Projector Reviews

Measurements

Settings
Unit-to-unit sample variations, the viewing environment, and the source might render these settings less than optimum. We strongly recommend that you confirm the results on your sample using a good display-setup disc to get as close as possible to an optimum picture. Full calibration is best left to a trained and properly equipped technician, such as those certified by the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF).

Main Menu
Aspect ratio: Native (for 1080i/1080p sources)
Brightness: 105
Contrast: 97
Color Saturation: N/A in HDMI
Color Tint: N/A in HDMI
Sharpness mode: Simple
Sharpness setting: 0
Noise reduction: Off
Overscan: Off

Advanced Menu
Color Space: Auto
Video Standard: N/A for HDMI
Gamma: CRT* or Film (see text)
Color Temperature: 6500K
DLP Frame Rate: Auto
Color Gamut: Auto
Brilliant Color: Off* (see text)
Dynamic Black: On
Adaptive Contrast: Off
RGB Adjust
Red Offset: 100
Green Offset: 101
Blue Offset: 99

• Red Gain: 98
• Green Gain: 99
• Blue Gain: 99

Fine Sync: Factory settings

System Menu
Lamp Power: Economy

*Setting used for measurements

Contrast & Resolution
I measured peak white and black levels with DynamicBlack on and off and the lamp mode set to Economy and Standard.

DynamicBlack: On, Lamp: Economy

Peak white level
Full screen: 21.48fL
100 IRE window: 21.17fL
Black level: 0.005fL
Peak contrast ratio: 4234:1

DynamicBlack: Off, Lamp: Economy

Peak white level
Full screen: 20.78fL
100 IRE window: 20.36fL
Black level: 0.011fL
Peak contrast ratio: 1851:1

DynamicBlack: On, Lamp: Standard

Peak white level
Full screen: 27.72fL
100 IRE window: 27.21fL
Black level: 0.007fL
Peak contrast ratio: 3887:1

DynamicBlack: Off, Lamp: Standard

Peak white level
Full screen: 29.51fL
100 IRE window: 29.01fL
Black level: 0.017fL
Peak contrast ratio: 1706:1

All contrast measurements were taken with about 30 hours on lamp and Gamma in the CRT setting. With DynamicBlack on, Gamma set to Film, and Lamp set to Economy, the peak contrast ratio measured even higher at 5960:1 (20.86fL white window, 0.0035 video black derived from an average of 10 readings). But Film Gamma didn't always look better—for most of my viewing, I used the CRT setting, but I did prefer the Film setting for some material. In any case, with DynamicBlack on, these are excellent results for a DLP projector, particularly one with a peak brightness as high as this.

Here are the rest of the measurements usually included in this section:

Overscan

• 480i/p: 0%
• 720p: 0%
• 1080i/p: 0%

Horizontal bandwidth at 1080i

• HDMI/DVI: 37.1MHz
• Component: 37.1MHz

The resolution for all formats extended up to the highest bursts (37.1MHz luma for 1080i and 720p, 13.5MHz for 480p, and 6.75MHz for 480i). The luma (black and white) response via HDMI remained strong across the board, while component showed clear signs of rolloff at the highest frequency, though it was still very good. Chroma resolution was slightly rolled off in all the measurements, but it was also good.

Grayscale & Color Temperature

The Before measurements shown here were taken at the factory 6500K color-temperature setting, which was closest to the desired D65 standard. There wasn't much need for improvement, as the After figures clearly show.

The closer each point's coordinates are to x=0.313, y=0.329, the more the white point at that brightness level matches the D65 standard. The darker the measured level, the darker the dot in this figure. A deviation of 0.004 or less in either the x or y coordinate is considered good. Sometimes, we have to settle for more than that at the bottom or top of the brightness range. Before calibration, the PD8150 only missed it at the two lowest brightness levels.

After calibration, the Planar easily met the goal, delivering an excellent grayscale throughout the brightness range.

Color tracking is a different way of looking at the grayscale results. The more closely the three color graphs overlap and form a straight line at the 100% mark, the closer the result is to D65. On the PD8150, it looked very good except at the extreme low and high ends, where the three colors diverged slightly.

Calibration brought the low end into line, but the high end remained slightly divergent.

The pre-cal color temperature was excellent, staying right around 6500K.

Calibration could not improve the color temp much, since it was so good to begin with.

Color Accuracy

The CIE chart shows the set's Color Space and Color Gamut controls set to REC709 (white triangle). It is close to a perfect overlay of the Rec. 709 standard (shaded triangle), apart a slightly undersaturated green, which experience suggests is not significant in actual viewing. There was essentially no difference between the REC709 and Auto settings.