Recent Comments:
Lord of the Rings HD DVD and Blu-ray details {Engadget HD}
Jan 18th 2007 7:09PM I must have missed something - what makes you think they will be releasing the original theatrical version, and not the beloved extended versions.
BenQ's $8000 PE8720 reviewed {Engadget}
Jan 20th 2006 4:35PM Greetings, seems there are lots of questions, I'm going to try to address them all, quickly starting, with what is now #11, Dan.
Dan, the 1000 lumens is manufacturer spec, and most home theater projectors can only get close to their manufacturer spec in brightest (not best) mode. Most HT projectors are rated 800 - 1200 lumens, and most output bettween 200 and 400 lumens in their best modes. Most users, unless they have a fully darkened room, do not watch in "best mode".
BTW I use Avia Pro calibration software, and an Optic One light meter for measurements, but there are so many variables that any claimed output is completely dependent on using the exact settings. The BenQ has 3 major modes x 2 lamp settings, x many other variables - each will give significantly different lumens measurements. More important - is how large a screen can it handle, with no ambient lighting, and with some ambient lighting... That's practical, not specs for specs sake.
BTW projector central focuses primarily on fairly entry level ($9999 to $$5000 street priced projectors. If you saw a side by side with anything available under $5K, this machine is significantly better. It's like comparing a Honda Civic to a Lexus. Both provide transportation. People who want the best, pay more. (and there are far better projectors than even the BenQ - going up to 4-5x the price.
And as usual, you get incremental improvement. $2000 is a lot better than $1000 spent, $4000 is not as great an improvement over $2000, and by the time you get to $8000..or $20K the improvements continue. Lots of people want premium product. This BenQ, blows away any $2000 projector, even though, those do a pretty good job.
10. Azam, $8K will buy you a 60 - 65 inch plasma. People buying projectors almost all, use screens of 92" to 130" diagonal. Its a theater, not a large TV feel.
4. Sony "Ruby" VW100. Several of you mentioned that. Couple of things, first, $8K is the list price, not selling price. The Sony is a couple thousand more. And the higher resolution is a plus. But watch out, instead of a $400 replacement lamp that supposedly lasts 2000-3000 hours (depending on use) on the BenQ, you are looking at $1000 a lamp, rated a maximum of 1500 hours, NON-USER replacable, , so figure an extra $250-$500 to have it removed, and the new lamp correctly alligned, and reinstalled. Over a 3-4 year life, fairly heavy users may spend as much as $2000 more just for replacemet lamps.
I am scheduled to review the Ruby late next month. I have seen it. Excellent, although at the shows (CEDIA) it looked great, but SXRD (LCOS) can't match the shadow detail of DLP's which is why very few LCOS projectors have succeeded in home theater. Still, the Sony is a great machine, but its one budget size larger.
3. Native resolution is 720p (1280x720). You are right, I could have made it more visible, you can infer from the 2nd paragraph on the review page where I mention, the "other BenQ 720p" projectors, I'll add something to the review, to make it more obvious. Thanks, for the heads up.
#1 Paul, Your 2600 lumen projector no doubt does a respectable job on HT (an NEC perhaps?), but its not an Home theater projector. It's 4:3 native resolution, so when you watch widescreen DVD's half your screen (top and bottom, are dark gray). People needing bright projectors have almost no option in the home theater catagory.
But the real difference you would see, is more pixels in use, a much sharper image (in part to a much better lens), better scaling from DVD, and a whole lot more "shadow detail" and better "black levels" two of the three "holy grails" of great home theater projectors.
Sorry for the long response, but there were a lot of questions and issues. -art
BenQ's $8000 PE8720 reviewed {Engadget}
Jan 19th 2006 8:19PM Greetings, and thanks Paul for this posting. The 8720 is truly spectacular, so for those reading, here's a direct link to the review.
http://www.projectorreviews.com/Manufacturers/benq/PE8720_final/index.asp
A heads up for readers, You will note that the page this link goes to is an update. The original review from October (five pages) is accessable from this Update. The update goes over the improvements I found with the new firmware. The original review has a great deal of extra info (physical tour, image quality, performance sections, etc.) I did, as noted, update the Summary Pros Cons page of the original review to reflect the findings in the update.
Paul, if you are out there, drop me a quick email, I couldn't figure out how to correspond with you directly - and this is my first visit to engadget.com.
PS. Folks, you'll find lots of other home theater projector reviews on my site, in all price ranges (for those of you without $8,000 for the 8720). Also, I am reviewing now, the latest update to the BenQ PE7700 (now about $1999), and expecting its competition, Optoma's new HD72, to arrive for review late next week. So lots of reviews coming (screens too). I hope this isn't too promotional.
Thanks -art
