TEST BENCH

Primary Color Point Accuracy vs. SMPTE HD Standard

The VPL-VW70's Cinema picture preset delivered the most accurate color reproduction. Grayscale tracking before calibration averaged 536 degrees below the 6,500 K standard from 30 to 100 IRE, which is OK for an out-of-the-box projector, but it did result in a mild reddish-brown cast. It's worth noting, though, that the tracking at factory settings was nearly perfect, varying just +/-46 degrees from the average of 5,964 K. Adjustments made to the red, green, and blue gain and bias controls shifted the grayscale to 6,500 K, +/-77 degrees, from 30 to 100 IRE - again with excellent tracking. The tight tracking makes this projector easier to calibrate than most. Once adjusted to be as close as possible to 6,500 degrees at 30 and 80 IRE, it needed no further tweaking.

Color decoder tests through the HDMI inputs revealed that red, green, and blue were all about 2% low. The accuracy seemed slightly better from the component input, with blue still down a percent or two but red and green looking spot-on. As compared to the SMPTE HD specification for digital TV colors, the set's green and blue primary color points were a little off at the factory settings (which are shown in the chart), but adjustment of the RCP controls brought the color points as close to perfect as possible.

The VPL-VW70 offers three iris modes (auto, off, and manual) as well as high and low lamp modes. No matter which mode is selected, the projector delivers excellent contrast. After calibration, the native contrast ratio (measured on a checkerboard pattern to eliminate the advantage of the iris) measured 3,094:1. With full-field 100 IRE and 0 IRE patterns, the contrast radio of the calibrated projector measured 10,930:1 with the iris deactivated and 23,490:1 with the iris activated. Black levels were excellent in low lamp mode, and very good in high lamp mode.

Overscan measured 0% for 1080i/p-format high-definition signals with the overscan switched off; with overscan activated, it measured about 2.8%. The VPL-VW70 displayed 1080i/p and 720p test patterns with full resolution on both the HDMI and component-video connections.

Brightness uniformity was excellent on a white field. On a black field, it was good except for a slightly brighter area in the upper left corner of the screen. This problem was subtle in the low lamp mode but more noticeable in the high lamp mode. Color variations across the screen were negligible in all modes.

A crosshatch pattern showed a slight convergence error on blue, producing just a trace of blue fringe at the bottom of bright white lines against a dark background. However, the projector's panel shift feature allowed us to fix this problem easily and achieve visibly perfect convergence.

The projector passed all the standard-definition upconversion tests contained on the Silicon Optix HQV Benchmark DVD test disc, detecting 2:3 pulldown almost instantly and delivering excellent detail. The tests on the HQV Benchmark Blu-ray disc also proved no problem for the projector - especially the "jaggies" tests, on which it delivered supremely smooth diagonal lines and curves. The projector offers three levels of noise reduction plus an off setting; the noise reduction was fairly effective at the lowest setting without noticeably reducing detail, but two highest settings reduced detail substantially.