Projector Reviews

Can I like the idea of a thing, better than the thing? This is the question I'm pondering as I write up this admittedly cool LED/laser hybrid projector from ViewSonic. Instead of UHP lamps or even "regular" LEDs, the Pro9000 adds a laser to the mix, because ... well because it's cool, right?

While it gets an "A" on the technology front, its performance grade is notably lower.

Plenty of people reading this review may exhibit a rather visceral reaction to the Runco LS-10i projector’s $20,000 price. After all, the Sharp XV-Z17000 DLP projector that I reviewed in Sound+Vision’s last issue was 25% as expensive, was nearly as bright, and did 3D. So what gives? What does the extra money get you? A fair amount, it turns out.

Solid-State Front Projection

Digital projection is finally digital. Yes, we’ve been looking at projected images made of discrete pixels created by digital imaging chips for the last decade or so. But in one essential aspect, digital projection has remained in the analog domain. The lamps that drive light through these projectors and onto our screens have been 100-percent analog. Even when they’re new, the performance of these lamps can adversely affect color fidelity, gamma, and gray-scale tracking. They also determine the overall light output the projector is capable of. As the lamp ages, virtually all of these critical aspects of performance drift somewhat. In the better designs, the change is mostly benign. But there’s no denying that any lamp-driven projector’s light output drops over time, and multi-hundred-dollar lamp replacements every 2,000 hours or so are a fact of life. Until now.