benje
Established Member
Today me and fellow avforum member 'wolfeh' visited Nexnix in Horsham to go demo some projectors for the first time. We both have been meaning to upgrade from some pretty old crt tvs for a few months now.. (or in fact ever since we both started reading the projector forums )
Being completely inexperienced in the world of projectors we weren't quite sure what to expect and so had lined up a long list of projectors to demo to give us some guidance.
We arrived at Nexnix at around 2pm and were greeted with looks of confusion - it seemed that the person we had made the booking with had not told anyone else about it and had promptly disappeared . However, we were soon welcomed inside and led to the demo room and a huuuge 110" screen (and i was questioning whether 100" would be big enough ).
The Sanyo z2 was already hooked up via component (in eco mode) so we whacked LOTR - TT on. The picture was very impressive, save for some screen door and vertical banding that was particularly apparent on the lighter areas of the picture. I think this may be down to the fact that we were quite close (probably no more than 4m for the screen) and would perhaps be less prominent further away.
I asked for the input to be switched to DVI from their htpc and the picture problems were definitely reduced from the previous image which is fortunate giving that i'm looking at going for an htpc !
I wanted to try Finding Nemo (or indeed Shrek/Monster's Inc) via DVI too but unfortunately all my pixar disks are r1 and their htpc wasn't multiregion eek so we had to use component in. Not that this was a great disadvantage, i was just enjoying the 1:1 pixel mapping. The picture again was excellent, very vibrant and particularly watchable. I definitely felt more engrossed in the movie here and actually was watching it rather than just trying to find faults (as I had done during LOTR).
For comparison I asked to see the z1, instantly the picture became significantly darker (despite being in high mode), less vibrant and had lots more screen door. Finding Nemo was reduced to a shadow of it's former glory and in the interest of saving some of the memories from beforehand i asked for the movie to be changed to Saving Private Ryan.
Arguably this isn't the greatest DVD for testing projectors, as it is well known that Spielberg artficially adjusted the colours to make the film appear 'more realistic'. However, i was curious to see how much screendoor was affected as Finding Nemo and SPR are pretty much at opposite ends of the picture type scale!
The result was still very dark and the film looked quite grainy, but it was still extremely watchable during the 'beach assault'. I'm not sure if this is due to the fact that we didn't see it running against the z2 or if the z1 suited the material more.
Regardless, due to it's previous disappointing performance the z1 was out for me and i was now curious to see some DLPs. We switched to the Sharp Z91 halfway through the beach scene. The image instantly improved (and so it should at twice the cost!), there was still the problem of it being quite low resolution but the colours were looking much more realistic. I didn't see a single rainbow during this chapter and to be honest i think the whole issue of rainbows has been overhyped massively, I was told that the Sharp's are quite good at not displaying rainbows though so maybe some other models may be much more noticeable.
Currently though if it was a shootout between the z2 and the z91 (since they are a similar price) then it would be the z2 no contest simply due to the higher resolution. After SPR we moved on to the Matrix, to a scene that i had read was very good for picking up rainbows (chapter 26 right after tank gets killed when trinity is on the phone to cypher) and indeed this is true. However, this was the only time that i noticed the rainbows (and we watched the film through to the end from that point). Granted however, when you did see them they were quite distracting and wolfeh started to suffer a bit from headaches.
I was keen to see the next dlp up for the improved resolution which was the Sharp z200. The picture became much much nicer (again at best part of twice the price!). Definitely superior in virtually every way to the z2. This still wasn't a projector i could use for 1:1 pixel mapping though so i wanted to see the next step up - an hd2 chip.
Having read a few comments about the BenQ 8700 on here i was curious to see that but unfortunately Nexnix had none for demo. Instead they had an old Sharp Z9000 (now being replaced by the z10000), which used to retail for £6k!!! Slightly out of our budget laugh: ) but a good chance to compare. Again, the image improved but certainly not by as much as the previous jump, the projector was still being driven via component though so maybe this would improve with DVI. Certainly not worth the original £3k that it would cost to upgrade to my eyes.
We then switched back to the z2 just to compare the image again and i was pleasantly surprised by just how good it still looked despite having just looked at these expensive dlps, admittedly the screen door was back and the colours weren't quite as nice but being on a small budget it is very understandable why people would rather save the extra 1500 quid.
Now i'm sure that any of you are still following, and havent gone to yet will notice a lack of a) panny projectors and b) the sony hs20.
well:
a) we were looking at demoing the last ae-300 that we had been informed was available but upon arriving there wasn't one anymore but we substituted the z1 in and were told that it would give a better picture anyway, which given my above feelings on the z1 doesn't leave much hope for the pannys..
b) yes i was pretty annoyed at having journeyed so far having been promised an hs20 and to find that they also didnt have an hs20 in. Would have been very interesting to see how that performed with the extra resolution and the fact that it has sealed optics (i really don't want to be dismantling my pj every few weeks or whatever despite normally being quite a techy person).
So right now, if i had to go for anything it would probably be the z200, however, with the recent news that the BenQ 8700 is getting a new revision that will hopefully keep it at the same price level i think i will be demoing the z2, benq, z200 and hs20 another time and then deciding and if the news about the benq is true i could well be walking away with that which will be severely pushing my budget ...
Am i missing any projectors from this short list? No optomas there i know and i could also probably pick up bun's nec ht1100 for about the same price as a new z200 when he gets his next upgrade bug . I think wolfeh will probably go for the z2 and i can't blame him, given all the other stuff that i want to buy and my current financial situation i might have to live the dream a bit longer and settle for a z2 for the time being.
Finally, a big thanks to the people at Nexnix, seemed a very friendly bunch and despite us arriving effectively unannounced they sorted everything pretty quick. They were starting to list some pretty good deals as well, unfortunately for them this was just a recon mission for me. Maybe next time i'll take a bite. Recommended.
rOAdeh
Being completely inexperienced in the world of projectors we weren't quite sure what to expect and so had lined up a long list of projectors to demo to give us some guidance.
We arrived at Nexnix at around 2pm and were greeted with looks of confusion - it seemed that the person we had made the booking with had not told anyone else about it and had promptly disappeared . However, we were soon welcomed inside and led to the demo room and a huuuge 110" screen (and i was questioning whether 100" would be big enough ).
The Sanyo z2 was already hooked up via component (in eco mode) so we whacked LOTR - TT on. The picture was very impressive, save for some screen door and vertical banding that was particularly apparent on the lighter areas of the picture. I think this may be down to the fact that we were quite close (probably no more than 4m for the screen) and would perhaps be less prominent further away.
I asked for the input to be switched to DVI from their htpc and the picture problems were definitely reduced from the previous image which is fortunate giving that i'm looking at going for an htpc !
I wanted to try Finding Nemo (or indeed Shrek/Monster's Inc) via DVI too but unfortunately all my pixar disks are r1 and their htpc wasn't multiregion eek so we had to use component in. Not that this was a great disadvantage, i was just enjoying the 1:1 pixel mapping. The picture again was excellent, very vibrant and particularly watchable. I definitely felt more engrossed in the movie here and actually was watching it rather than just trying to find faults (as I had done during LOTR).
For comparison I asked to see the z1, instantly the picture became significantly darker (despite being in high mode), less vibrant and had lots more screen door. Finding Nemo was reduced to a shadow of it's former glory and in the interest of saving some of the memories from beforehand i asked for the movie to be changed to Saving Private Ryan.
Arguably this isn't the greatest DVD for testing projectors, as it is well known that Spielberg artficially adjusted the colours to make the film appear 'more realistic'. However, i was curious to see how much screendoor was affected as Finding Nemo and SPR are pretty much at opposite ends of the picture type scale!
The result was still very dark and the film looked quite grainy, but it was still extremely watchable during the 'beach assault'. I'm not sure if this is due to the fact that we didn't see it running against the z2 or if the z1 suited the material more.
Regardless, due to it's previous disappointing performance the z1 was out for me and i was now curious to see some DLPs. We switched to the Sharp Z91 halfway through the beach scene. The image instantly improved (and so it should at twice the cost!), there was still the problem of it being quite low resolution but the colours were looking much more realistic. I didn't see a single rainbow during this chapter and to be honest i think the whole issue of rainbows has been overhyped massively, I was told that the Sharp's are quite good at not displaying rainbows though so maybe some other models may be much more noticeable.
Currently though if it was a shootout between the z2 and the z91 (since they are a similar price) then it would be the z2 no contest simply due to the higher resolution. After SPR we moved on to the Matrix, to a scene that i had read was very good for picking up rainbows (chapter 26 right after tank gets killed when trinity is on the phone to cypher) and indeed this is true. However, this was the only time that i noticed the rainbows (and we watched the film through to the end from that point). Granted however, when you did see them they were quite distracting and wolfeh started to suffer a bit from headaches.
I was keen to see the next dlp up for the improved resolution which was the Sharp z200. The picture became much much nicer (again at best part of twice the price!). Definitely superior in virtually every way to the z2. This still wasn't a projector i could use for 1:1 pixel mapping though so i wanted to see the next step up - an hd2 chip.
Having read a few comments about the BenQ 8700 on here i was curious to see that but unfortunately Nexnix had none for demo. Instead they had an old Sharp Z9000 (now being replaced by the z10000), which used to retail for £6k!!! Slightly out of our budget laugh: ) but a good chance to compare. Again, the image improved but certainly not by as much as the previous jump, the projector was still being driven via component though so maybe this would improve with DVI. Certainly not worth the original £3k that it would cost to upgrade to my eyes.
We then switched back to the z2 just to compare the image again and i was pleasantly surprised by just how good it still looked despite having just looked at these expensive dlps, admittedly the screen door was back and the colours weren't quite as nice but being on a small budget it is very understandable why people would rather save the extra 1500 quid.
Now i'm sure that any of you are still following, and havent gone to yet will notice a lack of a) panny projectors and b) the sony hs20.
well:
a) we were looking at demoing the last ae-300 that we had been informed was available but upon arriving there wasn't one anymore but we substituted the z1 in and were told that it would give a better picture anyway, which given my above feelings on the z1 doesn't leave much hope for the pannys..
b) yes i was pretty annoyed at having journeyed so far having been promised an hs20 and to find that they also didnt have an hs20 in. Would have been very interesting to see how that performed with the extra resolution and the fact that it has sealed optics (i really don't want to be dismantling my pj every few weeks or whatever despite normally being quite a techy person).
So right now, if i had to go for anything it would probably be the z200, however, with the recent news that the BenQ 8700 is getting a new revision that will hopefully keep it at the same price level i think i will be demoing the z2, benq, z200 and hs20 another time and then deciding and if the news about the benq is true i could well be walking away with that which will be severely pushing my budget ...
Am i missing any projectors from this short list? No optomas there i know and i could also probably pick up bun's nec ht1100 for about the same price as a new z200 when he gets his next upgrade bug . I think wolfeh will probably go for the z2 and i can't blame him, given all the other stuff that i want to buy and my current financial situation i might have to live the dream a bit longer and settle for a z2 for the time being.
Finally, a big thanks to the people at Nexnix, seemed a very friendly bunch and despite us arriving effectively unannounced they sorted everything pretty quick. They were starting to list some pretty good deals as well, unfortunately for them this was just a recon mission for me. Maybe next time i'll take a bite. Recommended.
rOAdeh