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Three Entry Level Projectors
Epson Home 10, BenQ PB6100 and Optoma H30
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By Mike Rollett
SPot Senior Editor

Model number: 

2004-05-17 - " It wasn’t long ago that only the rich would even think of having a home front projector. "

Review:

CRT projectors were bulky and expensive, often requiring a dedicated home theater room. Then came DLP and LCD projectors, which were more practical for use in a living or family room, but still were relatively expensive when compared to RPTVs. Nowadays, DLP and LCD projectors can be had for as little as $1000, which puts them below the price of many RPTVs. They’re also small and light, making it easy to use them in a variety of settings. But are they any good? Let’s take a look at three popular entry level projectors on the market today.

Overview

Epson Home 10


Ralph Potts reviewed this LCD projector in detail last month, so I’ll just touch on the high points and how its features differ from the other two projectors, which are DLP.

The Home 10 has a native 16:9 resolution of 854 X 480, 700:1 contrast ratio and 1000 lumen output. This removes the need for vertical scaling with SD sources and makes it a perfect match for use with a DVD player displaying most of today’s widescreen movies. Its Theater Black mode reduces fan noise to an imperceptible level during normal viewing and extends lamp life to 3000 hrs. It has a very short throw ratio (the shortest of the group by far) and can be used in smaller rooms without sacrificing screen size. It was able to fill my 92” diagonal, 16:9 screen at a paltry 8’ distance. One feature the Home 10 has over the other projectors is both VGA and component video inputs. Both the BenQ and the Optoma only have VGA inputs, so you either need to use a component-to-VGA adapter (supplied with the Optoma) or cable. However, its built-in deinterlacing is poor, so you’ll want to mate it with a DVD player that has a good progressive scan output. The Home 10 is physically the largest of the three, but is equally low in weight. The Home 10 has a terrific two year warranty with "Extra Care Home Service" that includes overnight replacement in the event of a product failure. It retails at $1299.

BenQ PB6100


The BenQ PB6100 is a single chip DLP projector that has a native 4:3 resolution of 800 X 600, 2000:1 contrast ratio, 3X, 4-segment (RGBW) color wheel. It boasts a 1500 lumen output, but this is rated, like many DLP projectors that have a white segment in their color wheel, in presentation mode. For normal video sources, the output is easily about half of that rating. As mentioned above, it does not have component video inputs, just VGA, S-video and composite, so you’ll need a converter if you’re not running this off an HTPC. Fan noise is not this projector’s strong suit, especially in anything but Eco Mode, where it’s louder than the others but not objectionable. The PB6100 uses a Pixelworks scaling and deinterlacing chip (same as the Optoma H30) which has very good performance for a projector in this price range. The PB6100, like the Epson, comes with a credit card sized remote that is best used once to learn to a universal remote, then put away. This projector has the longest throw distance of the group, but it’s still not objectionable. It took about 13’ to fill my 92” diagonal, 16:9 screen. It comes with a three year warranty and retails for only $999.

Optoma H30


The Optoma H30 is a single chip DLP projector that has a native 4:3 resolution of 800 X 600, 2000:1 contrast ratio. It uses the newer DDR version of the Texas Instruments DMD (as does the BenQ), which improves contrast ratio. Unlike the BenQ, it uses a 4X, 6-segment (RGB,RGB) color wheel which greatly reduces the rainbow effect often complained of with DLP projectors. Its output is rated at 800 lumens, but in actual use seems much brighter. As with the BenQ, it does not have component video inputs, just VGA, S-video and composite. However, the H30 comes with a component-to-VGA adapter so you can use standard component video cables. Fan noise is minimal at the regular setting, and it’s very quiet in Eco mode, but the Epson is still the champ in that department. Optoma recently did a firmware upgrade to the H30, which now enables it to display the full 800 X 600 resolution with 4:3 input from component video sources (which previously only occurred with a straight VGA input). The current models also now come with a nice, backlit remote and a lens mask to reduce the light spill above a 16:9 image (which uses the bottom of the DMD). The H30 also allows a 4:3 image to be windowed into the middle of a 16:9 screen. The H30 is in middle of the group with regard to throw distance. It took about 11’ to fill my 92” diagonal, 16:9 screen. The H30 comes with a two year warranty and retails for $1399.

Performance Evaluation

All three projectors were calibrated using Avia and DVE. I should note that the H30 was subsequently calibrated using Colorfacts, but to be fair, my comments will refer to the picture quality prior to that calibration. All viewing was done on a 1.0 gain matte white 16:9, 92” diagonal wall mounted screen in a totally light-controlled room. A Panasonic RP-82 DVD player was used for the 480i and 480p viewing, and SD and HD feeds from a Hughes E86 set top box were also used.

Epson Home 10

The Home 10 was set in Theater Black, which gives it the best blacks and shadow detail. Starting out with The Fifth Element Superbit DVD at 480p, the Home 10 did a great job. Colors were well saturated and accurate. While quite a bit of screen door was apparent at a viewing distance 1.5X the screen width, it was no longer evident at 2X. Switching to 480i was awful, with noticeable artifacts in almost any scene, especially those with motion. Make sure you have a good progressive scan DVD player to match up with the Home 10.

Moving to the DVD Underworld, the Home 10 surprised me to some extent in its ability to produce good blacks. While it did not match the two DLP projectors in this respect, it was very impressive for such a low priced LCD projector.

Using a DirecTv feed through the Home 10’s S-video input provided a decent picture, the quality level was more affected by the compression of the DirecTv signal than the Home 10. I would suggest using an Iscan Pro with SD sources to covert the signal to 480p, which looks much better on the Home 10.

Finally, an HD feed looked very good, but I wouldn’t recommend getting any projector with this low resolution if you expect to be doing a lot of HDTV viewing.

BenQ PB6100

The BenQ was set in Eco mode, which kept the fan the quietest and, like the Home 10 in Theater mode, gave the best shadow detail. Again using the Fifth Element SB disk, the PB6100 looked great. Colors were well saturated and accurate. The 6100 projects a 16:9 image in the middle of the 800 X 600 window, so there’s light spill above and below the image. This could be distracting on a 4:3 screen, but with a 16:9 screen and a dark wall behind it, there’s no problem. However, with a 16:9 screen, you can’t “window” in a 4:3 image, so you have to adjust the zoom. Screen door is minimal at a 1.5X viewing distance, much better than the Home 10 in this respect. It’s built-in deinterlacing using the Pixelworks chip does a fine job with a 480i signal. It has per pixel motion adaptive deinterlacing (rare in most all-in-one chips these days) that navigates the Faroudja test disk quite well. The picture’s not as sharp as using a good progressive scan feed to begin with, but it’s more than acceptable.

The DVD Underworld displayed the advantage of the 6100’s high contrast ratio, revealing shadow detail that was unseen on the Home 10. Blacks were also very deep and solid, though not up to the more expensive DLP units.

Moving to Blade 2, Chapter 2, there were some noticeable rainbows in the flickering fire and later in the motorcycle headlights. Not really objectionable, but there nonetheless.

SD and HD feeds looked much the same as they did with the Home 10, with the SD feeds faring better than they did on the Home 10 due to the Pixelworks chip.

Optoma H30

I first saw the H30 at CES this year, where it won an Innovations award, but I was less than impressed. Apparently, either the H30 at CES wasn’t set up properly or they’ve made a few changes since then, because the picture quality of this little gem is outstanding. Setting the H30 in Eco mode, and checking out a few DVDs, I was amazed. Blacks are deep and inky in appearance, colors are well saturated and bright. The picture seems to jump off the screen with scenes like the Leeloo “construction” in Fifth Element. Even though this projector had the lowest rated lumen output, it seemed brighter than the other two. Screen door is not an issue at any viewing distance from 1.5X and up.

Again, the Underworld DVD showed off the solid blacks and excellent shadow detail that the 6100 did, but with a little added depth. The 4X color wheel made all the difference with the Blade 2 DVD and the H30 displayed none of the rainbows that were evident on the 6100.

As with the 6100, the H30’s built-in deinterlacing using the Pixelworks chip does a fine job with a 480i signal. Its scaling is also quite good for a projector in this price range. Since it uses a 4:3 chip (800 X 600), the H30 offers two options for 16:9 viewing. Setting the H30 to “16:9” gives you a scaled image at 800 X 450. Using the “Native 16:9” setting gives you 800 X 480. This setting achieves the correct 480 vertical resolution, but cuts 27 pixels off each side of the picture to preserve the 16:9 aspect ratio. In both cases, the 16:9 image is projected from the bottom of the chip, so there is only light spill above the image. Viewing a number of DVDs in both modes, there was no noticeable improvement in the picture quality in “Native” mode. Since the “Native mode adds the 80 pixels to the top of the image and stretches a 4:3 image, I would stick with the 16:9 mode unless you’re using a 4:3 screen where you can easily switch between modes.

The regular user menu offers a number of adjustments usually only seen in more expensive projectors. In addition to the standard color, tint, brightness, contrast and sharpness, there is an “Advanced Adjustments” section where you can fine tune Red, Green and Blue Brightness and Contrast. Coupled with Avia or DVE, you can really dial in the picture. These settings are also adjustable for each input, not just globally. Very cool.

Conclusions

It’s really amazing how far we come with digital projectors in a relatively short time. All three of these projectors surpass their predecessors in picture quality and cost half as much as some of them did. Which one should you choose? They all have their advantages. If you’re prone to headaches or are just overly sensitive to rainbows, then I would stick with an LCD projector and the Home 10 is a standout performer in its price range. The only thing the Home 10 suffers from is that unlike DLP projectors, there are much higher resolution LCD projectors available for a few hundred dollars more.

If you’re looking for the biggest bargain, there’s no doubt that the BenQ PB6100 is the winner. At a street price of around $950 (plus a $100 rebate currently being offered) and coupled with a good progressive scan DVD player, the PB6100 offers the most bang for the buck.

Finally, if you want the absolutely best possible picture at the lowest price, look no further than the Optoma H30. This projector would do any DVD-based home theater proud, while providing a very good picture with HD sources. It also offers the tweaker the most flexibility in adjusting the picture to suit their tastes.

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