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2006 is the year when we finally see just what high definition TV broadcasts can do. But if high definition makes a huge difference to watching a TV, it counts double when you're watching a projector.
As usual where projectors are concerned, it's simply a matter of size. By blowing your favourite films and TV shows up to enormous, wall-filling sizes as much as 300in across, a projector inevitably tends to be pretty merciless in the way it makes weaknesses in source material easier to see. These weaknesses can include grain, colour noise and a simple lack of basic texture and fine detail in a standard definition source. But these are all weaknesses that should be completely eradicated by a good high definition source, making high definition the food of choice for any self-respecting projector. Similarly, the best way to fully appreciate just how much better HD is than SD is to watch it on the biggest screen possible, via a projector.
But not just any old projector will do. To experience the definitive HD experience, you need a projector which satisfies the industry's official 'HD Ready' criteria by:
1. having a native widescreen image system with at least 720 lines of pixels
2. being compatible with all the necessary HD formats
3. accepting component video input along with digital video via either an HDMI or a DVI jack
Until recently such projectors were few and far between, but with the launch of the HD-capable Xbox 360 and Sky's HD broadcasts only three or four months away now, more HD Ready projectors are appearing at lower and lower prices. And to prove the point, we've gathered together four of them here, all coming in at the happy side of £2,500… |
BenQ PE7700
DLP has so far lagged behind LCD when it comes to high definition, thanks to Texas Instruments seemingly struggling to mass produce DLP chipsets with the requisite 720 lines of resolution. It's finally happening though, and currently one of the cheapest around is the BenQ PE7700.
Considering the cut-price torch it carries, the PE7700 doesn't look cheap. The finish is robust and slick, the body promisingly heavy and large, and the sculpting cute. Connections include the all-important HDMI and component video options, together with a PC interface. Delivering the necessary native HD resolution, meanwhile, is a 1280x720 DLP chipset that serves up a decent claimed contrast ratio of 2500:1 and likeable brightness of 1100 ANSI Lumens.
Features are unexpectedly extensive and helpful, even including an image processing system dubbed SensEye, which splits signals into their separate colour and brightness components before running them through a four-stage enhancement routine to boost shadow detail, sharpness, motion and colour response.
Happily the PE7700 continues to belie its price with its performance, delivering pictures that we feel actually better those of the considerably more expensive Toshiba DLP rival in this group. All that lovely fine detail contained in HD pictures appears intact, and combines with some surprisingly deep and rich black levels to deliver exceptionally good image depth and scale.
Colours are exemplary, too, combining rich saturations with an overtly natural tone and remaining impressively free of the banding and striping that we might have expected from such an affordable HD DLP specimen. We seldom found ourselves bothered by DLP's 'rainbow effect' either, where bands of pure, rainbow-like colour flit around in your peripheral vision.
The only bad things we could find to say about the PE7700 are that dark areas can look a bit noisy, and fast movements can look slightly jerky. But these are pathetically minor points when set against all the good news.
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Plus points
Good looking, startling price, excellent pictures for the money, bags of features
Minus points
Some noise in dark areas, slightly jerky motion at times
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Hitachi PJ-TX200
This is the first of two LCD models in our group - but you wouldn't know it from its specifications. LCD is generally not considered able to deliver contrast as well as rival DLP, yet here we've got an LCD model claiming an astonishing contrast ratio of 7000:1 that leaves practically every DLP rival trailing.
How is this possible? Simple. It's because the Hitachi has a dynamic iris that can adjust the amount of light allowed through the lens according to the content of the picture. Clever. Other specs that matter for the purposes of this HD Ready group test are HDMI and component video jacks for high definition connection, and a native resolution of 1280x720.
Also of interest is the TX200's Super ED lens array, which uses four low-dispersion lenses working in tandem to deliver a number of benefits, including richer, more natural colours; better fine detailing; and the eradication of LCD's dreaded 'chicken wire effect', where the grid-like structure of the LCD panels can become visible in the picture. It's worth saying too, that all this impressive up-front stuff is housed in an unusually attractive body that has curves and fancy grilles in all the right places!
Happily all of the TX200's cracking features and specifications seem to play their part in the TX200's pictures. For starters, fittingly for an HD Ready projector, the TX200's fine detail portrayal is outstanding, as it effortlessly produces immaculate edges and even the most subtle of textures. Black levels are remarkably good by LCD standards too, as the projector delivers the dark picture parts that other LCD - and many DLP - projectors simply cannot reach. This helps the picture enjoy plenty of depth, as well as leaving colours free to shine with a vibrancy and naturalism of tone that's rare indeed.
The image is exceptionally clean and noiseless meanwhile, and the Super ED lens system ensures that there's hardly ever any trace of the chicken wire effect. In fact, when all's said and done, the only conclusion to reach about the PJ-TX200 is that it produces the single finest performance we've yet seen from a mainstream LCD projector. And you can't say fairer than that.
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Plus points
Superb pictures, loads of features, good looks, great price under the circumstances
Minus points
Nothing much
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Panasonic PT-AE900
Few brands over the years have kept the LCD projection flag flying more successfully than Panasonic. So the company's latest flagship model, the PT-AE900, has a lot to live up to. It gets off to a fairly inauspicious start though, looking rather dour compared with the other models here; just a plasticky dull grey box with a lens in it, really.
Thank goodness, then, for its connections, which raise spirits with an HDMI input, a PC input, component video inputs and even an RGB Scart socket. Why more projectors don't include a Scart is beyond us…
The LCD panels at the AE900's heart claim an HD-friendly native resolution of 1280x720, a maximum image brightness of 1100 ANSI Lumens, and an impressive sounding contrast ratio of 5,500:1. As with the Hitachi LCD model, this exceptional contrast claim is achieved via a dynamic iris. Another potentially useful trick is the latest incarnation of Panasonic's Smooth Screen system, whereby a clever double-refraction crystal/prism device consigns LCD's traditional chicken wire problems to oblivion.
After spending just a couple of minutes with the AE900's superb setup procedures, you'll find yourself lapping up some truly excellent pictures. Colours look particularly striking, combining extreme vibrancy with a naturalism of tone that's seldom seen in the LCD world. Black levels are very good meanwhile, with the dynamic iris system almost always judging the best amount of light to perfection. Then there's the lack of video noise in the picture, which therefore looks impressively direct and clean.
The only area where the AE900 leaves us feeling a tiny bit let down is its sharpness. For some reason, perhaps because of the Smooth Screen system, HD sources don't look quite as blisteringly sharp, detailed and textured as we'd ideally like.
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Plus points
Excellent picture quality, good features count
Minus points
Picture could be a touch sharper, the design is bland
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Price comparsion:
Toshiba TDP-MT700
Website: www.toshiba.co.uk
Size (WxDxH): 38x30x12cm
Weight: 7.6kg
Native chipset aspect ratio: 16:9
Resolution: 1280x720
Claimed max contrast ratio: 2500:1
Claimed max brightness: 1000 ANSI Lumens
Video connections: Composite video, S-Video, two component video inputs, five BNC (HV) inputs, HDMI input, RGB PC input, RS232C jack
Additional features: Faroudja DCDi, O+ scaling, white balance fine tuning, noise filter, red, green, blue, yellow adjustment
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Toshiba TDP-MT700
Toshiba's MT700 was arguably the first affordable HD Ready DLP projector in the UK when it launched last April - and now that it's had its price discounted to just £1,700 from an original launch price of £2,500, it's also the cheapest!
Not that there's anything cheap about its build quality. In fact it feels exceptionally sturdy and heavy, promising some good quality innards, though the bodywork's rather plain rectangular sculpting is nothing to write home about aesthetically.
As befits a projector that once sat higher up the pricing tree, the MT700 has an unusually healthy array of features to help you perfect its picture performance. These include Faroudja DCDi processing for making contoured edges look less jagged, individual adjustment of the red, green, blue, yellow and white components of the image, and white balance fine tuning. Connections meanwhile include those two HD Ready essentials of an HDMI input and a set of component jacks, plus there's the normal support for a PC.
In some ways the MT700's picture quality is excellent. For instance, it does a good job of presenting all the lovely extra detail and sharpness in high definition sources, and does so without creating extra grain or dot crawl noise. Colours look very appealing too, with subtle and believable tones and plenty of vibrancy when required.
But the fact that the MT700 has been around a few months now is perhaps shown up in a couple of little niggles. First, dark parts of the picture don't enjoy particularly deep, rich black levels. Second, the projector is a little more susceptible to those twin DLP technology problems of the rainbow effect and fizzing noise over motion than we'd ideally like.
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Plus points
Decent picture quality, good features count
Minus points
DLP technology issues, black levels aren't the best
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The first point to make here is a general one, and that's that all four of these projectors really do make good use of their HD Ready specifications, looking genuinely sharper, cleaner and more detailed with high definition sources than any non-HD Ready rivals.
That said, they're not all equal. Bringing up the rear is Toshiba's MT700. This is exceptionally cheap for an HD Ready projector based around DLP technology, but part of the reason for its affordability is the fact that it's been around quite a while - a fact that's reflected in one or two slightly disappointing aspects of its performance.
Any one of the other three models would make a truly superb home movie machine - but if forced to put them in order, coming in third would be Panasonic's PT-AE900. Aside from looking a bit ugly this is a truly excellent machine, and the only reason it finishes as low as third is that it doesn't look quite as sharp with high definition sources as the other two machines above it. But it's a marginal thing.
We've actually put the Hitachi PJ-TX200 and BenQ PE7700 in joint first place. Both represent the very cream of their respective technologies at the sub £2,000 price point, with your choice between the two coming down simply to whether you personally prefer DLP or LCD technology. Try and see them both running side by side if you can to see which of them best suits your tastes. But if you can't manage to organise that, don't worry: whichever one you end up with will do your high definition ambitions proud.
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