Hi, I am a bit clueless with the ins and outs of this! and wondered if any of you kind people could help with choosing between these two projectors: Sanyo PLV-Z5 and Optoma DV10.

Its for home use with Freeview and a DVD recorder/player to project on to a matt white wall at a size of up to 2 metres wide from up to 3 metres away from wall.

The Optoma one seems to be more affordable but less picture quality and the Sanyo one seems to be well recommended but is more expensive.

Do you think, you can notice a big difference in quality between these two projectors? Do you think it would be worth the extra cost for the Sanyo one?

Or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree and need to be looking at another make/model...

Any help much appreciated.
Thanks

[stuartbrown21]

I demoed the DV10 a year or so back. The picture was totally fine, but I ended up not buying as I saw rainbows (do a search if you don't know what there are!!).

A few months later I went back for another demo, this time with the Panasonic PT-AX100, which is an equivalent projector to the Z5 you're looking at. As this is LCD technology, I saw no rainbows, and overall I was incredibly impressed, hence I purchased it there and then and haven't regretted it one bit.

Basically, there are differences between DLP (DV10) and LCD projectors such as the Z5, if you don't know what they are then I suggest a few days rigorously searching and reading on this forum would be time well spent, and then it is worthwhile demoing a few projectors to make your mind up.

Another point to note is that within the last year HD-material has become available, with SKY HD, and you have 2 affordable HD disc players to choose from (Toshiba HD-E1, HD-DVD, £240-ish and Playstation 3, Blu-Ray, £350-ish). When I took my first demo I wasn't even slightly bothered about HD, but a year on I own both of the HD players I mentioned above (other, more expensive players are available for both formats). HD makes a modest difference at 'normal' TV sizes, but is altogether a much bigger revelation at projector sizes (the effect is that the projectrd image is very close to the master material that you view at the cinema - VERY impressive).

Also, compared to a year ago, 720p projectors such as the Z5 have fallen massively in price (might have been looking at £1,300 for the Z5's predecessor this time last year, and they represent the best value that can be had today, as full 1080p projectore have become available in the past 9 months). I would strongly suggest getting a 720p HD-Ready projector, as these cope really well with both HD & SD material. The DV10 is only 480p which is NTSC resolution, not even the resulotion you're used to from PAL DVD's. Having viewed it, the image it gives out is really fine anyway, I just feel that given the lowish price of 720p projectors and the increasing amount of HD material, that it is a false economy to buy a SD projector at this point. I would suggest that if you wish to buy a DLP projector, then have a serious look at the Optoma HD70 which is 720p and HD-Ready, and gets some very good reviews.

Good luck

[cyberheater]

Actually, for standard definition material. The Optoma DV10 will look better then the Z5. The contrast will be better, the blacks deeper and overal colour will pop more.

On the other hand. The Z5 is virtually silent compared to the DV10 which can make all the difference to some folks.

[benji_m]

The DV10 is very similar to the more widely owned H27.

There are many side by side reviews of that machine with older 720p LCD's on these forums, they might be useful in establsihing a rough idea?

[stuartbrown21]

From what I saw the DV10 didn't produce a better SD image than my PT-AX100. Not sure that the blacks were any better either (I have read that the PT-AX100 produces a deeper black than the more expensive HD72i, and that Optomas in general don't have the deepest blacks of competing DLP models).

There is no argument however that in general DLP produces a slightly deeper black than LCD technology.

[cyberheater]

Originally Posted by stuartbrown21

From what I saw the DV10 didn't produce a better SD image than my PT-AX100. Not sure that the blacks were any better either (I have read that the PT-AX100 produces a deeper black than the more expensive HD72i, and that Optomas in general don't have the deepest blacks of competing DLP models).

There is no argument however that in general DLP produces a slightly deeper black than LCD technology.

Didn't ROne (the forums most experienced Z5 calibrator) get rid of his Z5 because he thought the DV10 was better on SD content.

Sure. If the original poster is going hidef then he should consider something like the Optoma HD70 but for SD material, the DV10 would be great.

[stuartbrown21]

The PT-AX100 which I own is particularly well regarded at the price point for it's scaling and deinterlacing which is perhaps why I rate it highly for SD viewing - I think the Sanyo and Hitachi are both noted to be weaker on these points.

I also believe the PT-AE1000 is very well regarded for it's display of SD material on it's 1080 resolution display.

Hi, thanks for your replies

Is the Z5 quieter than the DV10 then? The Z5 is listed as 22 decibels and DV10 as 27 decibels, doesn't that mean that the Z5 is louder? (or is the spec misleading in practice?)

Benji, what could I compare the H27 to? I'm not sure what to look for.

Thanks
Amanda

[k.jacko]

Basically a decibel is a unit of sound (so to speak), so the more dB's you have the greater the sound.
So, the Z5 at 22dB compared to the DV10's 27db, should be quieter. Although, not sure if it will make an audible difference to most people.

To add to your thread mate, i'm looking at buying my first projector and the Z5 seems to be the weapon of choice at the moment.

A sub £700 Hd projector for gaming and dvd's seems like a good deal.
You can also pick up a 100" automatic screen for approx £100 off the bay.

A question(s) though if i may;
at 1100 lumens, would the room need to be very dark to better appreciate the picture for gaming or dvd?
Would a higher lumen count mean you don't have to sit in darkness to get a nice picture?

[cyberheater]

Originally Posted by PinkPanda

Is the Z5 quieter than the DV10 then? The Z5 is listed as 22 decibels and DV10 as 27 decibels, doesn't that mean that the Z5 is louder? (or is the spec misleading in practice?)

The decibel is a logarithmic scale. 3 db (decibels) is a doubling of sound level but in the real world (because how our ears work) you need to go to roughly 6 db to have a doubling of sound volume.

In other words, the DV10 is about twice as loud as the Z5. Now in real terms I'm not sure what that would be like as the Z5 is whisper quiet so 2 x whisper quiet isn't really going to be that noisy at all.

[cyberheater]

Originally Posted by stuartbrown21

The PT-AX100 which I own is particularly well regarded at the price point for it's scaling and deinterlacing which is perhaps why I rate it highly for SD viewing - I think the Sanyo and Hitachi are both noted to be weaker on these points.

I also believe the PT-AE1000 is very well regarded for it's display of SD material on it's 1080 resolution display.

Everytime to rescale a video stream you lose quality. Given that the DV10 has an onboard DVD player which can be set to multiregional, if you fed it a ntsc disc then there would hardly be any scaling at all. The AX100 isn't going to be able to compete with that.
I'm not saying the difference would be night and day but there would be a difference.

[stuartbrown21]

Originally Posted by cyberheater

Everytime to rescale a video stream you lose quality. Given that the DV10 has an onboard DVD player which can be set to multiregional, if you fed it a ntsc disc then there would hardly be any scaling at all. The AX100 isn't going to be able to compete with that.
I'm not saying the difference would be night and day but there would be a difference.

But the PT-AX100 is HD-Ready so it makes DVD's into HD-DVD's so there.

Just kidding, agreed the DV10 is an excellent SD projector.

p.s. Seriously though, think about getting a 720p projector!!

[cyberheater]

Originally Posted by stuartbrown21

p.s. Seriously though, think about getting a 720p projector!!

Yep. I agree. At some point you bound to want to plug a PC/Xbox360 or PS3 to it and some HD projectors are relatively cheap these days.

I can heartily recommend the Optoma hd70.

Prices (cheapest i've seen online)

Optoma HD70 = £650.00
Panny PT-AX100 = £850.00
Sanyo Z5 = £650.00
Optoma DV10 = £350.00

Good luck

[ROne]

Cyberheater is correct (bar the fact that I had the Z3/Z4s - and I don't think the Z5 is that much better from my quick viewing) - the DV10 is better (contrast, colour, blacklevel, screendoor) with SD than the Z series. But it is a DLP and requires more fiddly positioning.

It's been a great temporary projector for me, and I only purchased it for mobility reasons and I was blown away as I wasn't expecting much for the money.