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Mr Wiggles - Jun 27, 2000
| Application: |
Home Theater and Data Projection |
| What I Like: |
This projector has a few remarkable unadvertised characteristics.
1. It can take component (Y,Cr,Cb) inputs at any of its supported resolutions
2. It can squeeze ANY input anamorphically, thus making a letterboxed 16:9 field on the 4:3 DLP chip
3. It has complete white balance adjustments for component and RGB inputs
and 4. It has three user selectable gamma settings
These features are on top off its published:
1. Unexaggerated 500:1 peak contrast ratio (I don't think the ANSI is quite 400:1 however)
2. 1000 ANSI lumens
3. Magnificent natural looking colors!
4. Fairly light weight and durable chassis
5. Really low refurbished price of $2995 from Projector Superstore (6/10/2000)
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| Suggestions: |
The projector does have a few minor shortcomings:
The video scaler input isn't perfect. But it does let you choose between text and moving image settings. Choose wisely and you will receive a pretty nice image or use a external scaler like a DVDO iscan
Uniformity is good but one of my corners is a little dark. My guess is it is about 50% off of the peak white level generated at the center of the image. I have seen 3 off these projectors now and each one had a minor uniformity problem.
The 280 Watt metal halide bulb might produce better colors than cooler running UHP bulbs, but that does come at a price of increased fan noise and only 1000 hours of life (1/2 half starting intensity).
The final quibble is probably why they are such a good deal right now. The first unit I had had trouble staying on despite the fact that it was quote: "refurbished". The second one I have received has been better but I now have to put it in an "Auto On" mode which means the projector turns on with the line switch on the back of the unit. This means I can't power the unit up with my remote anymore without it unexplicably quickly shutting off. Luckily I built an external solid-state relay that acts as work-around to give me this feature again.
I used the projector for a while at work and didn't ever have this problem. Once I got it home it started acting up. I think it is because I have a line voltage at my house of 125 Volts, which is just out of its specification of 110-120 Volts. You may or may not experience the same problem. But with a friendly exchange policy with Projector Superstore if it is a problem you can return it.
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| Comments: |
You can't beat this projector for nearly twice this price. I used to have a Sony VPL-VW10HT and I am very glad I traded it in for this one. It is a true diamond in the rough. |
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