark scenes better than any previous non-CRT projector I’ve laid eyes on. In the scene from Matchstick Men when Roy waits for his daughter to come home, the only illumination is provided by lights in his pool shining into the room. A foreground pillar separating a sliding glass door from a window blended into the letterbox bar, and again both were just barely lighter than the black velvet frame surrounding my screen. I saw detail everywhere in the shadows, from the barely discernible folds in the curtains to his perfectly aligned sandals on the patio.

The big Sharp performed exceptionally well in nearly every area. For example, its excellent color rendition came through in the scene where Roy sits in his car waiting for Angela to appear outside the playground. The green field looked fresh and vibrant in the sunlight, and salmon and blue shirts worn by passing teenage girls were realistically muted in the shadows. The projector had no problem delivering every last detail, from the stubble on Roy’s worried face to the butts in his car’s ashtray.



When I turned once again to the HDTV recording of the Memphis vs. Oklahoma game, the image was stunning. The referees’ pants were almost pitch black, and I could see expressions on faces in the crowd, marbling on the blue center-court NCAA logo, and seemingly every grain in the wood floor.

The Z12000 delivers the kind of first-class picture you’d expect from a $12,000 projector outfitted with cutting-edge display technology. It won’t be compromised by any source you feed it, and its deep blacks set the standard for digital projectors.

For people with thousands of dollars to spend on a big-screen home theater, any of these projectors will deliver video bliss by the wall-full. Cheaper LCD projectors might offer similar resolution, but they can’t touch DLP’s ability to render deep blacks. And lower-priced DLP models just don’t have enough resolution to make good on HDTV. But these projectors are in the true home theater sweet spot, delivering outstanding image quality at a fair price — at least as far as high-end projectors go.

PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab