How bad and how often is the "Rainbow Effect" on DLP projectors?

tyrone burton

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I'm looking into buying a projector as I've heard the picture quality of any projector overthrows any HDTV technology if that is correct. Of course I'm completely stumped and confused between LCD or DLP projectors to choose.

Two of the things that are kind of stopping me from choosing DLP is the rainbow effect I've read of but never seen, and that the Color quality of DLPs is reduced compared to LCDs.

So, I just wanted to ask what you guys opinions are on it, do you notice it, is it bad or very minor?
 
Rainbows can vary from not seeing them at all to seeing them every few seconds, those that see them vary from it does not bother me to making some people feeling nauseous.

As to how many see them is difficult to quantify but I would suspect that those that find them to be bothersome to the point that they can't live with them to be 20-30%.

I have both an LCD and a DLP and prefer the DLP for actual picture quality as they tend to be sharper and more vibrant regarding the colours.Also DLP don't suffer from dustblobs like LCD, however LCD also have some advantages, they have lens shift are a bit quieter.

I have had 2 DLP machines and can say I see rainbows only a few times in the average movie (maybe 6 times) some movies are worse than others and bad movies maybe 20-30 times.However they don't bother me in the slightest.

You really need to get a demo to see if you see them at all and if they bother you, I am in the west midlands so if you are not too far away you could always pop round and take a look at both techs to help you decide whether a pj is for you or not.
 
kbfern said:
Rainbows can vary from not seeing them at all to seeing them every few seconds, those that see them vary from it does not bother me to making some people feeling nauseous.

As to how many see them is difficult to quantify but I would suspect that those that find them to be bothersome to the point that they can't live with them to be 20-30%.

I have both an LCD and a DLP and prefer the DLP for actual picture quality as they tend to be sharper and more vibrant regarding the colours.Also DLP don't suffer from dustblobs like LCD, however LCD also have some advantages, they have lens shift are a bit quieter.

I have had 2 DLP machines and can say I see rainbows only a few times in the average movie (maybe 6 times) some movies are worse than others and bad movies maybe 20-30 times.However they don't bother me in the slightest.

You really need to get a demo to see if you see them at all and if they bother you, I am in the west midlands so if you are not too far away you could always pop round and take a look at both techs to help you decide whether a pj is for you or not.

Thanks for the offer, but I'm way too far lol.

That sounds a lot to me, wow. I will be playing more video games than movies to be honest and am thinking I will see it more, due to games having pretty fast panning and the DLPs Color wheel might (maybe) not keep up and introduce more of it.
 
I've had dlp projectors for, if I remember accurately, about 10 years now. My first was a pretty primitive machine by todays standards, it was an NEC lt75z which some older readers might remember. It was pretty prone to rainbows compared to a modern machine but in a few years of watching it and loads of friends coming to see it - projectors were rare then - not one complained about the rainbow effect. I do remember asking if anyone had seen them, I certainly did and some had but they weren't bothered. Since then projectors have progressed enormously and have much faster colour wheels so rainbows are much rarer. These days I hardly ever see one.

What I can tell you is that over the 10 years of owning a dlp projector I have read about the rainbow effect much more than I have ever seen it and even in the early days of seeing it it never bothered me.

Now a sample of one does not and cannot tell you how widespread a problem is but I suspect that the number of people who are bothered by rainbows is very small indeed. If it was an extensive problem dip would not be as successful as it is.
 
I'm the opposite: I can't watch a DLP without getting a headache after a short while and I usually see the rainbows fairly frequently too. I love the depth of image a good DLP has, but no point me considering them (apart from a 3 chip one I suppose, but they are megamoney for something like a SIM Lumis :cool:). Even then my room wouldn't get the best out of the higher ANSI contrast that DLP gives, but at least I'd still get better blacks from my DILA. ;)
 
my first pj back on 2000 was a DLP and so were the two pjs I bought after that. I've never seen rainbows on any of my set ups, but I did see one once very fleetingly in one movie at a friends place on his machine (it was probably a brighter set up), and that's it. funny thing is, no one who has ever seen my projectors has ever seen rainbows either.

We're all different, but the only way to know is to get a demo.

Gary
 
I've always seen them a lot on DLP units, even on the recent Benq w1070 which had loads in a TV show I watched on it. I also had a headache as a result. As other posters have said it's vital that you get a demo as it's something you'll notice pretty quickly if you demo stuff with lots of high contrast stuff, such as white credits on black etc. If you're not prone to them that's great because it increases your options considerably.
 
I've never seen a DLP projector, but if my reaction to 3D is anything to go buy, I suspect I'd find RBE intolerable.

As you see Tyrone Burton, everyone is different, so you really must get a demo.
 
It sounds a bit like the Plasma Image Retention a bit, you don't really notice it much. But my eyes are pretty good so I think I'll notice it, unfortunately live in a rather small village so not really anywhere to demo any (as far as I know at least).

I've read about refresh rates reducing the rainbow effect, but obviously I don't want any frame interpolation (fake frames)in the image. Should I make sure the projector DLP I find has a certain amount like 120hz?
 
Image brightness also seems to play a part in rainbow visibility for some, as well as frequency, so that adds another variable.

Gary
 
Thanks for the offer, but I'm way too far lol.

That sounds a lot to me, wow. I will be playing more video games than movies to be honest and am thinking I will see it more, due to games having pretty fast panning and the DLPs Color wheel might (maybe) not keep up and introduce more of it.



I have the acer h5360bd and when gaming/watching TV I don't see any RBE (in 2d or 3d). However, the few occasions when I have played a Blu ray through ps3 I have definitely seen RBE. The Avengers Assemble was notably bad.
 
Last edited:
tyrone burton said:
I'm looking into buying a projector as I've heard the picture quality of any projector overthrows any HDTV technology if that is correct. Of course I'm completely stumped and confused between LCD or DLP projectors to choose.

Two of the things that are kind of stopping me from choosing DLP is the rainbow effect I've read of but never seen, and that the Color quality of DLPs is reduced compared to LCDs.

So, I just wanted to ask what you guys opinions are on it, do you notice it, is it bad or very minor?

As others will say get a demo of the one you propose to buy, if you don't see the effect and you'll be the only viewer most of the time then get a DLP, personally I've seen demos of many DLPs from relatively cheap to very expensive, I've not seen a single chip DLP that I haven't immediately seen rainbows on, so it's not me me.
 
Would you guys recommend I replace my Samsung PS51E6500 with a DLP projector? Is the picture quality from a DLP superior to a HDTV?

Of course my home cinema room is be completely dark so no worries there.
 
I read on here that 50hz will will increase the visibility of RBE more, and I do still play my older consoles that were PAL 50hz, so, I may have to rethink on a different projector technology.........maybe though. I'm not completely disregarding it :)
 

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