3D Projector Reviews

The measurements given here were made using CalMAN measurement software from SpectraCal, together with Photo Research PR-650 and Klein K-10A color meters and the VideoForge pattern generator from AVFoundry.

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 1,062:1

The measurements here were taken in 2D only. They were performed in the Cinema Picture Mode unless noted otherwise. With the projector about 10 feet from my 96-inch-wide Stewart Filmscreen StudioTek 130 G3 screen (gain 1.3), the lamp on Economic (at about 150 hours of use), the Contrast control on 25, and the Brightness control on 50, the peak white level was just under 20 ft-L, and the black level 0.0186 ft-L—the latter unimpressive by today’s standards. The result is the full-on/full-off contrast ratio shown above.

Increasing the Contrast control progressively increased the peak white, but it changed the black level very little. At a setting of 50, the peak white measured 39.98 ft-L, the black level 0.0189 ft-L, and the contrast 2,115:1. But 40 ft-L was a bit bright for 2D. So I did much of my viewing at a contrast setting of 32 (24.3 ft-L, full-off/full-on contrast ratio 1,293:1). Torch mode fans will also be happy to know that in the Bright Picture Mode’s default settings, the projector produced 62.8 ft-L.

The color calibrations were performed at the 20-ft-L settings. Before calibration, the color Delta E, in the Normal Color Temperature setting, averaged an impressive 1.72 (maximum 3.08 at 90%, minimum 1.06 at 20%). After calibration, the Delta E averaged 0.97 (maximum 1.93 at 100%, minimum 0.10 at 30%). (Delta E is a figure of merit that indicates how close the result is to the Rec. 709 HD standard. A Delta E below 3 is generally considered excellent and visually indistinguishable from perfect.) The calibration was complicated by the ineffectiveness of the red and blue Gain controls but was close enough prior to calibration that the remaining controls were able to produce the improved result.

The 2D color gamut (not shown) was mediocre prior to using the Color Management System (CMS), with an overall Delta E of 6.78. After extensive tweaking of the CMS, it averaged 1.32. At a 2.4 setting of the Gamma control, the gamma averaged 2.26, with a minimum value of 2.19 at 20% brightness and a maximum of 2.31 at 80%. This setting worked for me on most sources, but on some material 2.2 worked better.—TJN