Projector Reviews

I was mighty impressed by BenQ's PE8700 DLP projector, reviewed in the June 2004 UAV. Now its replacement, the PE8700+, has been launched, and it's no letdown. True, the price has gone up a couple of big ones over the PE8700's closeout price of $6000. But in compensation, the new model gives you the new Texas Instruments 16:9 DMD, the HD2+.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Ample brightness
Contrast-boosting HDR-Pro feature
Vivid color and detail
Living room-friendly design
Minus
Wide Color Gamut filter dramatically reduces light output
Relatively high fan noise in Normal Light mode
No integrated Netflix streaming

THE VERDICT
BenQ’s first ultra short throw projector is a winner on many fronts, offering compelling brightness, vivid color, and a dynamic presentation of 4K/HDR sources.

Is there a projector maker that hasn't yet come out with an ultra short throw (UST) model aimed at viewers who want a theater-size image in their living room, but without the usual ceiling-mount and dark room baggage that accompanies it? If you asked me that question one year ago, I would have replied "BenQ." But now, with its V7050i 4K DLP Laser TV, BenQ has joined the UST projector fold, adding its name to the ranks of Sony, Epson, Optoma, Vava, Hisense, LG, Samsung, and others.

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While our subject here is the W1070 home theater projector from BenQ, there’s more than a little business projector DNA in its genes. How else to explain a single-chip DLP design that’s a third the size and weight of most dedicated home theater models, has built-in audio with grim but usable mono sound, is equipped with a “digital zoom” that magnifies the image within the frame set by the standard zoom control (just the thing for a close examination of that quarterly profit and loss spreadsheet), still offers an S-video input, and has a relatively close-throw lens with a significant vertical offset?

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

PRICE: $5000

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Unwavering color stability
Masterclass color fidelity
BenQ benchmark optics
Cool, virtually silent operation
Ideal for budget-constrained post-production facilities
Minus
Not optimized for gaming
Requires additional calibration for exemplary performance
Perceived as pricey
Optimal only with commensurate screen matching
Lacks lens memories for multi-aspect ratio screens

THE VERDICT
Out-of-the-box remarkable for everyday people can be massaged into out-of-this-world-caliber magical for price-conscious advertising, post-production, or any facility requiring a color-accurate, modest room-sized client projection system (with knowledgeable supplemental calibration and selective screen pairing).

Headlining BenQ’s Home Cinema Series projector offerings is the W5800, a 4K UHD model engineered and marketed to appeal to well-informed home theater enthusiasts. The W5800 website emphasizes BenQ’s goal of adhering to the standards for color reproduction in the television and film content production industry as outlined by its governing body, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

There’s been a lot of fuss over the rapid drop in price of big-screen flat panels, but that ain’t nothing compared with the free-falling MSRPs you’ll find over in the 1080p projection realm. Two years ago, the going rate for one of the first 1080p projectors was about $10,000. Last year, we saw a number of high-quality offerings around the $5,000 mark. This year, companies like Optoma, Sanyo, and Mitsubishi have released 1080p projectors priced under $4,000. These entry-level models feature a nice complement of advanced image-adjustment options and all of the desired video inputs: HDMI 1.3, PC, and component video. But the important question is, how does their performance measure up with pricier competition? You’ll have to read on to find out.

DLP Hangs Tough

Digital Light Processing (DLP) may have jump-started the whole digital display revolution in the late 1990s, but to the consumer, the technology might look like it’s fallen on hard times. Only one major HDTV manufacturer—Mitsubishi—now makes DLP rear projectors. And since DLP is a projection technology, there are no DLP sets that can project an image across a distance of 2 inches or less to compete with today’s popular flat panels.