HD Projectors review

Results table

Full results for all models are shown in the table below.

Table notes

1 Price paid in July 2008.
2 Overall score is made up of:

• Performance (70%)
• Ease of use (20%)
• Standby energy (10%).

3 Specifications:

• Projector type whether the projector uses Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) technology or Digital Light Processing (DLP).
• Dimensions external size of projector (height, width, depth);
• Weight in kilograms.
• Connections types of ports provided for connecting to video sources.
• Exhaust vent positioning of vent for cooling.

4 Features:
Claimed contrast ratio at high power contrast ratio figure and type claimed by manufacturer.
Native resolution actual pixel resolution without interpolation.
Child lock whether settings can be locked against unauthorised or accidental change.
Image position adjustment type of image adjustment, whether lens shift or digital keystone correction, and claimed amount.
Brightness at high and low power (lumens) light output in high and low power mode if available, measured in ANSI Lumens (ns = not stated);.
Claimed lamp life at high and low power (hours) manufacturer supplied figures.
Replacement lamp cost projector bulb replacement cost, RRP INC GST.
Lamp cost per hour at high and low power calculated from lamp cost and claimed lamp life.
Est. annual lamp cost based on lamp cost per hour and normal usage scenario of 2 hours use and 22 hours standby per day.
Standby energy, watt hours per hour how much energy is used in standby mode.
In-use Energy, watt hours per hour how much energy is consumed with the projector in use.
Estimated annual energy cost estimated cost of powering the projector for a year, in dollars, based on 2 hours use and 22 hours standby per day.
Total est. running cost calculated from adding Est. annual lamp cost and Est. annual energy cost.
Projector Warranty, years the length of the projector's normal warranty period in years.
Lamp warranty the length of the lamp warranty in normal use.

Footnotes:
[a] XGA is 1024 x 768 pixels; 720p is 1280 x 720 pixels; 1080p is 1920 x 1080 pixels.
[b] Based on 2 hours per day in use at the low power setting and 22 hours on standby. Energy costed at $0.17 per kiloWatt hour.
[c] Combined estimated annual lamp cost plus estimated annual energy cost.
[d] At maximum vertical lens shift the maximum horizontal lens shift cannot be achieved and vice versa.
[e] Third year only redeemed with additional warranty card included.
[f] It's been announced that both the Mitsubishi and the Sony models tested will soon be discontinued. However, they may still be available in shops, possibly at a reduced price. Replacement models: Mitsubishi HC5500; Sony VPLHW10 (1080p) and VPLEW5 (720p).
[g] When the lens is horizontally shifted vertical shift is limited to 25%.
[h] If lamp fails between 501 and 1500 hours Sony will provide a replacement lamp at 50% cost

How we tested

Picture quality Picture quality was assessed using a panel of three experts. The projectors were set up in a blacked out room and the panel evaluated picture quality using a variety of sources with content designed to highlight the projector’s ability to handle animated and live action, text and titles, dark and light scenes, skin tones, flat colours and dynamic variations. The sources included various movie footage excerpts from a high-definition version of the same movie in Blu-ray format and high-definition in-game footage from a Sony PlayStation 3 games console, in both cases connected via HDMI.

Also viewed were corresponding excerpts from a DVD (with upscaling provided by the projector) connected via component cabling (in one case S-video was used as component connection wasn’t provided). The panel paid particular attention to colour, brightness, contrast and clarity of the overall picture in each case, along with any noticeable dominant or unnatural colour or geometric anomalies such as colour banding, screen door or rainbow effects, jerkiness when panning, blurred detail, image vibration, colour bleeding and oversaturation and colour trails in fast-moving images.

Ease of use For scoring the overall ease of use our tester assessed the quality of the remote control (50% of overall score), onscreen display (20%), setting up controls (20%) and onboard controls (10%). To assess this, the tester used the onboard, onscreen and remote controls to perform a series of typical tasks, paying attention to the size, shape and layout of all controls, clarity of labelling, accessibility, logical menu structure; intuitive descriptor words, phrases or symbols; indicator lights; ease of finding and using the most commonly used controls, and difficulty in finding and using controls and menu items only used occasionally.

Energy use The energy consumption of each projector was measured with the projectors using stabilised electric power in standby mode and in use, and the results combined and converted to dollars to give a total annual energy use figure, based on a typical-use scenario of 22 hours of standby and 2 hours of active use per day, with power cost at 17c per kWh.