After a year's hiatus due to COVID, Value Electronics, the suburban New York independent retailer responsible for the annual "King of TV" shoot-outs that face-off each year's most premium televisions in a closely watched battle royale, is back in business. The 2021 TV shoot-out is set for tomorrow, Sunday, 9/12, while Value's first-ever UST projector shoot-out is scheduled for the following day, Monday, 9/13. Both events will be livestreamed at the links provided below.

ValueElectronicsTVShootout calibrators
Professional calibrators tune each year's most premium TVs for the Value Electronics shoot-out. 2021 will mark the first time that UST laser projectors will also be faced-off.

This year's master of ceremonies for the TV showdown, which will include separate competitions for 4K and 8K sets, will be Stacey Spears, co-creator of the popular Spears & Munsil setup and evaluation discs and a senior principal engineer at Red Digital Cinema. Rob Sabin, editor-in-chief of ProjectorCentral.com, will preside over the UST shoot-out.

The judges are all drawn from the professional ranks of the video industry. The participants include:

  • Charlie Anderson, Digital Imaging Technician and Director of Photography (judge only for TV)
  • David Mackenzie, Compressionist, Fidelity in Motion
  • David Medina, Production Technical Operations Manager, HBO
  • Giles Sherwood, Director of Post Production, Criterion
  • Jason Diamond, Director and Executive Producer (judge only for TV)
  • Jason Dustal, ISF III Calibrator and Instructor & Application Engineer, Murideo
  • Jeff Hagerman, Digital Imaging Technician
  • John Reformato, BSEE Engineer and ISF III Calibrator
  • Mark Henninger, Projector Reviewer (and ProjectorCentral contributor) and Photographer/Videographer (judge only for UST)
  • Phil Holland, Director and Cinematographer

As usual, well-regarded professional calibrators have been brought in to calibrate each display and fine-tune it to best match the look of a widely-used Sony post-production reference monitor. This year's calibrators, who will also function as judges as noted above, are Jason Dustal and John Reformato. Murideo and sister company AVPro provide generators, cables, and switching equipment for the event.

The addition of ultra-short-throw living room projectors to the mix this year is in part an acknowledgement that the catgory has matured to where it has earned a place at retail for those seeking a bigger image than typically available with today's flat-panels, and also that enough high-end premium USTs now exist to make the exercise worthwhile. The three projectors competing in the shootout are all tri-laser models; two have RGB laser designs and boast ultra-wide color gamut beyond the capabilities of today's consumer panel TVs. The three projectors are the previously existing LG HU85LA and Samsung Premiere LSP9T, and the brand new Hisense L9G.

The competing TVs include both OLED and state-of-the-art LED-backlit LCD models. The four 4K TVs are:

  • Hisense 75" 75U9DG
  • LG 65" OLED65G1PUA
  • Samsung 65" QN65QN90A
  • Sony 65" XR65A90J

The 8K models are:
  • LG 77" OLED77ZXPUA
  • Samsung 75" QN75QN90A
  • Sony 75" XR75Z9J

The TV Shoot-Out is set to begin at 9 am eastern on Sunday, 9/12 and can be viewed in a live YouTube stream found at https://youtu.be/3CfuPR1F4BQ.

The UST Shoot-Out begins 10 am eastern on Monday, 9/13 and can be live streamed at https://youtu.be/vAHaSuTVxaQ.

Value Electronics was founded 27 years ago by Robert Zohn and still operates under his aegis as a one-store independent dealer out of Scarsdale, NY, just north of New York City. The Value Electronics TV Shoot-Outs began in 2004 and have been an ongoing tradition with the exception of last year's pandemic-related cancellation.

 
Comments (4) Post a Comment
Mike Posted Sep 12, 2021 5:31 AM PST
One thing that is different about projector shoot outs vs. TV is that the projector shoot out has to take into account the screen. Assuming that the screen size and manufacturer/model will be the same for all three. Can you share what screen that will Beas well as the environmental ambient light levels?

It would be great to have different screens and ambient light levels be part of the evaluation, but that would probably make thing much more complex. Can one conclude that a projector that is being used on a pure white screen in full light controlled room will still be the best projector in some ambient light on a UST ALR screen?

Can’t wait for tomorrow! Props to Rob for being recognized and leading this!
Rob Sabin, Editor Posted Sep 14, 2021 6:42 AM PST
Thanks, Mike. The event was held yesterday and I'll be posting up an article shortly. We ended up using three Screen Innovations ST screens, which have a 0.6 gain lenticular sawtooth structure. This screen is rated to reject 90% of overhead light and it was very effective. Ambient light conditions for that part of the tests was fairly aggressive with a combination of overhead can lights and pendulum fixtures, and wall sconces coming in from the side in a large, wide meeting room.
Mike Posted Sep 16, 2021 2:35 PM PST
Rob, I remember you saying that the Hisense had a fixed focus. Does this mean that they have different lenses for the 100” vs the 120” versions? How would yo Uber able to focus on both screen sizes if the focus is fixed otherwise?
Rob Sabin, Editor Posted Sep 19, 2021 9:07 AM PST
I believe it would need to have a slightly different lens to accommodate both sizes without any form of focus control but I'm not sure. I will say that the 100-inch sample we saw at the shootout displayed excellent focus.

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