Projector Reviews

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 14,666:1

Pre-calibration measurements were made with the Acer’s VL7860 Rec.709 color preset active. Post-calibration measurements were made in the same mode. All measurements were made using a Stewart Filmscreen Cima 1.1 gain projection screen.

The projector’s highest standard dynamic range contrast ratio was achieved with the Rec.709 color preset and Dynamic Black mode active. With this combination, black level measured 0.003 ft-L and peak white 44 ft-L for a contrast ratio of 14,666:1. Contrast ratio in the same preset with Dynamic Black turned off was 508:1. Maximum light output was measured at 110 ft-L with contrast set to maximum in Bright mode with Eco mode switched off.

Before calibration, the Acer’s default color temperature preset in Rec.709 mode displayed below-average grayscale tracking, with the Delta E averaging out to 8.6. After calibration, that average improved substantially to 2.6, with a high of 3.7 at 70 percent brightness. (Delta E is a figure of merit indicating how close the color comes to the standards, either D65 for the white point or the color coordinates for each of the primary and secondary colors that define the color gamut under test. Values below 3—some experts allow for 4—are generally unnoticeable.)

With the default settings active in Rec.709 mode, the Acer’s color point measurements mostly lived up to that label, with the Delta E averaging out to 3.0. The VL7860 does not currently provide user-accessible color management system controls (they are available to ISF-certified technicians through the projector’s ISF modes).

With the 2.4 Gamma preset selected, gamma closely tracked the target for most of its range, averaging out to 2.3. In HDR 1 mode, the VL7860’s light output on white patterns ranging from 2 to 25 percent averaged around 285 nits, and it measured 300 nits on a 100 percent pattern. The Acer’s coverage of the P3 color gamut was 81%.

Picture uniformity was mostly good: white full-field test patterns showed some brightness drops between the center and edges of the screen, but color shifts were minimal. Our suite of video processing tests revealed poor performance, with the Acer failing on HD and SD 2:3 and 2:2 pulldown patterns. Input lag with a 1080p source measured 79.3 ms, making the VL7860 a less-than-ideal option for gaming. —A.G.