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SubscribeSunvalleytek International, Inc., parent company of the VAVA projector brand, has issued a statement defending itself in response to Epson's recent lawsuit charging the company with misleading consumers about the brightness specifications of its VA-LT002 4K UST laser projector, known in the marketplace as the VAVA 4K.
Epson's statement announcing the suit said "the complaint alleges misrepresentation in the promotion of the Vava 4K Ultra Short Throw Laser TV as a 2,500 or 6,000 lumens product across varying online and in-store retail venues. In addition to creating confusion in the marketplace, according to third-party testing, both claims are wholly inaccurate, with projectors testing well under 2,500 lumens."
As reported earlier, VAVA previously promoted on its website both an unqualified 6,000 lumen brightness spec (which has since been removed), alongside a claim of 2,500 ANSI lumens—which cites the industry-standard specification. Epson claims both specs are overstated, and told ProjectorCentral that its independent tests found the projector delivered an average of 1,869 ISO21118 lumens, which uses an averaged measurement technique similar to ANSI. ISO21118 calls for a 5 point measurement across the screen while ANSI calls for 9, but assuming the measurements could be equated, 1,869 lumens would represent about a 26% shortfall—beyond the accepted 20% low-end tolerance cited by the ISO21118 spec.
In its response issued May 28, Sunvalleytek International said: "In an effort to suppress competition among home theater projection makers, Epson America has filed a lawsuit against VAVA wherein Epson falsely asserts that VAVA's 4K Ultra Short Throw Laser Projector does not perform as advertised. The lawsuit follows several other lawsuits filed by Epson America against competitors who are winning market share from Epson in the home theater projector marketplace.
"VAVA believes that Epson's lawsuits are intended to disparage its competitors and mislead consumers into wrongly believing that emerging home theater projector manufacturers such as VAVA make inferior products. Ultimately, the industry suffers as a whole when companies like Epson attempt to eliminate competition in the marketplace by claiming that other manufacturer's products are underperforming their advertised capabilities. Because VAVA's products have been tested by independent testing facilities, each of which have certified that the company's projectors perform as advertised, VAVA is confident that it will prevail once Epson's claims are tested in court."
As noted in VAVA's statement and our earlier reporting, Espon's suit is the latest in the company's efforts to hold projector makers accountable to their brightness specifications, which are not regulated by any government agency and can be easily inflated when a company fails to specifically cite the industry-standard ANSI or ISO lumens. Previous suits, however, targeted low-end projectors sold online and in mass market retail that do not compete so directly with Epson's own offerings.
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The worst thing you can do is attack someone who's pointing out you may be cheating. I see this in the speed-running community all the time. When called out as a cheater, they attack the person and make accusations rather than refuting their arguments.
Here, VAVA is clearly throwing shade on Epson because they've been found out. Horrible way to respond. Instead of that, refute their claims; otherwise, this is just PR nonsense. I'm glad people at Epson are putting their names on the line to keep manufacturers honest.
