For this test, I placed each projector on a low table 13 feet from an 87-inch-wide Stewart FireHawk screen in a neutral gray room that has blackout drapes to seal out window light — a more typical home theater setting than a windowless room. With these conditions in mind, the FireHawk screen was chosen specifically for its ability to minimize the effects of reflected ambient light. Sources included an HD signal generator and DVDs, HD DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. For full technical measurements, see the Test Bench.
Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080
The PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080 is one of a pair of new 1080p LCD projectors from Epson. The company's PowerLite Home version lists for a mere $3,000 — an astonishingly low price for a 1080p model — while the PowerLite Pro reviewed here lists for $5,000. What does the extra 2 grand get you? In this case, a ceiling mount and an extra lamp, along with a 3-year warranty (the Home version carries a 2-year) and ISF-certification, which, as best as I can tell from limited info provided by Epson, gives calibrators some extra memory in which to store settings. And where the Pro has an appealing charcoal-toned case, the Home comes in basic white. But the biggest difference is that, whereas the Pro is sold exclusively by custom installers, the Home can be bought through traditional and online retailers. Otherwise, the two are essentially the same.
Along with its trio of 1080p-rez LCD display panels, notable features of the PowerLite Pro include an HDMI 1.3 input with Deep Color support (the first I've seen in a front projector), Auto Iris Control, variable gamma presets and custom gamma control, and an advanced color adjustment that lets you tweak hue and saturation levels for as many as six colors. The fully backlit remote offers direct button access to all video inputs, as well as keys for contrast and gamma. Depending on signal format, the Aspect button calls up display modes including Normal (for a 4:3 aspect ratio with black sidebars), Full, Zoom, and Wide. Only the Normal mode is available for HD programs, however, which get displayed in 16:9.
SETUP The PowerLite Pro offers plenty of setup flexibility. A 2.1x zoom lens lets you position the projector from about 10 to 21 feet away from a 100-inch screen, while the lens-shift controls permit up to 96% vertical and 47% horizontal image offset. All lens controls, including zoom and focus, are manual. With the projector's Low lamp setting selected, its fan was whisper-quiet.
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The Short Form |
| Price $5,000 / epson.com / 800-463-7766 |
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Snapshot
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| A forward-looking projector that provides solid performance and comes loaded with perks. |
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Plus
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| •Deep blacks •Rich, natural-looking color •Flexible setup options •Future-proof HDMI 1.3 input and Deep Color support |
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Minus
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| •Priced $2,000 higher than nearly identical Home Cinema model |
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Key Features
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| •2.1x Zoom lens •Manual Zoom, Focus, and Vertical/Horizontal lens shift •Auto Iris control •ISF calibration memories •Inputs: HDMI; component-, composite-, and S-video; VGA; RS-232C •16 x 5 x 12.3 in; 12.3 lb Full Lab Results |
PERFORMANCE The Epson impressed me right off with its rich, accurate color across a wide range of scenes from the Blu-ray Disc of The Departed. For example, when Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) and his henchman Mr. French (Ray Winstone) discuss plans in Costello's home, each character's distinctly reddish skin tone was easily distinguishable — even in the warm interior, with its yellow walls and cherry furniture. And in a scene where the gangsters meet outside a warehouse complex at night, both the projector's solid black level and its ability to flesh out shadow details such as creases in their dark clothing gave the image a good sense of depth. The Epson's performance here was a notch below that of the best projectors I've tested, and I occasionally found myself craving a bit more brightness and "snap." But for the most part, that was only when watching dark scenes like this one.
Picture detail on the Epson was also very good with HD sources hooked up via HDMI. In a shot from the movie where an old man peers into a store window, I could easily see the ornate patterns of a Persian rug on display — as well as the rough and smooth textures of the brick exterior. When I watched regular DVDs, the Epson's noise reduction also did a great job cleaning up grainy images without eliminating detail, although the picture looked somewhat too smoothed out on shots with horizontal camera pans.
BOTTOM LINE About the only downside of the Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080 is that it costs $2,000 more than its near-identical sibling. But if you're going the custom-install route, this stylish projector — with the solid blacks and rich colors of its crisp 1080p pictures, not to mention its future-proof HDMI 1.3 input and Deep Color support — won't disappoint.
Panasonic PT-AE1000U
The impressive string of 720p front projectors that Panasonic produced over the past few years helped to silence anyone skeptical about LCD's ability to do battle with technologies such as DLP and LCoS. Now, the company's newest projector, the PT-AE1000U, is ready to take on the 1080p competition.
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The Short Form
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| Price $4,000 / panasonic.com / 800-211-7262 |
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Snapshot
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| Don't be fooled by the business-like exterior: Panasonic's affordable model delivers lush, filmlike pictures. |
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Plus
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| •Dynamic Iris feature delivers consistently deep blacks •Rich, natural-looking color •Great value |
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Minus
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| •Esoteric features may confuse the average consumer |
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Key Features
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| •2x Zoom lens •Powered Zoom and Focus •Manual Vertical/Horizontal lens shift •Auto Iris control •Learning remote control •Inputs: 2 HDMI; 2 component-video; composite- and S-video; VGA; RS-232C •18 x 5 x 12.3 in; 12.3 lb Full Lab Results |
Panasonic outfitted the AE1000U with a comprehensive set of inputs: two HDMI jacks, a pair of component-video connections, a VGA port, and an RS-232C serial port. The remote is a home theater-friendly "learning" model with LED screen that can operate other components. The backlit keypad provides buttons for toggling through preset picture modes, stored picture memories, and inputs. An Aspect button cycles through the display modes, which include 4:3 and 16:9 along with a range of stretch and zoom options (most work with both standard- and high-definition signals).
SETUP With my screen configuration, the Panasonic's 2x zoom lens offered a throw-distance of around 10 to 19.5 feet. There are some slick setup features on the projector as well, such as motorized zoom and focus that can be tweaked via the remote and a pair of manual lens-shift dials that provide 100% vertical and 40% horizontal offset from the screen's center point.
The projector's Normal lamp mode is the one that most people would likely gravitate toward. But the Eco mode proved the better choice for dark-room viewing: It lowers fan noise to a whisper while extending lamp life.
The Panasonic PT-AE1000U provides an unusually wide range of picture presets, including one called Color 1 that has pretty accurate industry-standard 6,500-K grayscale tracking. It also offers the convenience of letting you modify settings and store custom adjustments in any of five memory channels that can be "loaded" via the remote. I settled on the projector's –2 color temperature and Medium gamma settings and also opted to use the Dynamic Iris feature, which proved very effective in deepening the Panasonic's black level.
PERFORMANCE A feature on the Panasonic called Smooth-scan — nondefeatable processing designed to eliminate the LCD screen-door effect — had me worrying at first about the projector's picture detail. It turned out that the feature does "smooth out" pixel boundaries when viewed up close, but I didn't notice any egregious effects when looking at test patterns or movies. For example, in a scene from the Blu-ray Disc of The Departed where Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) visits a psychologist's office, I could discern text on the spines of books lining the shelves, and I could also see fine patterns on the wallpaper. The skin tones of both actors looked completely natural. In shots that have a richer range of colors — such as the scene where, ironically, Frank Costello attends a festival of angels — the brightly colored balloons and tents looked exceptionally vivid.
Dark scenes also came across well on the Panasonic, although its rendering of shadow details lagged a bit behind the best DLP and LCoS models I've tested. In the nighttime warehouse meeting between the Boston gangsters and some Chinese customers, background details were clearly visible, rather than being swallowed up in the shadows. As I mentioned above, the projector's Dynamic Iris function helped lock down black depth and increase the image's dimensional effect in dark scenes such as this one. And the Panasonic also showed itself capable of clean upconversion of standard 480i video with regular DVDs, while its standard and MPEG noise reduction settings smoothed out noise without removing too much detail.
BOTTOM LINE This projector offers great performance at a very reasonable price, and its setup and convenience features are exemplary for a budget model. From where I sit, the PT-AE1000U looks to be yet another in a long line of excellent, affordable Panasonic front projectors.
Sharp XV-Z20000
You may know Sharp as a maker of flat-panel LCDs, but the company has also been a key player in the DLP front-projection market for many years. The XV-Z20000, Sharp's current flagship, offers not only full 1080p resolution but also a 7-segment, 5x color wheel to minimize or eliminate the "rainbow effect" often associated with single-chip DLP units. Its sleek design, with a glossy black-and-silver exterior, has "high-end" written all over it.
Other features found in the Sharp XV-Z20000 include a sophisticated dual Iris control, multiple gamma presets along with software to design your own custom gamma curves, and a color management system to adjust the saturation, hue, and level of the primary (red, green, blue) and secondary (magenta, yellow, cyan) colors.
The Z20000 is well outfitted input-wise, with HDMI, DVI, and two sets of component-video jacks to take in high-def signals. Sharp's remote provides an uncluttered, fully backlit keypad with direct input buttons and Iris, Brightness, and Contrast keys for crucial adjustments on the fly. The Resize button toggles among aspect-ratio modes that include a Dot-by-Dot option that displays signals with no scaling.
SETUP With my 100-inch diagonal screen, the Sharp's 1.35x zoom lens allowed for a throw range of 13.5 to 18 feet, though I was disappointed there were no motorized adjustments at this price — just a manual zoom and focus and a vertical lens shift that raises or lowers the image about 50%. Between the two lamp settings, Bright and Eco-Quiet, the first throws a picture bright enough for a well-lit room but suffers from considerably more fan noise than Eco-Quiet (which was already pretty audible).
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The Short Form |
| Price $10,000 / sharpusa.com / 800-237-4277 |
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Snapshot
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| Sharp's flagship DLP offers ultra-crisp images with solid blacks and well-defined shadows, but its performance comes at a premium price. |
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Plus
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| •Excellent picture sharpness •Deep blacks and strong shadow detail •Rich, natural-looking |
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Minus
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| •Relatively high fan noise |
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Key Features
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| •Single-chip model with 7-segment, 5x color wheel •1.35x Zoom lens •Manual Zoom, Focus, and Vertical lens shift •Iris control with three presets •Inputs: DVI-I; 2 HDMI; 2 component-video; composite- and S-video; RS-232C •17.9 x 6.9 x 16.5 in; 25.5 lb Full Lab Results |
PERFORMANCE The first thing that grabbed me when watching movies with the Z20000 was the image's remarkable crispness and clarity. For example, in a scene from the Blu-ray Disc of The Departed where crooked cop Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) talks to a woman through a screen door, I could see dirt, holes, and even the subtle play of light on the surface of the mesh material. And in a scene where Sullivan approaches a building to start his first day of work, I could clearly see the grooved texture of the concrete structure, even in wide shots.
Other aspects of the Sharp's performance that helped bring pictures to life were its strong contrast and shadow delineation. In a scene where Frank Costello approaches the young Sullivan in a dark garage, blacks looked deep, and a high degree of background detail was visible in the shadowy space. And when Costello's monstrously grinning head emerged into the light, the projector's punchy contrast gave the picture a realistic sense of depth.
Color accuracy also proved to be among the Z20000's strengths. The 6500-K color- temperature preset delivered fairly natural-looking color out of the box, and the Sharp's numerous adjustments helped me tweak it to near-perfection. The benefits here were apparent in a scene where Sullivan peers out from his posh, light-filled apartment at the Massachusetts State House across the way: Damon's skin tone looked natural and balanced, while the green trees, brick buildings, and gold dome capping the structure had a brilliant, vivid appearance. Regular DVDs also fared well on the Sharp, although it proved ruthless in revealing background noise on discs such as Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Fortunately, the Sharp's effective noise reduction helped smooth the picture without smearing details.
BOTTOM LINE At ten grand, the Sharp XV-Z20000 is way more than a casual purchase. But for someone demanding something extra from a front projector in the way of detail, clarity, and that elusive sense of "pop," it's a very solid choice. Despite competition from other technologies, Sharp and DLP are very much on top of the game.
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Test Benches |
| Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080 |
| GRAYSCALE (Before/After Calibration): 30 IRE: 6,350/6,564 K 40 IRE: 6,541/6,518 K 50 IRE: 6,348/6,572 K 60 IRE: 6,416/6,580 K 70 IRE: 6,336/6,588 K 80 IRE: 6,329/6,588 K 90 IRE: 6,328/6,597 K 100 IRE: 6,469/6,698 K BRIGHTNESS (100 IRE, Before/After): 14.2/12 ftL |
| Panasonic PT-AE1000U |
| GRAYSCALE (Before/After Calibration): 30 IRE: 6,068/6,574 K 40 IRE: 5,760/6,343 K 50 IRE: 6,163/6,393 K 60 IRE: 6,365/6,400 K 70 IRE: 6,321/6,407 K 80 IRE: 6,500/6,546 K 90 IRE: 6,766/6,577 K 100 IRE: 6,814/6,742 K BRIGHTNESS (100 IRE, Before/After): 17/12.5 ftL |
| Sharp XV-Z20000 |
| GRAYSCALE (Before/After Calibration): 30 IRE: 6,719/6,534 K 40 IRE: 6,686/6,679 K 50 IRE: 6,474/6,746 K 60 IRE: 6,614/6,622 K 70 IRE: 6,557/6,661 K 80 IRE: 6,645/6,643 K 90 IRE: 6,644/6,689 K 100 IRE: 6,493/7,386 K BRIGHTNESS (100 IRE, Before/After): 11.9/11.6 ftL |
On the other hand, if you're working with a custom installer, inquire about the Epson PowerLite Pro Cinema 1080. Its picture quality is as compelling as the Panasonic's, and its HDMI 1.3 connection means you’ll be ready for the future.
The Sharp's 10-grand price tag puts it in another league altogether, but the XV-Z20000 really does deliver something special. Its ability to show both deep blacks and fully fleshed-out shadow details is bound to satisfy the fussiest videophiles, and its exceptionally crisp, clear image stands up to that of any front projector I’ve ever tested, period.
If you're ready to step up to a true bigscreen experience, any one of these projectors can deliver the 1080p goods. Their costs may vary, but for film fanatics, viewing movies at home under these conditions will be a priceless experience.
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